NATIONAL STORY CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES WITHIN AMERICA’S CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM BY TOLEDO STREETS THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM IS COMPLICATED. The system removes children from harmful and potentially lethal situations and strives to ensure familial connections. It also has a long history of inflicting trauma and creating harm in the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Just as complex as the system are the people involved with it. There are those who work for what is in the best interest of children, families, and the community and fight for equity, connection, health, and wholeness. Some embody problematic stereotypes and are not concerned about the well-being of the children, families, or the community. There are many inspirational stories of powerful, even life-changing, experiences that people have with the system, and these are a very important part of a comprehensive understanding of the system and all its nuances. As a former foster parent and kinship care provider, as well as an adoptive mother, I feel compelled to speak about a less encouraging, but still critically important part of the system: the ways that I experienced the system fail. It is not until the problems of a system are brought to light that we can begin to fix them. In my experience, this is a taste of some of the failures of the child welfare system. FAMILIES: NAVIGATING A BUREAUCRATIC SYSTEM Interacting with the child welfare system is difficult and can easily be overwhelming for families between meetings, requirements, and expectations. All these additional activities and obligations can mean leaving work, securing transportation, finding childcare, or possibly even missing out on some of the services required by the system itself. Families are also not always provided with the support that they need to effectively care for their children. Instead of being approached and treated like people who need help, parents may be viewed with little compassion. Yes, many of the parents with children involved in the child welfare system have made bad, often harmful decisions that impacted their children. They also love their children. While case plans are intended to provide support, too often, they are viewed as a checklist of general mandates. This lack of ongoing and individualized support is one of the factors that contributes to children coming back into foster care after being reunited with their parents. Support, information, and guidance for kinship care providers are essentially non-existent. As kinship care providers, we were not given any training or financial support and very little was communicated to us. In addition, kin are not always provided with all the information that they need to make thoughtful decisions. For example, when family members are first approached regarding children in foster care, they are not always informed whether the children are already placed in prospective adoptive homes. These children might have been in these homes for a year or more, forming secure attachments, and it could be highly traumatic for them to be moved elsewhere. FOSTER FAMILIES: INADEQUATE TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES Through insufficient training and support, foster families are not set up by the system to effectively provide the level of care often required. In addition, communication is one of the biggest challenges as a foster parent. Depending on the caseworker (and their supervisor), many foster parents are not given the basic information that they need to effectively navigate systems and ensure the children in their care have essential support. When it comes to the sharing of information, are legitimate (and legal) reasons to limit there the amount of information that is shared. At the same time, there is a lot of information that can be shared but is not shared or is incorrectly shared. In some cases, foster parents know the children best, yet they are not viewed or brought into conversations as the experts they are. As foster parents, when we were brought in for a meeting to discuss a potential change to a case, it was clear that the decision had already been made. Furthermore, when we questioned a decision that was clearly not in the best interest of the child, we did not experience a willingness to engage in dialogue. Our experience was hostility, an unwillingness to listen, and a doubling down on their original stance. OVERBURDENED CASEWORKERS Caseworkers are overworked, under-resourced, and not supported in the ways to do their jobs effectively and compassionately. The number of cases assigned as well as the lack of consistent training, emotional support, and PHOTO COURTESY OF TOLEDO STREETS / INSP.NGO compensation are not conducive to healthy, compassionate, thoughtful, and engaged employees. Caseworkers see and experience abuse and deplorable situations. They need space, time, and guidance to process the realities of their job. CHALLENGES FACED BY CASA VOLUNTEERS Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers or Guardians at Litem (GAL) are children’s voices in court. Their role is to engage in an independent investigation of the situation, make recommendations to the court, and advocate for what is in the children’s best interest. As foster parents, we had a great experience working with the CASA/GALs. They were supportive and helpful, and we are eternally grateful for their dedication and advocacy for the children in our care. However, the system does not always engage and keep CASA/GALs as informed as it could, which makes their role very difficult. COMMUNITY IMPACT The children and families impacted by the child welfare system are integral members of the communities in which they live. Volunteers, caseworkers, and other community members engaging with the system also experience deleterious impacts. Underdeveloping and traumatizing people is problematic to the entire community for a myriad of reasons. CHILDREN AT THE CENTER The list of the ways that children may be, have been, or are being failed by the system cannot comprehensively be captured in an article. Children are failed when decisions are made that are clearly not in their best interest. They are failed when they are placed or remain in unsafe situations. They are failed when they are removed from the only community that they know to live with people who are complete strangers both to them and their families. They are failed when they transition between placements and their toys, pictures, and other significant items are not moved with them. They are failed when critical information about their biological family is not shared with them. Children are failed when their caregivers are not given or do not seek out, the support that they need to properly care for them. They are failed when the support and services that they need are not available to them. They are failed when they are kept from their biological siblings because they are no longer legally considered siblings (due to adoption). They are failed when they are adopted and returned to the system. They are failed when they age out of the system and do not have the support, connections, and skills they need to flourish. They are failed when cycles of trauma, abuse, and involvement with the system are not broken. OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE CHANGE That is a lot of failure. While I have never encountered a flawless system, the failings of the child welfare system feel especially heavy given that they impact so many and some of the most vulnerable among us. It is critical to recognize these 10 DENVER VOICE September 2024
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