Foster care kids need kinship families

Foster care kids need kinship families

By GLADYS CARRION
First published in print: Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Providing safe, nurturing and stable families is good for children, families and New York's taxpayers.


There are nearly 25,000 children in foster care in New York. Returning these children to their parents or finding them adoptive parents is one of the top priorities and challenges for the state Office of Children and Family Services and county social services departments.
This challenge requires that the state and counties be creative about finding permanent homes for these children if they are unable to return to their parents. The solution -- which has proven successful in 39 states and the District of Columbia -- is kinship guardianship care.

A bill before the state Legislature would implement a subsidized kinship guardianship program statewide, creating a new path to permanency for children in foster care.

Wikipedia refers to this solution as "grandfamilies," in recognition of the fact that the largest percentages of kinship caregivers in the United States are grandparents. But, it can also mean other people related by blood or marriage -- aunts, uncles, cousins or siblings.

A number of New York children have kinship caregivers. The caregivers may provide the children with permanent homes and the lifelong connections that research has found is critical for them to lead healthy and successful lives. But these caregivers have not been eligible for the subsidies provided to foster and adoptive parents. Many grandparents and extended family members are economically challenged and unable to step up to become kinship caregivers without financial support. As a result, children languish in foster care.

Research clearly shows that kinship foster care families are safer, more stable placements that are more likely to keep children connected with their siblings and communities than nonrelative placements. These placements also are cost effective. In Illinois, studies projected a savings of approximately $90 million over 10 years by eliminating the administrative costs associated with adoption and foster care.

Additionally, during this economic crisis, when it is ever more critical that every dollar we spend is wisely spent, this kinship caregiver program will produce savings for counties that now pay a $12,000 per child administrative overhead fee to foster care agencies in addition to the board rate.

Improving outcomes for children in foster care is an ongoing challenge. I am extremely pleased when we can meet that challenge, made even more difficult by today's economic realities, with a solution that is both good for children and families and cost effective.

Gladys Carrion is commissioner of the state Office of Children and Family Services.




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