Joshua Allen Online

As Usual, It’s the Children Who Suffer

By Joshua Allen

Calls to a few agencies have confirmed what we suspected upon first hearing about America Care closing.  Many foster parents are having difficulties transferring to whatever new foster care agency has won their business.  Previous overlooked violations, or waivers from things such as unsubstantiated allegations or difficulties on backround checks are suddenly in play.

Therefore it is by no means certain that some families will be allowed to continue to be foster parents. That the foster parents may have already dealt with the violations to the satisfaction of the county and state may not matter.  A previous waiver will probably need to be investigated all over by the county, and this will certainly cause a significant delay.

Some abused and neglected children who lived with foster parents for months or years may end up being transferred ( IE: Torn, ripped from ect…) to other homes, while the county seeks to judge the fitness of particular foster parents previously in good standing at America Care.

Some parents aren’t making the cut at all and their days of working with the system are apparently over.

The loser in all of this, of course, remains the abused and neglected children who have to leave foster parents they cared about and had bonded with.  Yet one can’t always blame the county, in some cases, for taking extra care that families remain fit to be foster parents from this now tainted agency.

The culpability for all this, of course, remains the former executives whose alleged misdeeds caused this huge disruption to children who have already suffered and probably don’t want to leave.

Try explaining to a 5-year-old that they must leave a home they lived in for a year because of something that happened months or years earlier.  Try to cheer a little girl up as she cries in the car while being driven to a new home. Make the best of a situation as you carry a toddlers belongings in a trash bag to the front door of a new foster home. Chat with the new foster parents for awhile, have them sign some paperwork, give a final assuring farewell to the child, and then leave and get on with your life.

Nice work if you can get it.

This remains a very tricky problem since the county rightly fears leaving any child in a home with previous violations, despite any remedy or solution the agency or even the county or state had imposed.  This will often not be in the best interest of the child, but the county rear end shall be covered. (The Golden Rule)  And our thinking on this matter has evolved since there are no easy answers, (such as appropriate relatives) which can accept the child.

So in the case of foster families on the fringe, and requiring a judgement call from the county regarding past issues, we can only urge the county and state to act as rapidly as possible before such foster child bouncing needs occur.

Please.

The Business of Child Abuse

Joshuaallenonline.com
Joshuaallenonline@gmail.com