FE

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Issues with foster care:

Implications of separation - impact on children as well as parents - feelings of guilt, shame, fear, hostility, isolation and sadness

Children unsure of where they belong ----- up to 30% of children who are returned to their birth family will re-enter care.

Children are faced with a myriad of adjustments - separation, different life styles, new surroundings, possibly a new school, new parents’ own children, neighbors, friends. Culture.

Family Preservation - kinship or use of informal support systems - offer children increased continuity and can be an integral part of the therapeutic plan.

Is the child really in imminent danger or does placement represent an easy solution?

Foster Care Goals

Safely reunify children with their parents

Or secure another permanent home

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Placement Settings Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2016). Foster care statistics 2014. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau.

Point in Time.The estimated 415,129 children in foster care on September 30, 2014, were in the following types of placements:

�46 percent in nonrelative foster family homes

�29 percent in relative foster family homes

�8 percent in institutions

�6 percent in group homes

�5 percent on trial home visits (situations in which the State retains supervision of a child, the child returns home on a trial basis for an unspecified period of time, and after 6 months the child is considered discharged from foster care)

�4 percent in preadoptive homes

1 percent had run away

1 percent in supervised independent living

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Annually, data is collected from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System which collects information on all children in foster care for whom State child welfare agencies have responsibility for placement, care, or supervision and all children who were adopted with public welfare involvement.

Rates for placement settings on September 30 changed slightly between FY 2005 and FY 2014, with a notable increase in the use of placement with relatives and a decrease in placements in group homes

Case Plan Goals 2014

55 percent had a goal of reunification with parent(s) or principal caretaker(s).

�25 percent had a goal of adoption.

�5 percent had not yet had a case plan goal established.

5 percent had a goal of emancipation. Emancipation refers to both the emancipation of minors (i.e., youth below the age of majority) and youth who age out of foster care between 18 and 21, depending on State policy.�

4 percent had a goal of long-term foster care.

�4 percent had a goal of guardianship.

�3 percent had a goal of living with other relative(s)

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From FY 2005 to FY 2014, the percentages of children with case plans of reunification and adoption experienced the largest increases, while the largest decrease was in the percentage of children who had not yet had a case plan goal

Outcomes

Exits Of the estimated 238,230 children who exited foster care during FY 2014:

51 percent were reunited with parent(s) or primary caretaker(s).

21 percent were adopted.

�9 percent were emancipated.

9 percent went to live with a guardian.

�7 percent went to live with another relative.

�2 percent had other outcomes. Other outcomes include being transferred to another agency, running away, and death. The majority of these children were transferred.

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Trends. From FY 2005 to FY 2014, there were increases in the percentages of children who left the system for adoption and guardianship. There were decreases in the percentages of children who left the system to reunite with their parents or primary caregivers or live with other relatives or who left with other outcomes .

Length of Stay

Exits. Of the estimated 238,230 children who exited foster care during FY 2014, the median amount of time spent in care was 13.3 months, with:

11 percent in care less than 1 month

�35 percent in care for 1 to 11 months

�28 percent in care for 12 to 23 months

�13 percent in care for 24 to 35 months�

8 percent in care for 3 to 4 years�

5 percent in care for 5 or more years

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Age

The median age of the children in foster care on September 30, 2014, was 8.0 years. 7 The median refers to the number in the middle when all numbers are placed in order. In this case, it means that an equal number of children are older and younger than this age.

�Entries. The median age of children entering foster care during FY 2014 was 6.4 years.

�Exits. The median age of children exiting foster care during FY 2014 was 8.0 years.

39% 5 years old or under

23% 6 to 10 years old

22% 11 to 15 years old

16% 16 to 20 years old

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American Academy of Pediatrics - study found that children under 5 in foster care are disproportionately affected by developmental delays, while close to 50% of all children in foster care have chronic medical issues and up to 80% have serious emotional problems.

Race and Ethnicity

Point in Time. Of the estimated 415,129 children in foster care on September 30, 2014:

�42 percent were White.

�24 percent were Black or African-American.

�22 percent were Hispanic (of any race).

�10 percent were other races or multiracial. (“Other races or multiracial” includes American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and two or more races.)

�3 percent were unknown or unable to be determined.

Trends. The percentage of Black children in care on September 30 decreased between FY 2005 and FY 2014, while the percentages of White children, Hispanic children, children of other races or multiracial children, and children of unknown race increased

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Gender

52% male

48 % female

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Local Foster Care Issue

Drug Crisis keeps kid in foster care Longer

As of March 1, 2016 - 732 children in Ohio had been in foster care more than five years.

91 in the Miami Valley( Montgomery, Greene, Butler, Champaign, Clark, Miami & Warren Counties )

Of the children who entered care in 2012, 45.5 percent were discharged to permanency within 12 month.

Children are coming into care because they were born to mothers addicted to drugs or alcohol

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In Dayton Daily News on Saturday, April 9, 2016 A potential consequence of the area’s heroin crisis is that children endure longer stays in foster care because unification efforts with their families have failed. Impacts from these placements could be both harmful and long-lasting because children who remain in foster care for longer periods of time are more likely to change homes multiple times, which disrupts friendships, schooling and other factors of stability.

Types of Placements

Family/Kinship Care

Foster Homes

Treatment Foster Homes

Group Homes

Residential Treatment Centers

Shelters

Adoptive Placement

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Undergo a home study process, become licensed, required to participate in ongoing training. Monitored by foster care workers - who maintain contact with the birth family, child and foster family. Provide services, treatment plan. Important to engage birth parents in the process, foster parents can be source of support, parental modeling - Helps child to have two sets of parents who are concerned about them.

ReMoved

ReMoved vimeo.com › HESCHLE ›

Remember My Story - ReMoved Part 2

https://vimeo.com/130836807

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Discussion Questions

What struck you about these videos?

Do you think the films were a realistic portrayal of a child in a foster home?

How did the abuse history of this child impact her later behavior/interactions with others?

What triggers fight/flight/freeze responses for this child?

What actions by adults were hurtful for Zoe?

What actions were healing for Zoe?

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The judge reminds us - their mother loves them but the question isn’t does she love them, but whether she has maintained a parental relationship with them.