Foster Parents at the Senate

On November 19, 2019, a grassroots non-profit organization that we are a part of, called Foster Parents Together, were given the opportunity to speak to the Oregon State Senate on Legislature Listening Days. The goal was to voice concerns, experiences, and recommendations to politicians who have the power and duty to improve the foster care system. Often, a missing voice in the conversations regarding fixing the foster care system is the voice of the foster families who live the struggle every day. This was our opportunity to speak.

Aaron, along with other foster parents and advocates from around the state gave over 20-minutes of statements to state senators, the head of DHS, and the director of child welfare, in hopes of working together to improve the system.

The following is the written statement Aaron prepared and the statement to the senate was based on*.

“Hello,

First, I would like to say “thank you” to all of you for giving us this opportunity to speak today on this very important topic.  My hope is that we can work together to improve the state of child welfare in Oregon to benefit the children in care, the foster parents trying to help, and bio-families who need support.

My name is Aaron, and my wife and I have been foster parents to children in care for over 3-years. During this time we have had 13 kiddos join our family, aged 11-months to 16-years, for a duration of anywhere from no more than a few hours, to 3-years.

Although it has been an amazing journey full of rewards, there are also a lot of difficulties and barriers that we experience as foster parents. When I first read the letter to the Governor prepared by Foster Parents Together, almost every recommendation resonated with me as a foster parent. I am here today to talk with you, to share my thoughts and insights, because I feel it is important, and because at my core, as a foster parent, I speak for the kids. If the system can be improved, it is improving the lives of the kids in care.

Although I could speak to nearly every recommendation in the letter, I would like to focus my brief time today on two overarching suggestions presented in the letter.

The first is allowing foster parents to be considered legal parties to the case, as well as offered a seat at the table of all major team and decision meetings.

The second is childcare support, and more specifically, Center based childcare support provided by DHS.

So first, if you are unaware, foster parents are not considered legal guardians or even a legal party of the case for the children in their home.  Aside from the day to day hassle of not being able to authorize certain medical, educational, or say haircut decisions without prior approval from DHS. This also means that our involvement in the case  is at the discretion of DHS. Not only is this incredibly demeaning to foster parents, but it also jeopardizes the best interest of the children in state custody by not allowing the voice of the people who have been caring for them to share what they have learned about these children.  This topic is very close to me right now, as two of our girls, who have been with us for half of their life, have a family decision meeting this week.  “What is it about” you might ask? Good question. I have no idea. I only learned of the meeting last week, and it was second hand information from a case aid. This is not a disparaging remark about the caseworker, but an indication of how the system is currently set up.

The only legal meeting we are required to be  notified about, is court hearings pertaining to the case. Even then, there is confusion among foster parents in regards to: 

– If foster parents are supposed to attend

– If foster parents are required to attend

– If foster parents should attend.

If we do go to court hearings, we sit in the public seating area of the courtroom, not at the table with the lawyers, caseworkers, bio-family, and CASA, and are only asked for our thoughts or updates at the request of the judge. 

I attend every court hearing for my kiddos because I have learned that this is the only time that I may be able to provide a statement that is recorded in the legal record. However, I am very much aware that not every foster parent has the luxury that my family has, to attend these hearings. I feel that at the very least it should be requested that foster parents submit a statement to the courts for each review, especially if they are unable to attend in person, and that this statement should be included in the review and best interest decisions for the child. Even better, I believe that foster parents should have legal representation assigned to them, and be able to have a lawyer present to represent them at court. If CASAs, who see the child at least once a month are requested to submit a report and are considered a legal party to the case, foster parents should be as well.

As things currently sit, foster parents are not considered legal parties to the case, despite being the primary caregiver to the children in their home.  Although we care for the kiddos 24/7, take them to doctors, psychiatrists, therapists, specialist, councilors, teachers, etc, our voice isn’t explicitly valued. Timelines are messy in regards to kids being in care, and that is a whole other topic, but what I am getting at is; the way the system is set up now, I can have a child in my care for years or even the majority of their life, or be the only adult they have ever felt safe around, yet my voice, my thoughts, and my opinion are not required to be considered, because I am not a legal party. I am only granted a seat at the table if DHS allows it, or remembers to invite us. I feel that at least providing us legal party status, and possibly providing us legal representation would go a long ways toward bridging the gap between the system and foster parents, and greatly benefit the kids.

