REFORM # 7: SHELTERS. Shelters must be held to the same standards as foster homes, if there are foster children residing in them.
Background: As stated by a foster parent, the states do not hold the shelters to the same standards as the regular foster homes. We have a shelter in our city, and a non-profit group runs it. The children come in and leave with the same things they had. They get donations of used clothing, toys, etc all the time. Foster children were sent to foster homes with clothes that were too small or too big. No one cared what these children looked like or how medically they were feeling. The agencies, we were told, ran out of a place to house these children.
REFORM # 8: As addressed in REFORM # 6, higher education needs to be more available for former foster children. We must take into consideration that many of the homes that these children come from (foster homes or low income adoptive homes), cannot afford the costs of college. Many of these children do not have parents that set up a college fund when they were born. Therefore, their parents are the state.
The state should provide for its children. There are federal grants that low income students can benefit from, however, many times, these grants are not enough to pay all the costs of college, such as books, room and board, supplies, and food & medical. Often these children cannot get federal grants because they must report their adoptive or foster parents’ income, if that income exceeds the limit that is allowed, they cannot receive funds. Below is an example of Kentucky’s attempt to remedy part of this problem, however, it does not cover all college expenses.
Example: U. Kentucky (U-WIRE) LEXINGTON, Ky. -- College isn't cheap. If there's anything we've learned from our University of Kentucky careers, it's that education is a costly enterprise. A lot of us receive huge support from our parents, whether it's in the form of tuition money or a place to live while attending school. Other students, however, have not been so lucky. Sometimes, parents of adopted children or foster children find they can't afford the ever-increasing price of higher education. The Kentucky legislature has enacted a law to help these parents and students out. Under a new Kentucky law, all foster children, children adopted from state custody and children in the state's care will receive free tuition at state universities, including technical and vocational schools. The universities will absorb the cost for these waivers. We wholeheartedly applaud these efforts.
REFORM # 9: BOOT CAMPS. They should have tough standards to regulate them in order to protect children. Legislatures with conservatives who take a skewed view that oversight and regulation should be left to the free market is wrong.
There have not been any real efforts by anyone to campaign the cause of foster children in boot camps. Sometimes you need a jolt to drive home the issue. With these latest tragedies of children dying at different camps through out the country, I do believe we should get involved.
For now, the industry is trying to devise its own standards. Of course, meeting those standards, providing doctors and better-trained personnel, for instance might also increase the cost of running the camps, making them less affordable to poor and middle class income families.
The data on these are not impressive. In fact there is increasing evidence that they may have a harmful effect. In the Surgeon General’s Report on Youth and Community Violence they seem to think an alternative that seems to work is Multi-dimensional Treatment Foster Care, which was developed by the Oregon Social Learning Center.
REFORM # 10: KINSHIP CARE: : Kinship Foster Care – It is important that relatives be allowed to become foster parents using kinship care so that they can be assisted in raising their relatives with financial and medical help from the agencies.
We want the state to do a real search for relatives and have a written record in the case file showing what they have done to locate relatives. A record that if ever asked what they did, they can go to that record and show what work was done on the children’s behalf. The agencies must show proof that there were no available relatives to care for the child in question.
See a couple of reports below of how the state did not find any relatives.
Record # 1: I am much impressed with the amount of work this group has been doing and with what you've got going here. I have been reading along, and it is about time we as a group suggest change.
At the age of forty-six I've just recently met aunts, uncles, and many cousins of my original family on my father’s side. It seems our heritage goes back prior to the Revolutionary days in Maine. I have a great-grandmother who was the first woman doctor in Maine, and a great-grandfather, also from Maine, who died as a result of the Battle at Gettysburg, and my dad was wounded badly in WWII. We had a Clan Gathering on Sunday July 15, 2001 and I'm still absorbing the impact of it all. I met a cousin about my age who is a foster parent. I hope to get to know them better soon.
Record # 2: At 14 years old thinking I was orphaned without any relatives at all as I was told my parents were dead by the agency social worker and foster parents. I had no other relatives alive other than my older brother that was in care with me for almost 18 years. At 19 years old and stationed in Boston, Massachusetts I found over 200 relatives that never knew I was in foster care, as the state did not look anywhere for my family. Not one single effort was recorded in my file that the state had.
I had a father, and mother and their brothers and sisters and cousins just like any family. Because of the abuse and the mental abuse by the social workers and the foster parents they conspired to cover that I had any relatives until I was 14 years old when a mother appeared. Because I was told so many bad stories about the family I was never able to find a place in my heart for her when she appeared and we never were able to put the past behind. They never did anything to find any relatives so we would not have to be in care of the state.
