Foster care system still falls short

• Published December 04, 2007

Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the filing of the Braam lawsuit on behalf of Washington state's foster care children. That landmark case, settled in July 2004, showed substantive flaws in the way the Department of Social and Health Services handles the 9,700 children in foster care.

As part of the settlement agreement, DSHS agreed to make reforms in six key areas: giving foster kids a stable environment instead of moving them from one home to another to another; improving mental health treatment; offering foster parents better training and information; reducing the number of unsafe or inappropriate placements; helping siblings stay together when they are uprooted from their homes and improving services for adolescents.

The most recent survey of foster parents found some progress in the number of foster parents who are satisfied with their level of training and the way they are treated by DSHS officials.

But that survey also found significant problems in monitoring foster children.

While the state has committed to a national standard requiring that foster children be visited every 30 days by their caseworkers, more than 60 percent of the foster parents surveyed said the child in their care did not receive a monthly visit from a caseworker. In fact, the survey found that 17 percent of foster children did not receive a single visit in all of 2006.

How can the state ensure that foster children are receiving the care and attention they deserve if caseworkers aren't knocking on their door and talking to them?

State officials say it will take them another 18 months to hire and train 400 additional caseworkers in Children's Administration to ensure regular visits. But for the 10 percent of the foster kids who "age out" of the system every year, that will be too little, too late.

Braam attorneys working on behalf of foster kids have threatened to take DSHS back to court and seek an order requiring the state to live up to the terms of the settlement agreement.

Meanwhile several legislative proposals are in the pipeline. Sen. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, has introduced a bill to create a separate state agency for the Children's Administration. That's looking better with every new abuse and neglect state that hits the headlines. A split would bring direct accountability for management of the state's foster care system.

Children's Administration, foster parents and lawmakers also have discussed introducing a bill in January to create a highly trained class of foster parents.

Daryl Daugs, an organizer of the Washington Federation of State Employees' foster-care unit and a candidate for the Legislature, has advocated that position as part of a six-point foster care plan that also includes creation of a separate agency for Children's Administration.

"We need change immediately. We don't need to wait for another pilot project. We don't need to wait for another lawsuit," Daugs said. His plan also calls for more social workers and cuts to middle management as well as the "FosterCorps" of professionals who would get special training and take on the tougher kids in the foster-care system.

With internal changes at DSHS, oversight from the courts and new direction from the Legislature maybe — just maybe — this state's foster care system can be the success it needs to be. It falls far short today.