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December 28, 2006
CAICA received an e-mail from a
34-year old woman who herself was in the foster care system as a
child in the '80's. She is concerned that, "in Kentucky, abused and
neglected children have been housed in detention centers due to lack
of placements." She expressed her sadness at learning not much has
changed since in the past 20 years and shared the article below:
Social services: More funding
sought to help abused children
Yetter, Deborah
Louisville Courier-Journal
Jan. 17, 2006, pg. A1.
Read also:
Hamm's zeal for foster care thrives after 46
years
Information and Resources
State slams
foster-care agency
(includes issues in Ohio and
Kentucky)
Jefferson District Judge Michelle
Stengel said she was frustrated that the state could not find a
place to house a troubled teenager.
A social worker, Tricia Mack, urged
the judge to jail the girl.
Instead, Mack was jailed for
contempt of court because of how she handled herself , the judge
said.
The dispute has become a symbol for
frustrated social workers who say they are struggling to protect and
house abused and neglected children in an under funded system that
is overloaded with cases.
Some lawmakers say the incident
highlights the acute shortage of resources to care for children
taken from homes because of abuse or neglect. And they say Gov.
Ernie Fletcher could help solve the problem in the budget proposal
he releases today .
The governor plans to honor that
request, said Brett Hall, a Fletcher spokesman. Hall said he
couldn't provide details, but "people looking forward to that will
not be disappointed."
Mark Birdwhistell, secretary of the
Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the program desperately
needs money because "the needs are great," partly from a dramatic
increase in children removed from homes.
The state pays to care for about
6,700 children removed from homes - up about 1,800 from six years
ago.
Cabinet officials blame drug abuse
- especially cheap, highly addictive methamphetamine - for much of
the increase.
Social workers, including Mack,
said they are increasingly frustrated about the difficulty of
finding placements for children, particularly those with emotional
or behavioral problems.
The cabinet has places to house
children, ranging from placement with a relative or foster family to
a residential center or psychiatric hospital. But it has more
children than slots and not enough money for more, Birdwhistell
said.
The cabinet spends about $318
million a year on social services for children.
Birdwhistell didn't say how much
more money he has asked for but said he has made the governor aware
of the need. He said the money would be used to pay for more places
to house abused and neglected children and to put more workers in
the field to handle cases.
State Rep. Jimmie Lee,
D-Elizabethtown, has said the program needs at least a 20 percent
budget increase.
And state Rep. Jim Wayne,
D-Louisville, a social worker in private practice, said the system
must be adequately funded.
"We are trying to get by on pennies
instead of dollars," he said.
Judge, social workers agree on
problem Social workers say they are well-acquainted with the problem
of finding suitable places for children, and the risk that presents
for them.
"It's been boiling for a long
time," said Patricia Pregliasco, a Jefferson County social worker
who helps investigate cases of children who are allegedly sexually
abused.
"As Tricia learned the other day,
we're the first people to be blamed when something goes wrong."
Pregliasco said many social workers
expressed their anger at a recent meeting to discuss their concerns.
She said the gathering of more than 100 social workers gave Mack,
who spent 30 hours in jail, a standing ovation.
Stengel said she jailed Mack
because of her disrespectful tone and demeanor and muttered comments
not captured on a tape of the proceeding.
But the tape did capture Stengel's
courtroom comments in which she made it clear she is tired of state
social workers coming to court to report the cabinet doesn't have a
place to house a child. At one point she threatened to hold the
cabinet in contempt.
"The cabinet has done this time and
time again," Stengel told Mack at the hearing. "It's up to the
cabinet - they've got to find a placement."
Wayne said the incident prompted
lawmakers to meet with Birdwhistell.
"None of us want that to happen
again," Wayne said.
The girl was eventually placed in a
residential center for girls. Birdwhistell said she is doing well.
Overwhelmed workers Foster parent
Shaconda James, 35, of Louisville said the judge was blaming the
wrong person by scolding the social worker.
"The workers are just overwhelmed,"
said James, who is foster mother to a 10-year-old boy she plans to
adopt. "They don't have enough homes for these children to go to."
James, a caseworker in the child
support office of the Jefferson County attorney's office, said she
entered the foster -care program with the goal of helping one child
but was repeatedly asked by workers to take more.
Pete Schuler, the lawyer who
represented the girl at Stengel's hearing, has been a public
defender for 24 years. He said the lack of placements for children
he represents has gotten much worse in the past few years.
"It happens all the time," Schuler
said.
