Praise for New South Wales for creativity regarding foster care
November 12th 2007 by Lisa in Fostering Adoption Parenting
In the United States, we are currently celebrating Adoption Awareness Month. The theme for 2007 is finding adoptive homes for teenagers in foster care.
Of the 114,000 children in the United States who are waiting to be connected with adoptive families, finding homes for teenagers has proven to be the most difficult challenge of all.
Meanwhile, in New South Wales, the State Government is investing resources to provide residential care for teenagers whose case files discourage adoptive families.
As a former foster child, I want to be in South Wales right now, because I would be interested to learn more about (and be involved in) their current approach. My hope is that insights from foster care alumni will be considered when making decisions about the model of these residential facilities.
I grew up in group homes in the 1980s, between the ages of 12-16 years old. This was because, at the time, there were few foster homes for older children. I lived in group homes until I started college at age 16.
Therefore, I have experienced firsthand some of the risks of group home life:
- The abundance of restrictions
- The low pay scale and lack of qualifications of staff
- The fact that your ‘houseparent’ is not your father, and might develop an attraction to you - and if that happens, it’s hard to know who to tell…
However, I also think that group homes would have had potential if:
1.) Group home staff were properly trained, compensated and supervised
2.) Common sense was utilized: In one group home where I lived, both male and female teenagers lived in the same cottage, with our bedrooms side-by-side. The staff bedroom was down the hallway. They were surprised when some of the girls ended up pregnant.
3.) Focus was placed on preparing young people for the adult world, including empowering them to participate in extra-curricular activities.
The pendulum swing away from group homes in the United States hasn’t always been beneficial for teenagers in care. In many cases, we are:
- Trading poorly screened group home staff for poorly trained foster parents
- Overlooking the fact that, if a young person stayed in a well-run group home for 4-5 years, with stable staff, that might offer more stability
With vision, passion and commitment, there could be more thorough and thoughtful responses to many of the problems in foster care.
By focusing on the developmental needs of teenagers and children, professionals could think outside of the box, and radically transform the foster care system in a way that provides both safety and permanency.
More than anything else, by listening to input from foster alumni, we could examine what about group homes could be improved and strictly regulated.
Stumble it!
November 12th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Hi Lisa
DoCS (NSW Child Protection statutory agency) has coped a flogging in Australia just recently. There have been several very distressing incidents: kids have died apparently after DoCS had been notified, kids in care have fallen through the safety cracks, wog children have been taken from school to be interviewed, the list goes on.
Community attitude is one of anger toward DoCS…and rightly so. However, I think it is important to remember that the perpetrators of child abuse are the ones responsible for the child abuse and the purveyors of the levels of funding are responsible for staff shortages.
It is refreshing to read your view of the creativity toward teens in care. Now we just have to enable more kids who require care, to actually get the defence required.
I cannot wait until child protection becomes serious business. To all you reading this: have you ever considered becoming a foster carer? Do you realise the shortage of foster care placements in Australia? Before you next slam the statutory departments for doing the wrong thing by our kids, reflect first on what you can do at a community level to help keep kids safe.