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Foster Homes Declining In State

DCF Struggling To Support Families, Recruit New Ones

By COLIN POITRAS
Courant Staff Writer

January 2 2006

A steady drop in licensed foster homes over the past four years is putting increased pressure on Connecticut's already overburdened child welfare system.

The state Department of Children and Families reports there are 790 fewer licensed foster homes today than there were in 2001.

And each year for two of the past three years, DCF has closed more foster homes than it has opened. The one exception was in 2003, when the agency bucked the trend and licensed eight more homes than it closed.

The drain has resulted in hundreds of abused and neglected children - especially older teens, siblings, children of color and those with special medical needs - languishing in institutions, hospitals, group homes or emergency shelters that are expensive and supposed to be temporary.

Recognizing the crisis, a year ago DCF offered to pay a private organization $250,000 to increase recruitment through better marketing of the agency's needs.

While more than a dozen organizations inquired, none offered a bid.

A year later, DCF is still struggling to address the problem with no clear plan in place. Agency spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said DCF is considering another request for help with a better recruitment strategy, but he didn't know when it was going to be done.

A recent upsurge in adoptions is partly responsible for the decline, Kleeblatt said. Subsidized guardianships, college tuition assistance for adopted children and other incentives are among the changes linked to the increase in the number of foster parents who are adopting their foster children.

Those parents or relatives then often give up their foster care license to focus on their new child, Kleeblatt said.

He said 70 percent of the agency's adoptions are by foster parents.

Foster parents are trained and licensed by the state. They are reimbursed for their time and effort on a rate that varies with the child's age and needs. Many foster parents are simply kind-hearted people who agree to take in an abused or neglected child until they are reunited with their parents or find another permanent home. But foster parents can also be relatives, acquaintances such as teachers or coaches, or families interested in ultimately adopting the child.

Many foster parents are leaving simply out of frustration, according to Jean Fiorito, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents in Rocky Hill. The nonprofit organization is the leading private provider of foster parent training, support and advocacy for DCF.

In a recent survey of foster parents who left the system, 28 percent said they left because of adoption and 22 percent said they left because DCF did not support them enough, Fiorito said.

"The biggest complaint I hear is no one [at DCF] returns phone calls," Fiorito said. "And sometimes that's all it takes."

Fiorito said she is amazed at the dedication, patience and commitment of foster parents who take the time to love and care for sometimes significantly troubled or medically needy kids.

But in return for their time, foster parents expect to be made partners in the child's care, Fiorito said. In many cases, they are not, she said.

Foster parents have to rely on state social workers to tell them about a child's needs. They are barred from reviewing the child's full case file. As a result, some foster parents have expressed anger that they were not told about a child's particular medical need, past trauma history or other behavioral issues that can cause stress for both the foster parent and the child.

"Some workers believe that if they tell the truth [about a child], the foster parent isn't going to say, `Yes' [and take them in]," Fiorito said. "I believe that if you tell them the truth, then foster parents will work with you as long as you call them back."

Former foster parent Susan H. Paganini of Glastonbury said DCF was not entirely honest with her when she spent 18 months trying to adopt a foster child a few years ago.

Paganini agreed to take in a 9-year-old-girl, but learned later the girl had behavioral problems and was a possible victim of sexual abuse - something DCF never disclosed, she said.

Then DCF pushed her to take the girl's twin 4-year-old sisters as well, she said. The twins also had serious behavioral issues and the three siblings could not get along.

Paganini said she finally gave the children up when a visiting psychologist brought her plastic shields to wear to stop one of the twins from biting her arms. Paganini, who spent thousands of dollars buying clothes, furniture and playthings for the children, said her house was trashed and she was covered with bruises.

"I have nothing nice to say about [DCF], they lied to me two times," said Paganini, who works out of her home. "It's a state agency you can't trust and I think that's so important, especially for something so important as an adoption."

Fiorito said foster parents also complain about being left out of the planning process for their children. Although they take care of the child 24 hours a day, often for weeks, months and sometimes years, they are often not consulted when DCF drafts a plan for the child's permanent placement, Fiorito said.

One thing Connecticut foster parents don't complain about, Fiorito said, is low pay - as is often the case in other states. Connecticut's foster parents are some of the best paid in the country, Fiorito said.

Connecticut foster parents are paid based on a rate set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the cost of living for families in the urban Northeast. They receive $751 a month for children up to age 5, $764 a month for children 6 to 11, and $834 a month for those 12 and over. The rate is substantially higher for children with complex medical problems ($1,376 a month) and minor parents with children of their own ($1,584.)

By comparison, Idaho pays about $300 a month for children ages 6 to12 and New Jersey pays about $565 a month for children age 13 and up.

Once foster parents are licensed, they tend to remain in the program if they make it through the first year. Fiorito said her survey showed that 31 percent of the foster parents who terminated their license did so in the first year. That number dropped to 15 percent in the second year and continued to drop until years six through 10, when the number shot back up to 31 percent. Fiorito said the 31 percent figure may be expected as foster parents either adopt the child in their care or no longer can afford the time or commitment the job demands.

While DCF recognizes it needs more foster parents, the agency is trying to reduce its use of foster care overall and is leaving more children in their homes while their parents receive services, Kleeblatt said.

Foster care is supposed to be used only when abused and neglected children are at imminent risk of harm.

As of Dec. 25, there were 6,265 abused and neglected children in state custody living away from their parents. Of that total, 4,338 were in foster homes. The remainder were in DCF facilities, group homes, private residential treatment programs, safe homes and shelters.

Adolescents between 13 and 18 comprise about 43 percent of the children living in state custody. Last year DCF could not find a suitable foster home for nearly 40 percent of them. There are 257 children with significant, sometimes life-threatening medical needs now in state custody, many of whom are looking for capable, loving families to care for them.

"We certainly want to recruit more homes, especially homes for the children who traditionally have been hardest to find homes for - specifically older adolescents, sibling groups, children of color and those with complex medical needs," Kleeblatt said.

"But if you look at the overall system, including the quality of homes we have and the increased permanency and services in the home, we think we're making strides," Kleeblatt said.

People interested in becoming a foster parent can call 1-888-KID-HERO for more information. Information about foster parenting can also be found on DCF's website: http://www.state.ct.us/dcf/