Often, social workers seek to have
the child held temporarily in the Louisville Metro Youth Detention
Center to give the cabinet time to find a placement. But Schuler
said the center, which houses juveniles charged with crimes, isn't
the right place for children who are in court mainly because of
abuse or neglect.
"It's a jail," he said. "You can't
just leave kids in jail."
No room for children Gordon Brown ,
president and CEO of the Home of the Innocents in Louisville, said
the demand for places for abused and neglected children has grown so
rapidly that his facility stays full - including a 45-bed emergency
shelter for children.
"We are totally full, and we stay
full most nights," he said.
Brown blames extreme poverty as
well as drug and alcohol abuse for the growing number of children in
care. He said officials need to take note of such children.
"They are very reliable indicators
that there's something wrong with society," he said. "There are just
more kids than there are places to help them."
Tricia Mack and other social
workers are frustrated by the difficulty of finding placements for
children.
Jefferson District Judge Michelle
Stengel threatened to hold the Cabinet for Health and Family
Services in contempt.
Cabinet Secretary Mark Birdwhistell
said "the needs are great" for the program caring for abused and
neglected children.
_________________________________
Hamm's zeal for foster care
thrives after 46 years
By MISTY MAYNARD Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 9:47 PM
EDT Print this story | Email this story
After 46 years of service, Juanita
Hamm's passion for children in foster care has not wavered.
She has cared for children who have
been abused, both mentally and physically. So many, in fact, that
she cannot even count them all. Hamm said she does it because she
wants the children to know someone loves them, and she wants to make
sure they are safe.
Hamm said her parents worked at
Mason Manor, and she worked there a few days each week to give them
a break. Later, she decided to take children into her own home.
"I've felt like the children needed
me," Hamm said. "And I've needed them, too."
Hamm cared for the children, in
addition to her own two daughters. No matter what the foster
children had endured prior to entering her home, she made it her
goal to make them feel welcome and loved once inside.
"When they first come in, I know
that they're scared," Hamm said. "You have to make them feel wanted
and loved."
Hamm said she would ask the
children if they were hungry, and sit at the table with them to talk
as they ate.
"I never ask children questions,"
Hamm said. "I let them tell me what they want to."
Eventually, Hamm said, the children
would become accustomed to her.
"They feel different about
themselves, too, after they're here for a while," she said.
Hamm can attest to the many changes
the foster care system has made over the years, from the time when
she cared for children for years, to the months she now cares for
them.
One girl she cared for many years
ago, she remembers in particular. At just 2 years old, the girl was
in a hospital in a bodycast after her mother had beaten her with a
stick of wood. Hamm said she visited the child in the hospital, and
the scene was heartbreaking.
"No kid deserves to be done like
that," Hamm said.
Hamm said she took the little girl
and raised her from the time she was 2 years old, until she was 10.
"She was adopted by some good
people," Hamm said then. "She turned out OK."
That girl, Hamm said, lives out of
state now. But she still comes back to visit when she can.
CHILDREN OF THE SYSTEM
Children placed in the foster care
system have often suffered abuse, whether physical or sexual, have
been neglected, sometimes abandoned. Some will be addicted to
alcohol or drugs, and some are juvenile offenders, beyond the
control of their parents.
For children to be placed in the
protective care of a foster home, there is a process workers adhere
to, which can have a turnaround as quick as day, with the longest
time period for the process at about a week, according to Amanda
Roberts, the recruitment and certification worker for the Department
for Community Based Services within the Kentucky Cabinet for Health
and Family Services.
Roberts said once a report is filed
by the school, a doctors office or hospital, police or a neighbor,
the department has from one hour to 48 hours to initiate first
contact by interviewing the child.
Roberts said an investigation is
made by a "protection team," and the results are taken to court. The
court then makes the decision whether or not to remove the child
from their home.
In Mason County, Roberts said the
most common placement in foster care are teenagers who are "beyond
control" of their parents or guardians.
"Here in Mason County, that's a
major one," Roberts said.
The next more common reason for
placing a child in foster care is neglect, Roberts said. Very rarely
is a child removed because of sexual abuse. Roberts said they have
fewer reports of sexual abuse.
THE NEED
In Mason County, there are seven
foster homes. Lewis County has 15 homes, Fleming County 14,
Robertson County two homes, and Bracken County has only one foster
home. Most of these homes, Roberts said, have children already
placed in them. But the need for homes exceeds availability.
"In Mason County, I would like to
see somewhere between 10 and 15 homes," Roberts said. Between
Bracken and Robertson counties, Roberts said they need about six to
10 homes. Lewis County has four more families in training, so it's
"doing well," but Roberts said Fleming County could use a few more
homes because most there are full.
