Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Foster Children - When Foster Care Works Against Foster Kids and Their Families


We posted some foster kid statistics recently and received many comments, mostly from people who were shocked by the numbers. One conversation went in a completely different direction. A woman wrote about her struggles to take in her nephews who are in foster care. This incident is one of many that brings to light disturbing undertones with the courts and the foster care system.


Jane wrote:
"I have 3 nephews in foster care in Washington state and they are not trying to place with family and we have family who could afford to take them. We are fighting them but it's a little harder because we are in a different state."

This is not the first time we have heard about this issue. We worked a case where we found the birth mother and other adult relatives of a foster child. The organization that had contacted us on behalf of the foster care agency was elated since the foster kid had been in the system for years. The family members, still living in Mexico, were shocked to know that one of their child relatives was in foster care but equally excited to make contact with the child.

Once relatives are located through "family finding," the next step is for social services to vet the family members to find out who wants to be a part of the foster kid's life and who may want to give the child a forever home. This second step of the process to move foster youth out of the system is called Engagement.




Unfortunately, this story took a strange and sad turn. While the family members were going through the required review process, the judge handling the case and social services were working to fast track the child into an adoption.


The organization that had contacted us about this case expressed a great deal of distress over these events, but as they were contracted by the foster care agency, the organization had limited influence in this matter. We were unable to learn more about this case. 

We have read about other similar cases where custody of a foster kid was given to strangers while relative placement was an option. Within the same conversation stream with Jane, others wrote in to share their thoughts and experiences.


A grandmother commented:
"Fight them like crazy! It's why we are raising 2 grandsons."
followed by another's comments:
"When children are put in foster care the state receives federal funds, like a hundred thousand dollars per child in Utah. and believe me they don't place those children with relatives until that money is gone."

Apparently, ignoring the appeals of relatives by the court is not an isolated incident.

We cannot confirm the validity of the above statement, but in past blogs we have revealed foster care statistics from studies that show that agencies receive twice the funding for a tenth of the number of foster youth in care. The majority of the funding goes into infrastructure. I'm sure you will agree that with all of that billions of dollars expended to help these kids that the outcomes these children experience shows that the system simply isn't working well.

Anytime relatives are denied their opportunity to give relative placement to a foster child, the foster care reunification process becomes open to individual interpretation of laws and subsequently abuse.




The Fostering Connections Act of 2008 and the subsequent addition of services in 2010 were enacted specifically to ensure that foster children are removed from the system as soon as possible. The intent of these laws is to support having foster youth either go back with their parents, or failing that option, being put in relative placement.


Since foster child records are mostly sealed, the only opportunity to see these deviations by either the court or social services is when family members speak up.


We don't know the particulars in this case. Perhaps in this particular case with the nephews in Washington state, there will ultimately be a valid reason for the court to select adoption over relative placement.

However, it appears that the voices of these foster children's relatives are being ignored, and that is simply not right. It's not right for the relatives. It's not right for the children.

Do it for the children,

Richard Villasana
  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

PS. That's right, boys and girls. Another family found. More to come soon.



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