Child welfare departments make policies for caseworkers to put into action. Here are some overall principles and policy recommendations which would help shorten the time in foster care and move the train toward permanence.
Classify foster homes into three simple categories: (1) Foster Homes Open to Adoption; (2) Purely Temporary Foster Homes; (3) Homes Open to both Temporary and Permanent Possibilities. When reunification seems unlikely at the start, the child can be placed from the start in a home which offers a permanency alternative. Moves can be kept to a minimum.
Keep detailed public statistics: The availability of county-by-county and statewide statistics on reunifications, adoptions, and emancipations would hold welfare departments accountable to scrutiny. Interested parties could note the average length of time spent in foster care, and which counties appeared to be doing a better job. By documenting successes and failures, the child welfare departments might be motivated to work more diligently to find permanent solutions.
Reverse the financial gain for licensed child-placing agencies handling children in foster care. Make it less and less rewarding to keep a child in care after 12 months, or as adolescence approaches. After a child turns 10, begin lowering the amount incrementally that the agency receives, and offer a bonus for safe and appropriate permanence.
Rethink home-finding for children in care, especially older children. Nearly one-half of foster children are eleven or older and about one-fifth are over fifteen. (Shirk et al, 2004) More than redoubling our efforts, we need to seek out new ways to search for possible permanent homes. Pat O’Brien in New York (“You Gotta Believe”) offers one such approach. His agency finds permanent homes for children 10 and older. Instead of starting with the available pool of approved foster homes, he begins with the young person. “Whom do you like? Who likes you?” It might be a grandma, a neighbor, the child’s teacher, probation officer, coach, therapist, or the parent of a friend. That person will get a call. They are told of the young person’s attachment, and are invited to a weekly meeting. If the adult is interested, the process of foster parent licensing might begin. This is a reversal of the usual way homes are found. YGB begins with the interests of the child rather than searching the list of already available foster families.