A child's stay in a foster home
varies, Roberts said. Some stay as little as a week, others six
months, or more. In past years, Roberts said it was not uncommon for
a child to remain in the foster care system for a decade or more.
However, it was determined not having a permanent home can be
detrimental to a child. So if a child is in the foster care program
for a year, Roberts said they must have a "pretty good reason" why
they are not looking towards adoption, and must explain about their
continued efforts to reunite the child with their birth family.
When placing a child, Roberts said
they try to place first with family, even if that means putting them
in foster care temporarily until a family member out of state is
approved to care for the child.
"The worker first looks for and
asks about other family," Roberts said. They have placed children
with family members in Maine, Florida, Ohio, Texas -- and several
other states. Once the family member is approved, Roberts said they
arrange it so they take the child to their family.
"We know that the best place for a
child is with family," Roberts said.
If the child cannot be placed with
a family member, Roberts said they try to keep the child within the
county. If all homes are full, they can place out of county, but
keep the child as close as possible so they can meet with their
birth family regularly. Roberts said it is the goal of the program
to reunite families, and foster parents are encouraged to keep
scrapbooks of the child's time with them, so the birth family can
see how they are doing, and the things they have been doing. They
encourage phone calls, letters and visits between the child and
their family.
RISING TO THE CHALLENGE
Those who are interested in serving
as foster parents often do so with the thought that simply loving a
child will work the change needed in the child's life, Roberts said.
However, they often find it takes more than love. It takes time and
patience.
"(The children) need to be told
that somebody loves them, but that's not necessarily going to fix
everything," Roberts said. "They come in with a lot of issues ...
they are going to need a lot of structure."
Roberts said sometimes when a child
is placed in foster care, they may have difficultly with school
work, have behavioral problems, are malnourished, have speech
problems, or a host of other issues. But one month of love, support
and structure can change the child's life. Roberts said at the
beginning of their time in foster care, a child may not be able to
say any words, but at the end of a month, a person can have an
entire conversation with that child.
Though challenging, serving as a
foster parent can be a rewarding experience, especially when they
witness a child's life changing for the better. Many times, foster
children stay in touch with the families they were placed with, even
years later, Roberts said.
BECOMING A FOSTER PARENT
The application process to become a
foster parent is intensive. Roberts said the applicant must provide
three personal references, employer reference, have home visits, and
if they have children, Roberts said they are asked about their
childhood.
The applicant must also have a
criminal background check, and Roberts said they check their own
system to see if there were any reports filed of child abuse or
neglect. If the person has lived out of state in the past 10 years,
Roberts said they do an FBI fingerprint check.
In addition, Roberts said the
applicant must complete 30 hours of training, meeting once a week
for 10 weeks. The training is provided free of charge, and usually
takes place on a Tuesday or Thursday evening, from 6 to 9 p.m. The
training covers the needs the children may have, types of behavior
they may display, what the parents can expect regarding the grieving
process, how to build attachments, and various other issues. Roberts
said the parents are informed of the strict discipline policy in
place, which mainly dictates the parents cannot use corporal
punishment with a child.
During the training they also
discuss various mental health needs, and the program's policies and
procedures.
SUPPORT
The death of 3-year-old Marcus
Fiesel in Ohio "opened up lines of communication" between foster
parents and workers in the foster care program, according to
Roberts.
Though Fiesel's death occurred in
Ohio, with his remains discovered in rural Brown County, the impact
of his death extended past the Ohio borders, and affected the
Kentucky foster care system.
"I think we've learned a lesson
from that," Roberts said about Fiesel's death, adding that it was
unfortunate how the lesson had to be learned. "The main thing (for
foster parents) to know, is there is support out there."
When a child is placed in a foster
home, a worker visits them in the home at least once a month,
Roberts said. Roberts herself visits them at least once every three
months in the home, and makes contact with them at least once a
month. If a child is "medically fragile," Roberts said they are
visited twice a month.
When a child is placed in a home,
Roberts said the foster parents are given the worker's home and cell
phone numbers, the supervisor's number, and her own cell phone as
well. Roberts said the family can call them anytime they feel
stressed out, or unable to care for a child.
"That what we're here for," she
said.
In addition, there is a respite
care system which allows a foster family to have a weekend off to
relieve stress. Another foster family will care for the child for
the weekend.
"Don't let it get to the point that
you're so overwhelmed that you break," Roberts said. "Call me, and I
will help you."
Contact Misty Maynard at
606-564-9091, ext. 274.
___________________________________
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