I was in care from 5 months old until almost 18 years old and was abused for all those years on a work farm. Where foster children had to work eight hours a day and go to school. The foster parents were paid to raise us but instead they slaved us before school and after school and weekends. Seven days a week we worked usually five or six of us foster children. If we did not want to work we would get beaten with leather halters, or what ever they could grab. We went to bed with out meals and had little time to study for schoolwork. We were in fear for our lives and the social workers were told about the work we did but could not keep a confidence with us as they told the foster parents and we got beat worse for telling and had threat of having to live in a reform school if we did not like the farm.
We were made to produce food for the War Effort and never were paid for it. We produced food for two wars WW11 and Korea. The farm we were on so many years never had a paid hired hand. They never paid a foster child for a single day’s work. The Farm in Massachusetts had raised over 35 foster children in as many years and the average stay was over ten years. They received payment from the government for 350 years of free labor or more and the agency never noticed any abuse?
The agency never spelled my name correctly until I was almost 18. When I wanted to join the U.S. Navy and I found out that my name was incorrectly spelled all those years.
REFORM # 11: RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED: All too often foster parents and biological parents are unaware of their rights and what they are being accused of when the social workers come to remove their children. If parents had a better idea of what to do or even what is going to happen, they could better prepare them for reunification.
Suggested Improvement: Anyone being accused of child abuse or neglect should be given a booklet of that explains what their legal rights are and how the investigation process works.
The booklet should include a list of any and all laws pertaining to parental rights and the rights of the accused. The agency should present this booklet at the time of removal of children or first interview with the family or persons involved. At that time, the social worker should also present a document for the accused to sign stating that the accused did indeed receive the booklet. This document would ensure the rights of both the accused and the agency.
REFORM # 12: IMPROPER RECORD KEEPING AT INVESTIGATIONS: Often social workers do not take adequate notes at investigation interviews, therefore, they could forget what a person says or did not say during the interview.
This causes confusion and sometimes-wrongful treatment and handling of cases. As some investigative personnel have gone back and wrote case files months after the interviews were done and just filled in the blanks with made up information, to suit the agency as needed.
Suggested Improvement: Tape recordings of all interviews of any party pertaining to an investigation of child abuse or neglect would solve this problem. To protect the rights of the parent, foster parent, or other accused and the social worker involved, a copy of the unedited taped interviews should be given to the person with whom the interview is with.
REFORM # 13: MAKE REUNIFICATION A PRIORITY: Reunification is not always made a priority in child abuse cases involving biological parents. Therefore, it should be held of great importance.
Suggested Improvement: To ensure that reunification measures are used and properly interpreted to the biological parents, there should be a checklist of family reunification procedures and suggestions. A copy of this checklist should be given to the biological parents in order of the parents to achieve all possible steps to being reunited with their child. The social worker should check on the form all suggestions that pertain to the case that the Parents must fulfill, explain what is expected of them, and write in ways that the parent could achieve them.
The social worker must not be able to continually add suggestions and improvements that the parent must complete. When new issues come up, and they do, and it is necessary to the reunification? They must be added by court order.
The social worker or caseworker cannot add improvements to the list after the checklist is given to the Parent; to use as a weapon or a delaying tactic.
The CHECKLIST must be given to the Parents within seven (7) days of the removal of the child, no exceptions. At the time that the Parent receives the list, the social worker and Parents must sign and date it. The time that the children will be returned will depend on the parents completing programs based on the requirements needed on an individual case plan.
At the time that the Parent has fulfilled the suggestions the social worker must obtain proof that the Parent did take such actions as to fulfill the suggestion and sign both copies of the check list (social workers copy and Parents copy). When all suggestions have been completed, the child should be successfully returned to the Parent.
REFORM # 14: CHILDREN’S OPINIONS: Foster children’s opinion or any child for that matter, are often left out of what is in their best interest. Many times children have no say in where they live and with whom. If children cannot communicate their concerns and needs themselves, they need someone who can and will do that for them in a court of law.
Suggested Improvement: All children in foster care must be provided an attorney that will represent their needs and concerns. The attorney must not be affiliated with the child protection agency.
The attorney must meet with the child in private at least twice before every hearing. The attorney must be able to provide proof of the meeting between him or herself and the child to the court at each hearing.
The attorney must convey the child’s wishes to the court and pursue a judgment in the child’s favor (best interest). The attorney must be experienced in handling these types of cases and know how to work well with children.
REFORM # 15: IDENTIFY AND SUPPORT FAMILIES AT RISK: Create programs that enable families identified to be at risk of failure to become successful. These programs may already exist, but they need to be made more accessible. Adequate health care, career oriented jobs and skills training, home ownership assistance, drug and alcohol addiction resolution assistance, anger management, depression and mental health support programs. Foster Care must be a last resort and never the first option!
