| ASKING HOW TO KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER
What if we could keep more children safely in their homes by asking a couple of questions? A lot of good.
Kids and teens who are abused or neglected must be protected but keeping families whole with support is a better alternative.
Children have the best chance of a bright future when they can grow up with their needs met in their own homes and communities. Of course, if children are in danger, separation is imperative.
Many families, though, can stay whole with support, which is undisputedly better for the child; kids in the foster care system have higher rates of mental health challenges, substance use, and poor educational outcomes.
Among the most common reasons that kids are placed in the system are parents’ drug use, parent or child mental challenges, and inability/failure to meet basic needs like utilities being cut off, food scarcity, or housing instability. These can be remedied without children going into the system.
Already, fewer Philly kids are being removed from their homes – from 2,500 in 2013 to nearly 1,300 last year – but it’s still too many. For perspective, Cook County, Illinois (home of Chicago) is three times larger than Philly and had fewer family separations.
In Philadelphia, a family court judge decides if a child or teen goes into foster care. Sure, the Philly Department of Human Services (DHS) has a role but it’s the Court that makes the ultimate determination. Judges hear the “evidence” presented by DHS, decide if DHS has done enough to preserve the family, and determine whether to transfer the child to a family member or trusted friend…or a group home or foster family.
What if judges could make their rulings through an additional lens? A pioneering pilot project in Iowa did just that. Seven Iowa judges participated in the four-month pilot project where they took a pause before issuing a decision by asking four questions:
- What can we do to remove the danger instead of the child?
- Can someone the child or family knows move into the home to remove the danger?
- Can the caregiver and child go live with a relative or trusted family friend?
- Could the child move temporarily to live with another relative or trusted family friend?
Just by asking those four basic questions, family separations dropped 55% during the pilot compared to the prior four months.
Families know what their resources are; the system just needs to ask them and then listen when they provide solutions.
- Maybe an aunt or uncle can stay at the house for a few months while mom gets her work schedule sorted?
- Maybe kids can go stay with grandma and grandpa while dad starts his sobriety journey?
- Maybe a local nonprofit can register the family with a program to get help with rent, utilities or food assistance?
Adding this commonsense step to the judicial proceedings in Philadelphia and across the state would save taxpayers money, keep fewer kids from getting trapped in the foster care system, provide long-term stability, and allow families to be have what they deserve – to be happy and build good memories, together.
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