This story from Houston has me wondering about the logic behind social services some days.

A change in the fire inspection process for foster homes has some foster home deciding to close, or take in fewer children, both of which are detrimental to foster care.

The couple profiled in the story takes in medically fragile children, who are probably among the hardest to place, and now this couple has had to reduce the number of children they can take, all to avoid astronomical cost to bring their home up to the new fire “code.” This new regulation would require them to install a full sprinkler and fire system in their home, to the tune of about $3,000. For the average foster parent, that’s a nice chunk of change, and one most of us can’t afford.

I worked in the insurance industry for ten years, and aside from a few nearly million dollar homes that I insured, I only met one person who had a sprinkler system in their home. That man was a retired firefighter and fire captain in the City of Milwaukee for thirty-three years.

Do we require biological families with four or more children to have sprinkler systems in their own home? No, so why are we requiring it of foster parents, and to have them put it in at their expense?

I understand that they are caring for other people’s children, but we don’t expect the birth family to install a sprinkler system in order to have the children returned to their custody.

It’s not just sprinkler systems either. Some families have had to have electrical outlets rewired or replaced, along with having natural gas lines checked and a pressurization test done. All of these are done at the cost of the foster parents.

If the foster family takes no more than three children, they do not have to follow these stringent inspections. They can abide by lower standards.

The couple in the article have been foster parents for over thirty-five years, and had to make the decision to have one of their foster children removed so that they could avoid all the costly upgrades. I am baffled by this. For thirty-five years this couple provided care for children, and apparently social services had no complaints, but now their home is unsafe? How did it go from being fine one day to unsafe the next, and it had nothing to do with the quality of care they were providing, but the structure itself?

My husband and I lived in Houston for a year and a half, and my best friend is still there, so I go back and visit on a fairly regular basis. I think the city has more to worry about than whether or not a foster home has a sprinkler system that a “normal” home doesn’t have, or even considers having.

Photo credit