Housing as family preservation
....hello from Seattle!
I’m in Seattle today for the International Ombuds Association conference, so I guess it’s appropriate that today’s column was inspired by a recent article from the Seattle Times. Lack of family housing is often a reason children are removed from their families and placed in foster care. “Stable housing” is often also a barrier to reunification between children in care and their parents. A pilot program in the state of Washington has been providing families with children in care with subsidized housing and case management support while requiring the families to contribute a percentage of their income toward rent. The State is now looking to expand the program and expects it will save the State $12mm in foster care costs.
The idea of providing housing to keep families together and to enable family reunification isn’t new, but implementing the concept has proven complicated. Federal housing programs offer opportunities for housing-challenged families involved with child welfare agencies as well as youth aging out of care, but the availability of those supports varies from place to place and navigating the bureaucracy is challenging.
Then, too, a major barrier is the fact that there is so little safe, affordable or subsidized housing available. Here in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Dangerous Dwellings series has highlighted the fact that many families eligible for subsidized housing are relegated to apartment complexes that aren’t safe for adults, much less for children. In a recent visit to Atlanta, HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge admitted her agency allows these conditions to persist because they’re afraid of driving off the few landlords who will accept housing vouchers. What good does it do for the government to provide a family with housing that a government agency (child welfare) would deem unsafe for a child?
In my experience, many of the families involved with child welfare agencies can often be found in extended-stay motels. Unable to afford a first & last months’ rent and a security deposit, they end up spending a huge chunk of their often meager earnings just to keep that roof over their children’s heads. But in a time when safe, affordable apartments are scarce, converting such facilities into housing for families involved with child welfare agencies could be a short-term answer.
Nonprofits and the private sector could team up to convert some of these extended-stay facilities to supportive housing for children and parents at risk of homelessness. Families could pay weekly or monthly rent, with the agency in charge providing on-site social services and squirreling away part of that monthly rent into a savings account for the family with the goal of building the savings needed to afford the expenses needed to move into a decent apartment complex. It’s already being done in some areas, especially in terms of providing supportive housing for seniors and disabled individuals.
In other news:
As fewer children and youth overall are being placed in juvenile justice facilities, group homes, and foster care, Massachusetts DCF says the children in their custody have much more complex needs that in the past.
Idaho is investing $15mm to create psychiatric residential treatment facilities for children with complex behavioral needs.
Here’s a quick rundown on juvenile justice and child welfare legislation and budget enhancements in Kentucky and New Mexico.
Despite legislative efforts, child protection authorities in Hawaii can still remove children without a court order, as bills to correct this gap failed to pass.
Catch up here on news of Oklahoma’s child welfare system, which has new leadership.
In Western North Carolina, they’re experimenting with professional foster parents.
This story about a Louisiana foster parent who feels retaliated against by the agency for complaining is the kind I hear way too often, and that concerns me. Foster parents need to be treated with respect.
As always, your feedback and suggestions are appreciated!
This might sound terrible but just something to think about: Migrants( Illegals) and their families are housed in plush accommodations in cities across the US. Recently, I read this article: https://nypost.com/2023/01/10/tons-of-food-gets-tossed-by-nyc-hotel-because-migrants-wont-eat-it/amp/
Perhaps if states in the US would care for our own citizens like they care for migrants, our tax dollars could provide a better neighborhood and keep precious children out of foster care. When these children are taken from their families because they are in need of a home, you are not only destroying the child’s life by taking them from their family, but as seen here, not spending money on our own citizens to provide a safe home and care for the children. Saying there is no place safe, or no accommodations is a cop out when you see that migrants are treated better than the kids in our country! 500 a day?! It is pathetic and to think children are in danger and we are wasting taxpayer money on non citizens when our own citizens are being ripped from their parents, placed in harmful housing and often killed in foster care, is ridiculous! If you can budget for migrants, you can certainly build these people safe homes, or apartment complexes with security and suitable housing! Seriously, STOP with the excuses when mismanagement is rampant and children are being put in harm’s way! The proof is right in front of us all but like everything else, no one cares! Ignoring safety issues is ridiculous because the blood is on your hands if you see it and don’t do everything in your power to change it. If nothing else, find or fund shelters that house families so they at least don’t lose their children to strangers! With inflation, mismanagement and more, it is only going to become a bigger issue when no one calls out stuff like this and accepts it as normal in the US. Not political just an observation, and after reading your post, it is sickening to think of children in danger when this kind of money is wasted on non citizens who have no respect for the charity given!