Placement in Foster Care
When discussing the foster care system, it is essential to acknowledge systemic issues’ role in separating children from their families. Issues such as poverty, mental health, and racism can aggravate living conditions for many families, potentially destabilizing the home.
The following blog is the second in our series on the Need-to-Knows for the Foster Care System. Please click here to be redirected to the first blog. This blog summarizes how and why most children enter the foster care system and compares and contrasts the data between the different structures for foster care across the U.S.
Foster Care Entry
Although the exact procedures and criteria for removing a child from their home differ between states, the general process is similar. For example, before children enter New York City’s foster care system, abuse or neglect must be reported and investigated. If Child Protective Services (CPS) determines that a child requires removal from their home, then the Administration of Child Services (ACS) will obtain temporary legal custody of the child.
After removing a child from their home, typically, a family court decides what is best for them. Removals can last only for a few daysor they may be long term.
The primary goal of emergency removal is to ensure a child’s safety while the best option for permanent placement is determined. Similar placement options are available in every state: kinship placement, reunification, institutional placement, adoption, and foster parents. However, reunification is most often the ideal permanency outcome. In New York City, ACS aims to reunite a child with their original household or place them with a friend or relative whenever possible to maintain community and familial ties.
Causes of Entry & Demographics
In 2017, The most common reasons children entered foster care nationally were neglect (61%), parent drug abuse (34%), caretakers’ inability to cope (14%), physical abuse (12%), child behavior problems (11%), and inadequate housing (10%). Other reasons include parent incarceration, parent alcohol abuse, abandonment, sexual abuse, child drug abuse, child disability, relinquishment, parent death, and child alcohol abuse.
The demographics of all children in foster care reveal inequities between racial groups. In 2017, non-Hispanic white children under 18 made up 44% of those in foster care, compared to 51% of the entire youth population. Hispanic children under 18 made up 21% of children in foster care and 25% of the general youth population. Non-Hispanic Black children made up 23% of the children in foster care and 14% of the general youth population.
Child Removal
Issues with child removals are a prime example of what racism can look like in the foster care system. For example, New York City public defenders have observed a commonplace practice of using the foster care system to punish low-income families of color, particularly Black and Hispanic single mothers. Short-term child removals, in particular, can be weaponized by the system to punish families, often causing trauma to the entire household.
Separation, Trauma, and Lasting Effects
The case of Maisha Joefield, a single mother of color, and her daughter, Deja, is a prime example of such a traumatic experience. One night Deja left her family’s apartment while Maisha was in the bathroom, crossing the street unsupervised to visit her grandmother. A passerby found Deja and called the police. After which, Deja was removed from her home for several days and placed with a foster family.
Although Deja was a healthy, bright child, according to her pediatrician and school administrators, a single incident caused Maisha to be charged with child endangerment, placing her on a list of child abusers for years. Although Deja returned home after a few days, her mother says she now acts differently, more anxious, and scared.
Short-Term Stays
The states with the highest rates of short-term foster care start with Albuquerque, New Mexico at 48.4%, followed by Santa Fe, New Mexico at 39.2%, Akron, Ohio at 27.6%, New Orleans, Louisiana at 22%, and Reno, Nevada at 17.2%. The children behind these statistics were all removed from their homes then returned within a week.
However, Child welfare experts believe that, in most cases, short-term foster care stays are rarely necessary, causing far more harm than good in the vast majority of cases. These striking statistics are often due to local policies. For example, Albuquerque is at the top of the list because New Mexico has a law that allows police to unilaterally remove a child from their home for up to 48 hours.
In interviews with the Marshall Project, around a dozen youths who experienced a short stay in Albuquerque’s foster care system described the feeling of being kidnapped, with no way of knowing when they would go home.
