Proposed Foster Care Reform in Texas

melodyes_song (80) 22 Feb 2007 09:35 AM

Ed I agree there are not enough families to foster, however at least it my state of NC it is not the willingness that is lacking it is the fact that it takes so long that people give up...for example, my husband and I have some very good friends that want to foster and it took them almost a year to get licensed by our county. They were persistent enough to not give up, however many families who geniuneily want to help are made to wait months and months to get licensed because there are not enough licensing workers.

Traci Anderson (970) 22 Feb 2007 10:43 AM

As a former child abuse investigator, I am thankful that they are taking the problem seriously in TX and hope that the trend continues elsewhere.

Part of the reason that horrific things can happen to children in the foster care system is that case workers are busy putting out fires vs. solving problems. There simply is not enough oversight of these homes and not enough staff to do it.

Fatherofeight (2475) 22 Feb 2007 11:44 AM

Thanks ladies, I agree completely with both of you. Melody, I know people who have paid the moeny to adopt overseas solely because they could not stand the hassle dealing with the state. I don't know of any state that has a good reputation in regard to hassles. Traci, that has been the problem here and there have been some cases that got a lot of attention because they were so horrible, that something had to be done. It must be scary to be a person who has to decide whether to take a child out of a home when it is a marginal case. The marginal cases blow up into very bad ones sometimes. It seemed to me looking from the outside that the caseworkers were just desparate to find someplace to place kids who would be sitting on their desk in the meantime. Sometimes, the caseworkers just didn't have any good place to put a child. It is a mess.

gina00 (680) 22 Feb 2007 01:51 PM

I think the key is providing support & respite for foster families. As a foster family of two parents that were educators we strove to engage our foster children in all kinds of enrichment activities from vacations to museums, sports, etc., but having foster kids in our home that had severe needs, there was very little respite available for needed couple time for my husband & I. At one point we had to pick up our foster-son from his overnight respite after only about 15 min. b/c they couldn't handle him. When you have people that genuinely care about kids & want to help kids, you also need to provide the framework of understanding from the caseworkers/social workers, along with respite providers. Foster care can be very intense for your family, especially w/ triangulation, threats from bio parents, attachment disorder, etc. If either the county or the private foster care providers are not giving their families continued support, positive feedback, and opportunities for respite, it is impossible to keep providing that level of care.

Fatherofeight (2475) 22 Feb 2007 03:24 PM

I have been there Gina. I know exactly what you are feeling. We finally have found someone that can stay over night with all of them. Our adult children are also able to do it. Thanks for your comment, it helps our readers better understand exactly what the issues are.

gina00 (680) 22 Feb 2007 06:07 PM

I'm so glad we're discussing these issues. I really hope serious reform happens in the foster care system. It would be wonderful if all states were well regulated, where foster parents received good training and were validated and involved in making decisions that affect their foster child(ren). It would be my hope that all foster parents would be such because of a desire to help kids and not for any other reason. Ideally, the kids wouldn't be bumped from placement to placement. Ideally, foster kids would be able to continue to communicate w/ former foster parents through letter writing, so they can be encouraged by those who love them and know them. It grieves me that as a foster parent who parents these kids, when they leave your house you have no way of continuing to communicate w/ your "kids." I would love to encourage my former "kids" w/ letters, help them as they grow older, be there for them, etc. They will always hold a place in my heart.

On another note, it was our experience that the "system" was not forthcoming with prospective adoptive parents/foster/adopt placements. I think this sets kids & parents up for failed adoptions when the entire team is not being truthful about the kids' histories, behaviors, etc. We saw two very involved boys placed w/ a single lady who was not appraised of their needs & did not have experience with kids w/ significant behavioral issues, who had them as legal risk/foster adopt. Because the foster system was so eager to get these kids adopted, they failed to be honest w/ this lady about their real needs. Sadly, first the oldest was moved to another home, and then later the youngest was moved to anther home, both having behaviors that were too significant for her to handle. We've got to come up w/a better system to serve our kids. We should place them in the right home the first time, w/o further scarring them with multiple placements. To get to a position where we have "right homes" available, we need to give our foster parents positions as respected members of the foster kids' team.

Fatherofeight (2475) 23 Feb 2007 10:46 AM

The system treated us the same way. There were things that we did not learn about our boys until they were adopted and we had the "redacted" file. I think that the main problem is that the general public just hopes that these problems will go away. So because a lot of people don't care, there is never enough money spent on the foster / adopt system. My thoughts have always been that if the government was proactive, and trying to fix the problems on the front end, then society would not have to deal later with "broken" adults, essentially resulting in needing more prisons. Our boys' birthmother was an abused child who was adopted, ran away from her adoptive home, and was on the street since she was 14 years old. Maybe more could have been done for her when she was a child.

gina00 (680) 24 Feb 2007 01:04 PM

Wow-w/ our first set of foster kids (3 girls), their dad had been in the foster care system for a time, too. It really is generational w/o some serious positive intervention & supports!!! These kids need a better system! Thank you so much for your articles! I really appreciate your insights!

Fatherofeight (2475) 24 Feb 2007 06:21 PM

Thanks, Gina. There is indeed some kind of generational thing that gets going sometimes. One of the things that really bugs me is when young girls are in foster care and they have children, then there is literally two generations in the system at once. When we were negotiating with the bierthmother, she kept talking about how she felt about her own birthmother signing her parental rights away.

melodyes_song (80) 25 Feb 2007 08:55 AM

I think the disconnect comes sometimes when the system must repeatedly protect the bparents rights even to the detriment of the children. In our classes to become licensed we were repeatedly told that the goal is always reunification. While as a child of adoption myself I can respect that reunification is important, I do think that there are many times and cases when reunification should be taken off of the table. It took from June 05 to the end of this month to get the TPR granted in our boys case, their were literally 20 continuances...that is a tremendously long time in the life of a 6, 4, and 2 yr old their ages now. I think that the system forgets that a day, a week, a month, is a huge chunk of a child's life. It is sad to watch kids languish in a system that forgets they are children. It was brought up that full disclosure is not given to foster or adoptive parents in many cases (btw it was in our case) which can and does lead to failure and multiple placements, and when a child/ren are placed without disclosure it leaves foster parents feeling like failures and wanting to give up.

Fatherofeight (2475) 25 Feb 2007 11:14 AM

I have seen everything that you describe, Melody. The state is also always looking for anyone that "qualifies" as a relative because then they will save the subsidy money that is paid to foster and some adoptive parents. The almighty dollar figures in this also. Heck with the child's welfare, lets save some money.