There is an interesting report coming out of Rhode Island. There is a federal lawsuit against the Rhode Island Department of Children, claiming that they have the highest rates of abuse and neglect against foster children in the United States. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of 3,000 different children. That right there says a lot.

We all know that the social services departments across the country need some serious reform. This article highlights some of the areas that need the biggest changes. Here are some of the complaints listed:

Overloaded caseworkers who go months at a time without visiting the children. You bet caseworkers are overloaded, and that means the kids and the foster parents suffer. Services are not being given to the families who need them most. It takes days, or longer, to get a phone call returned.

The report claims that 69% of the child placing agencies in Rhode Island were unlicensed. WHAT?!?! I thought we already had huge lawsuits and this was brought to the public’s attention when we were looking at the possible nullification on many Russian adoptions. Why is this going on in our own country?

In the years between 2000 and 2005, Rhode Island had the highest rate of abuse and neglect in foster children in the country. This goes hand in hand with overworked caseworkers. Caseworkers not getting foster parents the services that they need and not visiting the kids equals stressed foster parents who may end up abusing a child.

One of the things I have heard said about abuse in foster care is that we take kids out of abusive homes, and we’re supposed to be protecting them. Instead they wind up placed in a home just as bad, and sometimes worse, than the home they were removed from.

That is not true of all foster parents, but it is the ones that do abuse kids and make the headlines that give foster care a bad name.

The story of young boy who is called “David” is detailed in a Providence Journal article. He was removed from his birth home at the age of two and placed in a foster home. He was there for two years before being sent to live with an aunt in Michigan who was unable to keep him. Upon his return, he wanted to return to the foster mom’s house, but he wasn’t allowed to. At the age of six he was placed in a psychiatric hospital for five months, where he was sexually abused by a roommate, and the story keeps getting worse.

The Providence Journal article also brings up the rates of care for foster parents. I did some calculations. If foster parents were paid minimum wage for “working” a 40 hour week, the minimum monthly payment would be $936. The highest foster care rate in Rhode Island is $474 per month or $15.79 per day, and we all know that foster parents work more than 40 hours a week. Figuring a 40 hour week, that works out to $2.96 per hour. How is it that foster parents are in this for the money?

I wonder if more states will have similar lawsuits coming? It sure would be a blow to the foster care system, but might make some legislators sit up and take notice. What are your thoughts?

Boston.com article

Providence Journal

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