Miss Lisa Goes To Washington

During the week of Thanksgiving, members of Foster Care Alumni of America from all over the nation will visit 25 members of the US Congress and promote flexibility regarding child welfare finance.

The government served as our parents, and now we are coming home for the holidays.

- We represent the 115,000 foster children waiting to be adopted this Thanksgiving.

- We represent over 20,000 teenagers who age out of foster care every year and are left to fend for themselves.

- We represent siblings who have been separated and kinship care providers who are not given adequate support.

Flexible funding might make a positive difference by helping to prevent the need for foster care for some children, and moving others to safe, permanent families more quickly.

The way that the system is currently set up, states lose money if they decrease the number of children in foster care.

Ohio Senator Mike DeWine has said that with federal funds, “The government gets what it pays for…if the funds can only be used to place children in foster families, that’s how agencies will tackle the problem.”

The message that I personally want to send Congress is balanced and three-tiered.

1.) Prevent entry into foster care (if possible)
2.) Find permanent families (whenever possible)
3.) Provide after care and resources (no matter what)

Because the fact is that some families can heal and reunify - and others cannot. Some reunifications are successful, and others lead to reentry into the foster care system (often due to lack of aftercare). Some relatives provide safety and security - and others do not.

Some foster parents have a heart for teenagers - and others do not. Some agencies have a sufficient number of foster families willing to take teenagers - and others end up sending teens to residential placements and group homes because there is 'no room at the inn.'

But regardless of any precipitating factors, our 'parent' (the Government) has a responsibility to provide help to us after we age out of care.

After we 'emancipate.'
After we 'are terminated.'
After we are no longer in the custody of Children Services.
After we are 'not their problem,' we are still their responsibility.

Because my stepdaughters are my children forever. After they turn 18, and enter college, whenever they need help, I as the parent have a responsibility to them.

I know that, when I sit at the Thanksgiving table on Capital lawn in Washington D.C. looking at the two empty seats at the head of the table 'in loco parentis,' that is what I will be thinking of...

Our efforts are made possible due to our partnerships with the Kids are Waiting campaign, FosterClub, Casey Family Programs and Florida’s Children First.

Too Many Birthdays in Foster Care

Photograph from www.kidsarewaiting.org

Kids are waiting. Fix foster care now.
This was the message sent by current and former foster youth, advocates and policymakers on March 27, 2007 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. as they delivered birthday cakes to every Congressional office and every member of the House of Representatives.

Each cake came with a birthday card that read: "Happy Birthday to the 513,000 children who will celebrate their birthdays this year in foster care without a permanent family."

People in and from foster care wore T-shirts. On the front, the shirts said, "I am waiting," and on the back "Don't turn your back on me."

The message was simple: "Foster children spend too many birthdays in foster care, waiting for a permanent family to celebrate these and other special days in their lives. Congress could act to help more of these birthday wishes come true. Kids are waiting. It’s time for reform."

WHO ARE THE NATION’S CHILDREN WAITING IN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM?
There are 517,325 children in foster care:
31% are between the ages of 0 and 5
29% are between the ages of 6 and 12
40% are between the ages of 13 and 21

WHERE ARE THEY WAITING?
42% of children experience three or more foster care placements
19% (96,593) of children live in group care or institutional settings

WHAT ARE THE NATION’S FOSTER CHILDREN WAITING FOR?
250,790 (48%) are waiting to be reunified with their birth families
116,031 (22%) are waiting to be adopted

HOW LONG DO THEY HAVE TO WAIT?
Average time foster children have been waiting to be adopted: 42 months
Average number of birthdays a child spends in foster care: 2.5 birthdays (30 months)

WHERE DID FOSTER YOUTH GO AFTER LEAVING FOSTER CARE IN 2004?
Roughly 287,000 children leave foster care annually.

In 2004:
282, 597 young people exited foster care.
149,154 (54%) were returned to their parents
50,567 (18%) were adopted
32,848 (12%) left to live with relatives or via guardianships
22,741 (8%) “aged out” of foster care at 18 or older
10,722 (4%) left for other reasons (ran away, transferred, died)

*Data from AFCARS (2004), ASPE Claims Reports (2005), and ACF Budget Reports (2005).

The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care, a group made up of child welfare experts, legislators, system administrators, judges, foster and adoptive parents and youth, issued a set of recommendations in 2004.

These included:
- More prevention services to avoid the need for foster care.
- Support relative caregivers through federally subsidized guardianship.
- More flexible use of federal funding in order to meet each child’s needs.

The vast majority of federal child welfare funds are restricted for foster care maintenance. In the United States, only 9% of federal dollars dedicated for child welfare can be spent flexibly to serve families and children. Approximately $704 million out of a total of $7.7 billion child welfare dollars are flexible.

With more flexible funds, states would have the flexibility to use funds to provide necessary services before, during and after foster care.

They could use these funds:
- To reunite children with their families.
- To place them with adoptive families.
- To provide legal guardianships when reunification and adoption are not possible.

My friend Lupe speaks out

Photo of Lupe from www.fosterclub.com

Below is Lupe's guest opinion, as published in the Tuscon Citizen on April 13, 2007.

Guest Opinion: Don't shortchange Arizona's foster kids

At age 5, I entered Arizona's foster-care system. That was the beginning of a series of childhood separations - from my sister, my home, my culture, from everything that mattered.

I was one of the more than 9,000 Arizona children who, at any given time, are in foster care.

Although foster care was intended to be temporary, Arizona's foster children spend an average of two birthdays in care, and more than 40 percent move more than three times while waiting for a permanent family.

I spent 19 years in foster care. During that time, I lived in 10 places, including state, private and residential foster care. I attended five high schools.

The most difficult placement was when I was a junior in high school. The foster family I had been living with moved across the country, and no placements were available for me then.

I was sent to a large institution with locked units. Soon I realized I was the only foster youth there, and the only reason I had been placed there was because I was without a home.

Waiting for a loving family, I ended up in a facility designed for young people who had broken the law.

My experiences led me to become an advocate for foster-care reform. I don't want any other child to experience what I did.

Along with other current and former foster youth, I went to Washington, D.C., to participate in an event sponsored by "Kids Are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now," a project of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

A new guide to the U.S. foster-care system, "Time for Reform: Too Many Birthdays in Foster Care," was released at the event.

Wearing T-shirts that read "Kids Can't Wait," we delivered birthday cakes to each House member in honor of the 513,000 foster children who will spend their birthdays in foster care this year, waiting for a family.

We wanted to let Congress know how important it is to reform foster care. We have waited too long for changes to a system that is designed to keep children safe, but instead separates them from their parents, brothers and sisters, and places them in limbo.

Just changing the way the federal government pays for services could help prevent some children from being placed in foster care and help others to be placed in safe, permanent families more quickly.

Because of my experiences, I am waiting for all foster children to be able live permanently with a loving family.

Frequent moves - common in foster care - can be upsetting to children who never know how long they will stay or where they will go next.

About 20,000 children each year "celebrate" their birthdays by aging out of foster care. I was one of those children. I grew up with no lifetime connection with a family. When I was in care, all I hoped for was to be wanted.

I hope Congress will allow more money to be used to keep families together and children out of foster care in the first place or to limit the time they spend in the system.

This flexibility would also create and support permanent, loving families through reunification, adoption and guardianship.

The need to reform federal financing is urgent. Today, more than half a million foster children are waiting, as I did, for a permanent family to love, nurture and protect them.

They have waited long enough.

Guadalupe Ortiz-Tovar of Tucson spent 19 years in Arizona's foster-care system. She is currently a coordinator for In My Shoes, a peer mentoring program.