Monday, August 4, 2014

Foster Children - Foster Child Reconnected with Birth Mother



Once a child enters foster care, agencies are mandated by federal law to search for relatives. These efforts can be 85% successful. However, despite best efforts, sometimes agencies simply cannot find any family members in the U.S. In these situations foster children can be at great risk of staying in the system years past the norm unless agencies get help.


Children's Service Society of Wisconsin (CSSW) is a non-profit that handles all efforts to locate a foster child's family members. In this particular case, the organization had exhausted every effort to find relatives in the U.S. These agencies are painfully aware that if a relative isn't found, the child will spend many years in foster care and probably age out with no safety net.

They did have some information about the child's birth mother who was suspected of having moved to Mexico to live with the child's grandmother. Acting on the recommendation from Kevin Campbell, CSSW contacted our organization.

Campbell is the Founder and Director of the Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness. He is the leading U.S. expert on locating relatives in America. Regarding a search for family members outside the U.S., Campbell writes:

"Connecting individuals to their families is vital to improving safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes for our most vulnerable youth. Conducting a hopeful search for an individual in Mexico requires additional knowledge and information differing from the United States." 



Within a few weeks of us working the case, CSSW was able to call and speak with the birth mother, maternal grandmother and several adult relatives. The organization was elated to finally be able to put the foster youth in touch with family members.


Despite the many news stories about abusive foster parents and a seemingly callous foster care system, most of the case workers we support are truly caring individuals who are very happy when a foster child's relatives are located.


Molly McGregor, the Family Finding Specialist who oversaw this case, wrote,

"Many thanks for all of your efforts in locating the family of one of our foster children in Wisconsin! It was a pleasure working with your agency."

No matter where a foster child's relatives are living, it's important to locate them. In the best case, all children should have a family that they can turn to for love and help. Tens of thousands of foster children do not need to age out each year without any support. Sometimes the solution is as simple as agencies bringing in an organization such as Find Families In Mexico that can give those family connections to foster youth.

Concerning the value to foster children of finding their family members, Children's Service Society of Wisconsin (CSSW) writes, "Children will be able to make a connection that could last a lifetime." Let's hope that more agencies will heed the call and do more to positively and permanently change the lives of more foster children.

Do it for the children,

Richard Villasana
  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

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