It's often easier for those of us who volunteer with Arizona’s Foster Care System to find the challenges and weaknesses of the system but, if we dig a little, we can find successful efforts at various levels of government to change the system for the benefit of the children it serves.
In 2014, the US Government passed the “preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act,” the intention of which was to “assist foster parents in applying a reasonable and prudent parent standard in a manner that protects child safety, while also allowing children to experience normal and beneficial activities.” For the foster child, this law eliminates the need for court orders to approve normal family/child activities such as extracurricular activities or out-of-state vacations with the foster family. It also eliminates the need to conduct criminal background checks of the parents of a child’s friend before approving a “sleepover.” For the first time since the bill passed, I noted an entry entitled “Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard” in one of the documents I read this week in preparation for my next Foster Care Review Board. That law allowed the child whose case we are reviewing to participate in extracurricular activities (primarily basketball and the Rocket Science club) without the inconvenience of obtaining a court order first. This makes the foster care experience just a tad more like a “real” family experience for the child.
In recent years, California made substantial improvements to its Foster care system. Called Continuum of Care Reforms (CCRs), the bill was prepared to “make sure that youth in foster care have their day-to-day physical, mental, and emotional needs met; have the greatest chance to grow up in permanent…homes; and have the opportunity to grow into self-sufficient, successful adults.” (CA AB 403.) The reforms include: providing specific training for foster families, replacing long-term foster placements with more family-like settings; and transforming group homes into short-term, therapeutic homes to prepare children to live with foster families. In addition, efforts are being made in California to more accurately match the foster child to a foster family and to better train those foster parents, both of which will help prevent future placement changes. The CCRs also modify the rate structure for foster families and institute evaluations by youth and families of service providers.
And finally, in Arizona, several reporters for the Arizona Republic have been awarded a three-year Arizona Community Foundation grant to identify and explore problems that exist in Arizona’s Foster Care system. The purpose of this grant is to “support in-depth investigative reporting about child welfare in Arizona” (www.azfoundaton.org). More specific goals include: understanding why reports of child abuse are rising in Arizona (up 28% in the last three years), investigating the system itself, and finding solutions to the problems they find there.
So, as bleak as things may look at times, there have been some improvements in foster care in AZ and the US. And with some concerted effort, those of us involved with foster care can identify system weaknesses and bring them to the attention of legislators and journalists to effect important changes to reduce at least some of the stress experienced by children in care.
In 2014, the US Government passed the “preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act,” the intention of which was to “assist foster parents in applying a reasonable and prudent parent standard in a manner that protects child safety, while also allowing children to experience normal and beneficial activities.” For the foster child, this law eliminates the need for court orders to approve normal family/child activities such as extracurricular activities or out-of-state vacations with the foster family. It also eliminates the need to conduct criminal background checks of the parents of a child’s friend before approving a “sleepover.” For the first time since the bill passed, I noted an entry entitled “Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard” in one of the documents I read this week in preparation for my next Foster Care Review Board. That law allowed the child whose case we are reviewing to participate in extracurricular activities (primarily basketball and the Rocket Science club) without the inconvenience of obtaining a court order first. This makes the foster care experience just a tad more like a “real” family experience for the child.
In recent years, California made substantial improvements to its Foster care system. Called Continuum of Care Reforms (CCRs), the bill was prepared to “make sure that youth in foster care have their day-to-day physical, mental, and emotional needs met; have the greatest chance to grow up in permanent…homes; and have the opportunity to grow into self-sufficient, successful adults.” (CA AB 403.) The reforms include: providing specific training for foster families, replacing long-term foster placements with more family-like settings; and transforming group homes into short-term, therapeutic homes to prepare children to live with foster families. In addition, efforts are being made in California to more accurately match the foster child to a foster family and to better train those foster parents, both of which will help prevent future placement changes. The CCRs also modify the rate structure for foster families and institute evaluations by youth and families of service providers.
And finally, in Arizona, several reporters for the Arizona Republic have been awarded a three-year Arizona Community Foundation grant to identify and explore problems that exist in Arizona’s Foster Care system. The purpose of this grant is to “support in-depth investigative reporting about child welfare in Arizona” (www.azfoundaton.org). More specific goals include: understanding why reports of child abuse are rising in Arizona (up 28% in the last three years), investigating the system itself, and finding solutions to the problems they find there.
So, as bleak as things may look at times, there have been some improvements in foster care in AZ and the US. And with some concerted effort, those of us involved with foster care can identify system weaknesses and bring them to the attention of legislators and journalists to effect important changes to reduce at least some of the stress experienced by children in care.
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