FOSTER CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFTEN IGNORED, PACKARD FOUNDATION REPORT FINDS

FOSTER CHILDREN'S HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OFTEN IGNORED,
PACKARD FOUNDATION REPORT FINDS

Little is known about whether foster children get medical checkups or
participate regularly in school; experts recommend requirements to
track children's well-being

In-depth Survey of Former Foster Care Children Suggests Basic Needs
Often Go Unmet

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 28, 2004)—A new report finds that the health
and educational needs of children in foster care are often overlooked
and not formally monitored, even though it is required to be reported
in the federally mandated reviews of state child welfare agencies.

The comprehensive report from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
recommends that child welfare agencies collect data on health and
educational factors, and that states be held accountable for measuring
and overseeing the well-being of the more than 500,000 children living
in foster care.

An accompanying survey of almost 100 former foster care children,
completed this month, echoes the concern that basic needs, such as
health care and educational experience, are not being met for many
foster children.

The findings and recommendations from the report were released today
in the most recent issue of Packard's journal, The Future of Children,
entitled Children, Families, and Foster Care. The report includes
articles authored by some of the nation's leading experts* on foster
care as well as a synthesis of research, authors' recommendations, and
analysis. The results of the poll of the 100 former foster care
children were also released.

The foster care system, according to the report, is an inefficient,
uncoordinated patchwork of overlapping agencies that fails to provide
adequate services, financing, or other assistance. The average length
of stay for the thousands of children in foster care is nearly three
years, during which they bounce from home to home. About 32 percent of
children stay in the system longer than three years.

Few states monitor how well they are meeting the educational, health
care, and mental health needs of children in foster care, one of the
many national standards required by federally mandated Child and
Family Service Reviews (CFSRs), established in 1994. Of the 32 states
that have completed the review process, none has yet met all federal
performance measures. The remaining reviews are to be completed in
2004, and, according to the report, it is expected that no state will
meet all of the established national standards.

The authors of the report acknowledge that states have been
constrained by funding cuts, and that child welfare agencies struggle
with high caseloads, but they argue that the well-being of foster
children should be a higher priority.

“We need to hold the foster system accountable, not just when a child
dies or is lost in the system, but for the day-to-day healthy
development of all children in foster care,” said Sandra Bass, Ph.D.,
issue editor of the new Packard report. “The system should be
responsible for making sure children are provided with regular dental
checkups and physicals, opportunities to do well in school,
after-school activities that keep them focused and encouraged…all the
basics every child deserves. Right now, no one is watching this, and
we have no way of knowing this information.”

What little is known, according to the report, is that many children
in the child welfare system don't always attend school regularly and
are less likely to be involved in extracurricular activities. Also,
basic health care for foster children is often inconsistent, with
children in foster care failing to receive immunizations or even
routine care.

The new survey, commissioned by the Packard Foundation and conducted
by Lake Snell Perry & Associates, is the result of in-depth phone
interviews with 94 former foster youth completed in late December 2003
through January 2004. Seventy-five percent of those interviewed said
they did not feel taken care of and protected all the time. When asked
what they think needs to be changed about the foster care system their
top five answers we

Make sure kids get to see doctors, dentists, and counselors when they
need to.
Make sure kids get the help and support they need to do well in
school.
Try harder to keep siblings together.
Provide more support and training for foster parents.
Provide more support and training for caseworkers.
In open-ended questions, one interviewee described her health
experience while in foster ca

“I had severe eczema and the doctors did nothing for me. I went
through so much stress at school…the kids made fun of me. When I got
adopted I was taken to a better doctor and was healed quickly, and
then my life changed.”

Citing American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines on meeting the
developmental and health care needs of children in foster care, the
Packard report recommends that such children should receive health
screenings at entry, comprehensive pediatric assessments within thirty
days of placement, and a permanent “medical home” where they receive
ongoing assessments and treatments even if they bounce from foster
family to foster family.

Tracking children's well-being and developing case plans that meet
their individual needs gets lost when caseworkers are overloaded and
turnover is frequent. Also, because there are so many child welfare
cases, the courts lack the capacity to build relationships and
continuity among judges, children, and families. The report argues
that the burnout and overload felt by caseworkers and judges must be
addressed if children's needs are to be met. It recommends dropping
the “cookie cutter” approach traditionally used when children enter
the foster care system and creating tailored plans for each child with
support and continuity of judges, caseworkers, and families.

“Success in foster care is not only about finding a safe place for
children, but also making sure that youngsters who have been
maltreated have access to the support they need to grow and thrive,”
said Carol Wilson Spigner, D.S.W., issue advisor on the report,
professor of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, and former
Associate Commissioner for the U.S. Children's Bureau.

The report offers specific recommendations for federal and state
governments, child welfare agencies, and the court system. Some key
recommendations include:

The federal government should extend the flexibility and reach of
federal foster care funds by reauthorizing and expanding the number of
waivers available to the states and revising outdated eligibility
requirements. Waivers allow states to use federal foster care money
for substance abuse treatment, financial support to legal guardians,
or other programs that can strengthen families and help children find
safe and stable homes.

States should quantitatively measure how well the health and
educational needs of children in foster care are met and include these
measures in data systems. Ultimately, this information can help to
determine appropriate health and education programs for children.

States need to strengthen the accountability of the child welfare
system by investing resources in the system improvements in their
federally mandated performance improvement plans.

Following a permanent placement, child welfare agencies should
continue to support families to ensure children's well-being after
exiting the system, whether through reunification, adoption, or legal
guardianship.

Based on collective data from a variety of studies, the report also
offers recommendations on children of color in the foster care system;
age-appropriate care for all children, particularly infants and
teenagers; support for birth families, relatives, and nonrelated
foster families; and training and support for caseworkers.

“It is time for a major shift in thinking about children in foster
care,” Bass said. “States need to be responsible for children's safety
and their progress in developing into healthy, productive adults.”

http://www.futureofchildren.org/news...?doc_id=204625



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