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The post of “Colorado Pass Bill – Helping Siblings in Foster Care” has brought up a few questions that I would like to address.
Is this a trend? Are other states following suit with laws about the rights of foster siblings to see each other?
Some states are trying to assure that foster children are able to see their siblings. Colorado is the only state that I am aware that has passed any kind of law or legislation to assure that foster children have the basic right to see their siblings. It would be nice to see more states start to begin to give foster children the same basic rights that everyone else has.
When you say that former foster children were successful in their fight, who exactly opposed this bill, and for what reasons?
I said, “They were successful in their fight for the rights of foster children and have impacted the lives of current and future foster children.” This is not something that foster children have just started dealing with. Not being able to see their siblings has been going on for a long time. Foster children fight and struggle every day for their rights whether it is seeing their siblings, not being abused, finding a forever family, a voice in their future, etc. Sorry, I am not aware of anyone opposing the bill and what reason they would have to do so.
What happens in cases where there has been abuse between sibs, or the siblings have a generally unhealthy relationship?
The bill in Colorado both siblings have to want contact. There are also safeguards to protect foster children from abusive situations.
Yes, I can understand as a foster parent that sibling visits maybe hard and at times difficult to handle. When one sibling does age out of foster care and the other siblings remain in care, things could become harder to handle with the changing situation.
That does not mean that the siblings should not be allowed to have a relationship. Yes, sometimes the choices that foster children make may not be the best or may have an impact on their other siblings in foster care but that does not mean we should jump to no contact with their siblings.
More reading:
Benefitting More From Removal or Staying in The Situation?
Sounds good until it gets to the only decsion makers are the kids themselves. Two of my kids had sibs that were bad news for my sons and for the adoption. One kept spewing stuff about how she dumped her adoptive family and that my son should do that too. The other put another of my sons in direct contact with a very violent birth parent, and gave out our address. Neither kid would have said ‘No, I don’t want contact.’ The decsions maker has to be the foster parent, not the child. Typical political thing, if a little bit is good, a lot has got to be more better. Sounds not so good to me. John
Thanks for explaining. It’s good to know what’s happening in other states, although I don’t live in Colorado. I agree that foster children have already suffered many losses in life, and don’t need to lose contact with their siblings. But I feel for families who are trying to help a child choose a positive in life, when every sibling visit reinforces the negative. — Rachel