MIAMI — The goal for the thousands of children in Florida's foster care program is to find forever homes. But a new tracking system developed at the University of Miami shows the dream for many children is short-lived.
Many kids don't even unpack because of the uncertainty over how long they will stay in a foster home - which sometimes can be as little as a few hours. After combing through thousands of youth records at the Florida Department of Children and Families, Robert Latham, associate director of the university’s Youth Law Clinic, mapped the placement path of every child in foster care since 2002.
He found 80 percent of kids met national placement standards for being moved around. But he noticed troubling outcomes for the remaining 20 percent.
"That captured the kind of absurdity of a kid having 35 houses over the course of two years,” Latham said. “Right? I mean, who lives in 35 houses in two years? That's just not OK. "
State officials point out the the tremendous trauma experienced by some children that makes it difficult for them to trust an adult. According to state data, Florida's rate of 4.8 placements per thousand days in foster care comes in just over the national standard of 4.2.
Chris Card is chief of community-based care at Eckerd Connects, which manages child-welfare cases for Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco counties. He said thanks to federal funding, the state developed a data-tracking system to track touchpoints such as a child's performance in school, problems with parents and other factors to identify red flags.
He said that system has been in place for about twenty years, and Latham's program is just another step forward.
"Kids with some problems are starting to pop up a little bit earlier than the older systems that we’ve had developed, but it's been an ongoing process,” Card said. “I think we've just gotten more sophisticated, a little bit better. And this last rendition is something even better. "
Both Latham and Card agree Florida's foster-care system is overwhelmed and operating on very few resources. Latham said he'd like to see the state dig deeper to track the number of times a child is arrested, involuntarily committed or returns to foster care after adoption.
He said he'd like to see a review panel formed to examine why a child is left bouncing around from home-to-home similar to those formed when a child dies in the system.
"I think if we put that kind of focus and intent on this problem, I think it could really be reduced,” he said. “Again, it's certainly not OK that 19,000 kids have had 10 or more placements. That's not OK. "
Card said the state needs to provide foster families and nonprofits with greater resources and support. And Latham added it also comes down to having more foster families in the system, which he said gives a child better options for making their first placement the last.
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An evidenced-based social work model to help parents struggling with substance use stay connected to their children is offering hope to Ohio counties ravaged by the opioid epidemic.
A new survey of parents in predominantly Appalachian Ohio counties finds most had positive experiences with Ohio Sobriety Treatment and Reducing Trauma or "START."
Erin Mills, Ohio START family peer mentor for Summit County Children's Services, said the program uses a trauma-informed approach to help parents forge healthy relationships with their children, while voluntarily agreeing to enter a recovery program.
"It's an amazing tool within the community as we are facing this opioid epidemic," Mills asserted. "We have tons of children who are being displaced due to addiction issues."
According to the survey, many parents gave credit to Ohio START for helping them keep custody of or reunite with their children, and say their experiences led to a more positive perception of child protective services. According to 2022 state data, more than 5,000 residents died from drug overdoses and the majority of the deaths involved opioids.
Jen McClellan, Ohio START regional manager for the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, explained substance abuse in the home increases the odds of child abuse and neglect but pointed to research which shows removing children from their home and placing them in foster care can cause mental distress and in some cases, lead to worse outcomes.
She believes the program's success is driven by its use of peer mentors and wraparound services aimed at keeping parents and kids together safely.
"We use more intense practices, the family peer mentor is paired with a caseworker who serves the families together," McClellan explained. "And they see their families much more frequently than in a traditional Children's Services case."
Jessica Okolish, Ohio START family peer mentor for Summit County Children's Services, said the intensity and speed of recovery services to participating families can help set in motion positive changes, noting without the START network, parents could wait months for a bed in a recovery program.
"Another big thing is recovery coaches having a seat at the table to show the positive impact of peer support and that it works. I think Summit County has proven that." Okolish reported.
Most survey participants said the shared lived experience between family peer mentors and parents helped established trust and made a difference overcoming resistance in working with child protective services.
Disclosure: The Public Children Services Association of Ohio contributes to our fund for reporting on Children's Issues, Family/Father Issues, Livable Wages/Working Families, and Mental Health. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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Advocates for accessible child care saw wins during Washington state's legislative session this year but still see room for improvement.
Lawmakers invested in a number of programs to increase funding for child care providers.
Genevieve Stokes, director of government relations for Child Care Aware of Washington, said the state is building a foundation for universal access for families.
"The investments this year were modest but still really tackled some of the crucial things that we were hoping they would look at," Stokes acknowledged.
Some of the investments include $1.75 million for free infant and early childhood mental health consultations, more than $8 million for the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, and nearly $7 million in additional grant money for capital improvements for early learning facilities.
However, Stokes emphasized gaps remain.
"The funding this year and the funding so far doesn't address the child care crisis for middle-income families," Stokes noted. "And it doesn't solve the issue of child care providers not being able to make a living wage."
Stokes added not finding care puts parents in a bind and impacts the economy.
"When parents can't find child care or can't afford child care, they can't work and then they're faced with impossible choices with few good outcomes," Stokes stressed.
Disclosure: Child Care Aware of Washington contributes to our fund for reporting on Budget Policy and Priorities, Children's Issues, Early Childhood Education, and Mental Health. If you would like to help support news in the public interest,
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This month is National Disability Awareness Month, and in Ohio, parents who've adopted kids with special needs say living with a disability isn't always a barrier to independence and thriving.
Aaryn McGregor, a nurse in Richland County, said her husband adopted 15-year-old Samantha from foster care nearly four years ago. Samantha was born without some of her organs and was placed in foster care as a toddler because of medical neglect.
With both physical and cognitive disabilities, Samantha has high needs for day-to-day care, but McGregor said she's made progress in her new home and is learning independent-living skills.
"We realize they have a disability, but we also want to see past that a little, just so that they can reach their full potential, it's not just the label, because people of all ages with disabilities, they can achieve a lot in their life. We think that's important," McGregor said.
Research shows children with disabilities have significantly more disruptions and longer stays in foster care. Of the more than 680,000 children in the U.S. foster care system in 2017, 22% had a medical or disability diagnosis requiring additional or specialized care.
Rita Soronen, president and CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, said no matter what race, age or background, children with any type of disability or special needs are more likely to linger in foster care or age into institutional care. She said it's important for families interested in adoption to build a network of support, and points to the Wendy's Wonderful Kids Program as a model for pre-adoption relationship-building.
"Making those connections -- access to medical or psychological resources that they'll need before that adoption is finalized -- is critical, so that families feel that they will be supported, that they will have access, and that they can successfully raise a child in their home," she explained.
According to the Dave Thomas Foundation, its Wendy's Wonderful Kids Program is responsible for more than 14,000 successful adoptions across the United States and Canada.
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