Inside the Foster Care System

Story by Spencer Clifton | Design & Photo Illustration by Sara Roach

Imagine if your biological mother was a narcissistic schizophrenic due to the over- use of drugs and alcohol. On top of this, your dad died when you were one, so your mother is the only parent you can rely on for support. For Amanda Fernandez*, se- nior Pre-Medicine major and former foster child of 13 years, this was a reality.

Waking up and experiencing the day-to- day traumas in the same way that Fernan- dez dealt with throughout her whole child- hood is something many children face.

With numerous kids entering the foster system each year, there are many factors influencing their individual experiences and realities within the system.

“For kids in care, every day it is like that moment when you are getting into a boat and you have one foot on the dock and one foot in the boat,” says Jessica Strawn, full- time senior lecturer of Sociology and Social Services and former child social worker.

Every experience within the system is unique to the individual and comes with a wide range of emotions. Each child in the system goes through this process due to varying circumstances in their life.

Jane Mercer*, junior Public Health major and former foster child explains that she entered the foster system at 12-years-old because her mother was addicted to pre- scription pills and other illegal substances. Her case was reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) and she was removed from the home.

“It was my normal, so I did not realize that other people did not live like that,” explains Mercer. For some, this life of constant relocation becomes a routine no different than any other child’s life. Mercer adds that she was in three foster homes and two group homes throughout the duration of her time in the system.

The Role of the Worker

When transitioning into foster care, social workers are assigned to the case to aid the child in this change.

Mercer explains that she was visited by a few different social workers throughout her duration in foster care. “I had a total of three over a two-year span,” she says. “My first one ... I did not like her. My second one I did not have her for long enough to build a relationship with her, but I had nothing against her [and] the third one I had was very nice and would listen to what I wanted.”

Assigned social workers are not the only people there to help children through the transition. Mercer had a guardian ad litem appointed to her to act on her behalf who supported her during those hard times.

According to the Washington State Admin- istrative Office of the Courts, “A guardian ad litem is an individual appointed by the court to represent the best interests of a child.”

“She had explained to me that she was volunteering for her position, so she was not being paid by the state. She was not in it for the money. She was really in it to be the voice for the child,” Mercer says.

Until being placed in her aunt’s care, Mercer relied on a support system of guardians and social workers to help her navigate the system.

For Fernandez, once CPS got involved in her case, she explains that she had to spend the next few years of her childhood jumping around from relatives’ and friends’ houses, before finally winding up at her half-siblings’ biological father’s house.

“He originally took us because he was receiving money from the government to help take care of us. That all stopped when we turned 18 so he kicked us out,” says Fernandez. “We were completely unaware that was even a factor of us living there. We thought he was going to adopt us.”

As seen through many cases, one of the hardest aspects of being a foster child is the unknown of whether you will ever be reunited with family or if there is anyone supporting you. But what does this process look like from a worker’s perspective?

A Look Into the Process

There are many reasons why a child would be placed in foster care, but that is not always the first option for social workers on the case.

“Some of the cases I work on are kids in foster care, but some of them are cases where we are trying to prevent them from coming into care. That is really the goal of child welfare services ... We want kids to stay with their families,” explains Strawn.

Despite the efforts of determined state social workers, with 269,690 children entering the foster care system in 2017 according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, it is shown that not every child can be guaranteed to stay with their family.

“There [are] a couple of different ways a kid can get in,” says Strawn. There is “enforcement action, such as law enforcement going out and seeing a kid in danger and they decide to take the child into custody.”

This is the quickest way a child can leave a dangerous situation because “in the state of Washington, social workers do not have the authority to just go remove children,” explains Strawn.

Another way that a child can be removed from the home is through a petition. Strawn says, “The social worker gathers enough evidence to write what is called a dependency petition and then a judge will have to sign off on the removal order.”

The third, and final way a child is put into foster care is by parents who voluntarily put their kids in the system.

“You will find a parent who is in really big distress and they will voluntarily place their child temporarily in foster care so that they can have time to make a plan for themselves,” says Strawn. “They are not necessarily unfit parents; they just don’t have the resources they need to get a safe place to live.”

Although it may seem simple, this process is not always fast and is different for every case.

“It took a very long time for Child Protective Services to get involved and for the process to start moving,” explains Fernandez. “You cannot just take them out of an obviously dangerous situation without going to court a bunch. I remember going to court a ton as a kid.”

During these different methods of entering the system, the hope is that the children can be reunified with their family. However- er, in some cases, children that can’t return home due to an unsafe environment will go up for adoption, according to Strawn.

When foster parents are looking to adopt, they often choose younger children because of the common desire for people to start raising children from a young age. Unfortunately, “once a kid hits double dig- its, the likelihood of them getting adopted goes down quite a bit ... there is just the presumption without even meeting those kids that the older they are the more baggage they have,” says Strawn.

Not only is this process extremely difficult for the children and the families involved, but every case also has the ability to take a toll on the worker as well.

Through the Eyes of a Social Worker

“A foster child to me looks like a gift that was given, not appreciated, deserted, [who is] wrapped [in] opportunity and growth potential,” says Senior Practice Associate for Child Welfare and longtime school Social Worker for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), Cynthia Henderson.

“In some cases, it will require much work, therefore, the recipient of this gift must be ready to work for the final unwrapping.”

A social worker often plays a vital role in the life of a foster child. Henderson being a school social worker, was responsible for making sure kids had school supplies or uniforms if needed.

“I conduct classroom observations to make sure that they function well with others, make sure that they understand instruction or access to any academic and emotional support they need in the class,” Henderson says.

This emotional support is a large portion of the social worker’s duties. Henderson works in “clinical counseling to help children solve their mental, emotional and behavioral issues [which] are shared with the Child Welfare Social Worker to help them pair foster children with a suitable match.”

This work may sound simple and encouraging but has been said to leave workers emotionally drained. According to Strawn, case workers in the state of Washington have a high turnover rate, which not only affects the workers but also the families.

“We are putting all of these dollars into training and then losing these people. So you can imagine the effect on kids when we have brand new workers coming to meet with them all the time,” she says.

The relationship between a social worker and the children they work with has a huge effect on the outcome of the child, explains Strawn. “Social workers that stick around the kids will have better outcomes ... They form relationships, kids learn to trust and workers are more invested in making plans for those kids.”

This bond between the worker and the kids on their caseload can have a lasting impact on their life journey. Many may have struggled in their previous experiences in the foster system, yet choosing to look at the positives of their lives now, rather than dwelling in the past, can change their outlook on life.

“I definitely have a different outlook on life. A lot of people take things for granted or are like, ‘oh I wish this didn’t happen,’ but I am definitely more positive because I have seen the different places you can live in and what it is like to have no family,” says Mercer.

*Names changed to protect the privacy of at-risk sources

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