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Righting a wrong State foster parents close to getting rights ensured
Righting a wrong State foster parents close to getting rights ensured
02/19/04 Foster parents are not baby sitters. They are, clearly, among the most important components in Alabama's effort to ensure the welfare of abused and neglected children. Foster families are so vital, the state Department of Human Resources must aggressively recruit new families to keep up with the demand. Yet, the way state government has treated foster families in the past is shameful. That finally may be changing, and let's hope so. A change is long overdue. The Alabama Senate this week passed the Foster Parents Bill of Rights Act, a bill that compels the state Department of Human Resources to make sure that foster parents have 23 specific rights. Foster parents have been lobbying for three years for legal protections and consideration; the 32-0 vote in the Senate may signal that the time has come. The bill ensures that foster parents have the right to quality training; the right to complete information on the children taken into their homes; the right to attend and participate in meetings where the foster child's future care plan is discussed, reviewed and decided; and the right to have necessary information relevant to the care of the child. Many of these rights already are part of DHR policy, but that policy can change depending on who's in charge of DHR. DHR Commissioner Page Walley already is experienced with foster parents having specific rights under the law. Tennessee, where Walley was director of children's services, was among the first states to pass a foster parents' bill of rights. Indeed, Alabama's bill is modeled after Tennessee's. Some of the specific rights sound like common sense. The first right, for example, states that foster parents have "the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, value and consideration as a primary provider of foster care and a member of the professional team caring for foster children." Well, of course, foster parents deserve such consideration. Problem is, DHR often made decisions about foster children with no consideration whatsoever of the foster parent. No longer. One vitally important right is that DHR will be required to have a staff person on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, "for the purpose of aiding the foster parent in receiving departmental assistance." Foster children often must get authorization from DHR before they can receive medical care or other services, but sometimes that authorization is difficult to obtain late at night, early in the morning or over weekends and holidays. The role foster parents play in caring for hurting children is as important to child welfare as DHR itself. Therefore, foster parents deserve respect and consideration in line with that crucial role. The Senate strongly endorsed these rights for foster parents, and the House should do the same as quickly as possible. It's wrong for foster parents to be treated in any way other than as equal partners in the state's efforts to care for abused and neglected children. http://www.al.com/opinion/birmingham...8586258020.xml Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action. |
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Righting a wrong State foster parents close to getting rights ensured
The first right,
for example, states that foster parents have "the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, value and consideration as a primary provider of foster care and a member of the professional team caring for foster children." Well, of course, Really CPS workers did NOT conduct themselves this way? Wonder why? http://www.nccpr.org Restructuring of foster care. |
#3
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Righting a wrong State foster parents close to getting rights ensured
As a foster parent, I have found that many DHR workers in Alabama are
incompetent. Many do not return phone calls, they do not complete monthly visits and they do not act as advocates for the children in many educational matters like getting children tested for special education or advanced education. "Fern5827" wrote in message ... The first right, for example, states that foster parents have "the right to be treated with dignity, respect, trust, value and consideration as a primary provider of foster care and a member of the professional team caring for foster children." Well, of course, Really CPS workers did NOT conduct themselves this way? Wonder why? http://www.nccpr.org Restructuring of foster care. |
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