Kids abandoned to foster care

....a systemic answer to a systemic problem.

Let’s talk about a serious problem: children and youth being abandoned to the foster care system due to their behavioral, mental health, or developmental disability issues.

On one of the email lists I’m on, someone in another state posted the following question:

A general question for the group.  Do other states have a statutory mechanism by which parents/guardians of completely out of control adolescents can get them out of their homes without triggering a CPS investigation and an abuse/neglect petition? 

In another state — Texas — a federal judge this past month gave the Department of Family Protective Services 90 days to come up with a plan to find appropriate in-state services for some 400 “children without placement” as well as around 2000 children placed out-of-state. Of the children without placement — e.g., living in hotels or DFPS offices or other makeshift arrangements — one-third of them entered foster care due to an unmet mental health challenge. Almost all of them, according to what I’ve read, have severe behavioral challenges. According to a September 2021 DFPS report, most of these children and youth were last in a psychiatric hospital (25%), on runaway (20%), or in juvenile or adult detention (9%).

As I’ve noted in news items before, many states (including but not limited to Idaho, Colorado, and Oregon) are suffering from this same issue of (1) children coming into the system due to parents’ inability to meet their mental health needs and (2) a lack of necessary services within the child welfare system to address those needs.

The truth is that no parent should have to abandon a child to foster care to get sufficient mental health services. Medicaid’s Early and Periodic Screening, Detection, and Treatment provisions are supposed to provide all children on medical assistance with any medically-necessary behavioral health treatment. In most states, almost all children qualify for Medicaid or CHIP, the children’s insurance program, most certainly children with disabilities who qualify for SSI. So why aren’t the services there, and who should be responsible for ensuring they are?

Lawsuits have been filed over this issue. There’s got to be a way to avoid this problem. Next week, I’ll delve into some ideas for solutions. In the interim, a few questions the audience:

1. What has been your experience with parents abandoning children to the foster care system to get help?

2. Have you seen any good solutions to this problem?

Thanks for providing your input and feedback.

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In other news:

• On the international front, a couple of new publications worth reviewing:

  • USAID’s 2022 report on how it’s addressing the needs of children in adversity.

  • UNICEF’s new report on its efforts to strengthen child protective systems.

• A South Dakota law would make discretionary the appointment of a CASA (or other lay GAL) in child welfare cases. Query: would this violate CAPTA? An attorney for the child is already mandatory.

• Hawaii is looking at requiring extended follow-up for adoptive families following a child welfare tragedy.

• It appears Oklahoma is making progress in its efforts to free itself from the bonds of a Children’s Rights federal court settlement.

• Complaints are arising about the length of time required to reach Oregon’s child abuse hotline.