The second theme I would like to talk about, is one that I have thought extensively about. It is support with childcare.  I want to acknowledge the steps DHS has taken to assist with child care, because when we first became parents, we welcomed an 11-month old into our home, and at the time there was no childcare reimbursement support from DHS. We were fortunate to have very accommodating jobs, and a great support network to help us get stable after welcome a child into our home, but not everybody who wants to help children and be a foster parent has that luxury.

As of recently, a stipend has been offered for childcare to foster parents, and although I appreciate it and use it, I believe there are better solutions.

The stipend is only for certain ages, but I can tell you from first hand experience, that physical age does not always tell the full story of a child in care. Trauma, neglect, developmental delays, exposure, can all require children of all ages to need child care, and varying levels of child care. 

The current reimbursement rate provided is $375/month. I live in Portland, the going rate for full day daycare for a child who is 3 or under is about $1,400/month, and for a preschooler, it is around $1,200/month in my City. Those rates are only applicable though, IF you can find an opening. Other barriers to finding reliable childcare include duration of placement. When you answer the call from a placement desk and open your home to a child, you have no idea how long you will be caring for them. As I mentioned initially, I have had kiddos for a few hours to a few years. Try telling a day care that you need at least one day, but maybe one year.  This makes it extremely difficult to find child care.

I feel that there is a missed opportunity here for DHS. DHS could support current, and even recruit potential foster parents, by providing daycare themselves, while also creating a great benefit for themselves and kids in care. The opportunity I am speaking about is a DHS Center based day care, that is open office hours.

The barrier to entry for so many potential foster parents is child care, and not even long term child care, but just immediate childcare. What if DHS provided center based childcare, so they could call a potential placement family and say “we have a child, can you care for them tonight, they can come to our childcare facility in the morning while we figure out a plan.”  Long term, maybe, foster parents can choose between the DHS care program or the stipend, but this approach could allow more people to say “yes” when a call comes, especially working families.

The other benefits of this option are that DHS knows where their kids are during the day, and would have eyes on them. They could even set up routine medical checks for the kids, hold therapy, OT, speech, or skills training sessions at the center.

This approach could provide benefit to bio-family members as well, because it allows flexible visit times, and doesn’t require visits to disrupt normal routines. If the kiddos are in child care at DHS, it makes scheduling visits easier. There is even the possibility for bio-parents to gain parenting training and volunteer hours at the center, under DHS supervision, to help them work toward achieving their requirements for reunification.

Another additional benefit of DHS providing center based child care would be for DHS to have real life, in person trying for their staff to work with kids in care, and bio parents. An in center day care for children of all ages would be an amazing place to train new and potential social workers of all levels, on how to interact with kiddos, bio parents, and foster parents.

In closing, again, I want to thank you for your time and willingness to listen. My wife and I became foster parents because we wanted to help, we saw a need, and we realized very few were stepping up. We knew there was a crisis, we knew there were issues, but we wanted to help. Three years in, we have identified a lot of areas where improvement could be achieved. I could talk to you for hours about that, and the kids deserve hours, but I thank you for your time today. I truly believe this approach is collaborative and progressive. I hope we can continue to collaborate to improve the system for the benefit of the children, who of no fault of their own, find themselves caught up in it.

If there was one additional point in the letter I could highlight, it is the need for exit interviews. So many foster parents are closing their homes or planning on closing their homes once there is resolution around the kiddos currently in their home. I get it. We may close our home soon too. However, I wish that a home closing went through the same scrutiny and review that opening a home for a foster family goes through. I think DHS is losing a lot of valuable information by not having exit interviews when foster parents decide that they do not want to, or can no longer continue to open their home to kids in care.

Thank you for your time.”

*Due to time constraints and other factors, this is not a verbatim transcript of what was said. However, the statement that was provided captures the intent of what was prepared, and the majority of what is written in this post.

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