Comments on: The Review Hearing for Your Foster Child http://foster-care.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/the-review-hearing-for-your-foster-child Provides information on foster care including adult, respite, and kinship along with resources, struggles that foster parents will face. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:39:00 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: relativefp http://foster-care.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/the-review-hearing-for-your-foster-child/comment-page-1#comment-346 relativefp Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:13:23 +0000 http://foster-care.www.adoptionblogs.com/2008/04/23/the-review-hearing-for-your-foster-child#comment-346 We have encountered similar circumstances here. My husband and I are relative foster parents. It took nearly six months to get the adjudication hearing scheduled. Once it was adjudicated our case was "farmed out" to an agency. In our state Children and Family Services farm out their custodial cases to private agencies. They just oversee. Once the private agency took over our caseworker began discouraging me from attending the status hearing and Children and Family Services case reviews.<br /> <br /> Thankfully I spent a lot of time on my state's Children and Family Services website reviewing the law and foster parent rights. I knew they were wrong to be discouraging me and I spoke up. I think I am a foster parent who doesn't fit their mold - I don't take their word for gospel. <br /> <br /> Maybe if I received REAL support from them I would be more inclined to believe them. We ask questions of our caseworker that we never receive answers for. We request services for my great-niece that may or may not be provided for. It took us nearly six months after adjudication to get counseling started for her. It's no wonder people are discouraged. I'm just stubborn and demand to be heard. So I make myself the squeaky wheel, all in the interest of my great-nieces' safety.<br /> <br /> It's unfortunate that foster parents also bear the responsibility sometimes of finding this information for themselves. I understand that our caseworkers are overloaded. However, if foster families were provided with this information, they would be an asset that would save the caseworker time. As you say, who better to provide information to the decision makers than the people who live with the child every day. We have encountered similar circumstances here. My husband and I are relative foster parents. It took nearly six months to get the adjudication hearing scheduled. Once it was adjudicated our case was “farmed out” to an agency. In our state Children and Family Services farm out their custodial cases to private agencies. They just oversee. Once the private agency took over our caseworker began discouraging me from attending the status hearing and Children and Family Services case reviews.

Thankfully I spent a lot of time on my state’s Children and Family Services website reviewing the law and foster parent rights. I knew they were wrong to be discouraging me and I spoke up. I think I am a foster parent who doesn’t fit their mold – I don’t take their word for gospel.

Maybe if I received REAL support from them I would be more inclined to believe them. We ask questions of our caseworker that we never receive answers for. We request services for my great-niece that may or may not be provided for. It took us nearly six months after adjudication to get counseling started for her. It’s no wonder people are discouraged. I’m just stubborn and demand to be heard. So I make myself the squeaky wheel, all in the interest of my great-nieces’ safety.

It’s unfortunate that foster parents also bear the responsibility sometimes of finding this information for themselves. I understand that our caseworkers are overloaded. However, if foster families were provided with this information, they would be an asset that would save the caseworker time. As you say, who better to provide information to the decision makers than the people who live with the child every day.

]]> By: jerben http://foster-care.adoptionblogs.com/weblogs/the-review-hearing-for-your-foster-child/comment-page-1#comment-345 jerben Wed, 14 May 2008 00:22:39 +0000 http://foster-care.www.adoptionblogs.com/2008/04/23/the-review-hearing-for-your-foster-child#comment-345 In reality, from my own personal experience, and apparently from the experience of many foster parents across the nation, the Dept. of Social Services, and in some cases the court/judge, discourage the foster parent from attending and/or speaking on the child's behalf. As the most informed advocate for the "child's best interest", the foster parent should be the main source of information the judge MUST consider before making an informed decision. Afterall, the hearing is supposed to be about the health and safety of the child. In my own personal case, I was denied access to the Law Guardian, the DSS attorney, and I was told NOT to speak in court. I was also discouraged from attending the hearing and told that it was "only a lawyer's meeting". I later found mounds of information that federal mandates are in place that give foster families the RIGHT to attend and speak during these important hearings. I also discovered, sadly, that in the eleven years since these federal laws were passed, many states willfully deny these rights to their foster families still. This is the reason why quality foster parents are lacking in this nation, and why states are in continual fiscal crises; it costs millions to train, certify, and support foster families in this country. If more efforts were made to give REAL support for the foster families, and enforce their rights, then these foster families will be more inclined to stick around.<br /> In reality, from my own personal experience, and apparently from the experience of many foster parents across the nation, the Dept. of Social Services, and in some cases the court/judge, discourage the foster parent from attending and/or speaking on the child’s behalf. As the most informed advocate for the “child’s best interest”, the foster parent should be the main source of information the judge MUST consider before making an informed decision. Afterall, the hearing is supposed to be about the health and safety of the child. In my own personal case, I was denied access to the Law Guardian, the DSS attorney, and I was told NOT to speak in court. I was also discouraged from attending the hearing and told that it was “only a lawyer’s meeting”. I later found mounds of information that federal mandates are in place that give foster families the RIGHT to attend and speak during these important hearings. I also discovered, sadly, that in the eleven years since these federal laws were passed, many states willfully deny these rights to their foster families still. This is the reason why quality foster parents are lacking in this nation, and why states are in continual fiscal crises; it costs millions to train, certify, and support foster families in this country. If more efforts were made to give REAL support for the foster families, and enforce their rights, then these foster families will be more inclined to stick around.

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