On the front lines of foster care

On the front lines of foster care

By Polly Arango

Knight Ridder News Service


The stories from the front lines of foster care haunt me. A disabled
grandmother describes how she takes care of her two grandchildren on
less than $800 a month. Identical twin girls, placed in separate
foster homes and kept apart for more than a year, cry and embrace when
they are reunited.

"Every day I would come home from school and see if my stuff was
packed," one young man recalled of his childhood in foster care. "That
was the first thing I would check."

More than 500,000 children are in foster care in the United States.
Abused or neglected by their parents, they live temporarily with
foster families, relatives or guardians or in group homes. They live
in our neighborhoods and go to school with our children.

Too often, they do not know the stability and love that we -- and our
children -- take for granted.

All children deserve safety, love and security. As the mother of four
children -- two of them adopted -- and the grandmother of six, I have
spent much of my life trying to help children have safe, permanent
homes with loving, supportive families.

Unfortunately, the child welfare system in which foster care resides
is not working. Despite the efforts of thousands -- foster families,
social workers, extended family members, children's attorneys and
judges -- and the courage of the children themselves, the system is
broken. Children die, go missing or simply spend too long in foster
care.

To date, 43 states have undergone a federal assessment of their child
welfare systems. All have failed to meet standards for basic care and
protection for their foster children.

I am trying to change this. As a member of the Pew Commission on
Children in Foster Care, I am committed to improving outcomes for
children in foster care. The commission comprises experienced
bipartisan legislators, child welfare administrators, family service
providers, judges, parents and youths.

We are charged with making practical recommendations to improve
federal funding so that fewer children enter foster care, and those
who do so move quickly into safe, loving families. We will also
recommend ways to improve court systems, where crucial decisions for
children and families are made every day.

The commission has been studying the complexities of the child welfare
system and listening to legal and financal experts, social workers and
agency administrators. We also have been listening to those most
affected by foster ca former foster children, birth parents whose
children have been in foster care, and foster and adoptive parents.

In "Voices from the Inside," a report released by the commission,
children and parents describe the daily struggles and frustrations of
those on the front lines of foster care. A mother explains how she
overcame addiction to be reunited with her child. A college student
recalls what he wishes someone told him as a child in foster ca
"You have a right to be happy, you have a right not to be hit, you
have a right to love. Everybody deserves a family."

When I worked with orphans in Latin America, I often heard the term
niños abandonados -- children abandoned not only by their own families
but also by their communities and the laws and traditions of their
countries. The task of the Pew Commission is to help us understand
what needs to be changed to ensure that there are no niños abandonados
anywhere in the United States.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/8291728.htm00


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.

The writer is on the Pew Commission on Foster Care.

the system is
broken. Children die, go missin

Words of writer, not me.

federal funding so that fewer children enter foster care, and those
who do so move quickly into safe, loving families. We will also

One state, Utah, reported spending 2 M on home services to families and 18M on
FC.

Everybody deserves a family."

As the teen in a group home related to me.
"I have family. Why have I NOT been placed with them."



Wex found:


Subject: On the front lines of foster care
From: wexwimpy
Date: 3/29/2004 10:50 AM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id:

On the front lines of foster care

By Polly Arango

Knight Ridder News Service


The stories from the front lines of foster care haunt me. A disabled
grandmother describes how she takes care of her two grandchildren on
less than $800 a month. Identical twin girls, placed in separate
foster homes and kept apart for more than a year, cry and embrace when
they are reunited.

"Every day I would come home from school and see if my stuff was
packed," one young man recalled of his childhood in foster care. "That
was the first thing I would check."

More than 500,000 children are in foster care in the United States.
Abused or neglected by their parents, they live temporarily with
foster families, relatives or guardians or in group homes. They live
in our neighborhoods and go to school with our children.

Too often, they do not know the stability and love that we -- and our
children -- take for granted.

All children deserve safety, love and security. As the mother of four
children -- two of them adopted -- and the grandmother of six, I have
spent much of my life trying to help children have safe, permanent
homes with loving, supportive families.

Unfortunately, the child welfare system in which foster care resides
is not working. Despite the efforts of thousands -- foster families,
social workers, extended family members, children's attorneys and
judges -- and the courage of the children themselves, the system is
broken. Children die, go missing or simply spend too long in foster
care.

To date, 43 states have undergone a federal assessment of their child
welfare systems. All have failed to meet standards for basic care and
protection for their foster children.

I am trying to change this. As a member of the Pew Commission on
Children in Foster Care, I am committed to improving outcomes for
children in foster care. The commission comprises experienced
bipartisan legislators, child welfare administrators, family service
providers, judges, parents and youths.

We are charged with making practical recommendations to improve
federal funding so that fewer children enter foster care, and those
who do so move quickly into safe, loving families. We will also
recommend ways to improve court systems, where crucial decisions for
children and families are made every day.

The commission has been studying the complexities of the child welfare
system and listening to legal and financal experts, social workers and
agency administrators. We also have been listening to those most
affected by foster ca former foster children, birth parents whose
children have been in foster care, and foster and adoptive parents.

In "Voices from the Inside," a report released by the commission,
children and parents describe the daily struggles and frustrations of
those on the front lines of foster care. A mother explains how she
overcame addiction to be reunited with her child. A college student
recalls what he wishes someone told him as a child in foster ca
"You have a right to be happy, you have a right not to be hit, you
have a right to love. Everybody deserves a family."

When I worked with orphans in Latin America, I often heard the term
niños abandonados -- children abandoned not only by their own families
but also by their communities and the laws and traditions of their
countries. The task of the Pew Commission is to help us understand
what needs to be changed to ensure that there are no niños abandonados
anywhere in the United States.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/opinion/8291728.htm00


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.