Foster Parents: Did you know?

Communication

Part 1 of 3

In this series we are going to explore the world of communication in the realm of the court system.

Oh, we hear that little chuckle. You’re asking yourself, “Communication, what’s that?”  We agree, and that is precisely what we will discover in this series. 

Let us look at a statement found in the federal passage of the ASFA in 1997. Pay close attention to how the wording:

“As a requirement of receiving federal foster care funds, ASFA requires that states provide foster parents, including foster-adopt parents and kin caregivers, with notice and opportunity to be heard in any review or hearing to be held with respect to the child in their care”.

Question: Were you aware of this? Has anyone ever informed you of this right?

Isn’t it amazing that foster parents remain uniformed of important facts such as this? But wait, there is more.

Who is more knowledgeable about the child (ren) in your home than you?

We are told that reunification is our goal, if the biological parents have visitation rights we are the ones who see the results, not the courts and/or the social workers. We are the ones who view results of the visit, then why will no one listen to us when we offer opinions on the biological parents after a visitation with their child (ren) or our recommendations regarding the reunification of this family.

We care for these children 24/7, yet we have nothing to say about their being moved to a new placements, or return to their parents. Social workers assigned to each child see the children very seldom and social worker home visits often not completed in a timely manner, is this due to overload, possibly. We observe the children in our homes daily and helplessly stand by to watch a judge reunify them to their parents, which is right most of the time. However, what about the few times it is not right, those times when the biological parents are still having problems, taking drugs, or we have smelled alcohol on their breath? Why will no one listen to us? 

There are times when we witness the biological parents have indeed turned their lives around, and deserve another chance to have their children reunited with them, yet no one listens to us.  We are supposed to have an input. By passing the ASFA the Federal Government recognized our value in the courtromm, yet, the Foster Care System does not.