I have been receiving news links that show a shortage of foster homes in virtually every state. As the number of children coming into foster care is increasing, the number of foster homes is decreasing. We’re running at a bad pace.

I was recently interviewed for a newspaper article about the subsidy rates for foster parents. I wrote about it in this blog. The article was written in response to a new report put out by Children’s Rights, the National Foster Parent Association and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. The report is called “Hitting the M.A.R.C. Establishing Foster Care Minimum Adequate Rates for Children”. You can read the full report here. I think the report is fantastic, but it’s also missing several key elements. I brought these up during the interview, but much of the information was cut.

These are my opinions as to why we have a shortage of foster homes.

Lack of training – Parents are not adequately prepared for the realities of parenting a traumatized child. I hear it time and time again from parents. “No one told me it would be like this” or “I had never heard of half of these things before”. It is my OPINION that many issues with children are soft pedaled so that the worker can get a child placed into a home.

Lack of support – Once a child is placed in a home the priority level for that child goes down. I’m not totally blaming the workers, it’s how we all approach life. The crisis situation gets handled first, and in social services the crisis is the child that needs a home. Foster parents wait days for their phone calls to be returned. They are not given information for the resources they so desperately need. Things like therapists, mental health providers, respite providers, and other elements crucial to providing good care for the child.

Lack of respite – Believe me, I have asked time and time again for a list of respite providers and I keep hearing “We don’t have one.” That’s not the way we need to operate. Even at ATN, or list of respite providers is very slim, but these are the workers that know the families that are working with kids. As a foster parent, your resources are pretty limited as it is. As an adoptive parent, I can use whoever I choose for respite, but foster parents have to use people approved by social services. If that’s the case, social services should be providing the names.

Severity of the kids – The issues we are facing in kids today are much worse than they were 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Sammy’s foster mom has been working with kids for over 35 years. She has been a social worker, a group home coordinator and now a treatment foster parent. She said that the worst child on her caseload when she started wouldn’t even qualify for foster care now. What does that tell you about the issues with the kids? When I was born, mothers may have smoke, or even had some alcohol during a pregnancy. Worst case scenario was that a mother smoked pot during a pregnancy. Now we have crystal meth, heroin, cocaine, and numerous other drugs, and mothers that consume vast quantities of alcohol during pregnancy. This presents new challenges, “birth defects” and mental health issues that we can’t keep up with.

Burnout – Being a parent is a 24/7/365 job. There are no sick days and you might get a vacation day if you can find a respite provider. Being a foster parent adds a whole new dynamic to parenting. As a “regular” parent, you don’t take your kids to numerous therapists, doctors, birth parent visits, court hearings and other appointments. You usually don’t have to have the school call you several times a week because your child is causing problems. You don’t live with alarms, security cameras, locks on everything, and numerous medications in your cabinet. Compound that by the several children that all need the same thing that live in your home. It’s exhausting.

Money – Yes, I think money is an issue, but for many parents, it’s the bottom of the list. Even if the subsidy were increased it doesn’t change the other issues I have listed above. It would help, but until things like support and education are in place, I think we’re still going to have a shortage of foster homes.

If you have the time, start writing to your elected your officials and tell them what foster parents need. If enough of us do it, we might get somewhere.

Foster home shortage in Texas

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