Features

The Waiting Children By ANNIE KASSOF Commentary

Tuesday March 29, 2005

There is a dire need for more foster parents, as well as for “fost-adopt”” parents (adults who are approved to pursue the adoption of foster children), throughout the county and state, and in many other parts of the country.  

Each day children of all ages—everyone from drug exposed newborns to emotionally scarred teens—enter the foster care system in Alameda County; “truckloads,” says one veteran social worker. Typically, these are children who have been sexually or physically abused, exploited, abandoned, or taken from negligent parents. 

Children brought into the foster care system (some with little more than the clothing on their backs) start unwittingly to amass a legal paper trail not unlike that of an incarcerated adult, one which can involve social workers, adoption caseworkers, lawyers, and hearings. Some foster children eventually return home, but others never will. The fortunate ones are placed in high quality private foster homes, or in fost-adopt homes. 

But when no appropriate placement can be found, as is often the case with older foster children, they wind up in group homes. And group homes are rife with tales of the kids no one wants: the violent ones; the ones with emotional problems; children and teens whose already shaky sense of self-worth is further eroded by loss and upheaval. A domino effect can ensue: As diminishing confidence results in increasingly alienating behaviors, these foster kids become less and less likely ever to be adopted, even youth whose parents’ rights have already been terminated. 

Here in Alameda County, it’s possible to become a foster parent or a fost-adopt parent in just a few months or less, by either having your home licensed as a foster family home through the county, or being certified by a private agency. In both cases the process includes completion of a foster parent training program; a background check, interview, paperwork, Home Study, CPR and first aid classes, and you must be over 21. There is no fee, nor is there a fee for adopting a foster child. The county offers stipends to help offset the costs of caring for both foster and adopted foster children, and there are generous tax incentives for adoptive parents as well. And in California, unlike in some other states, gay and single parents can foster and adopt children. 

In an overburdened social services system with frequent staff turnover, children are too often the ones who get shortchanged. For once they’re in the foster care system, they can be swept up in a bureaucratic maze characterized by burned-out social workers, or social service agencies that bear the weight of ill-conceived permanency plans for the children in their jurisdiction. Media scare stories of horrific foster care placements are no help, and even people who might consider fostering are uneasy about taking on responsibilities for some of society’s most troubled children. 

The statistics are dismal: over 500,000 foster children in the United States. California, with a population of 34 million, has about 100,000 alone. Over 120,000 foster children are available for adoption across the U.S. Some of these children have already suffered trauma greater than many adults will ever face.  

About 20,000 18-year-olds foster youth age out of the system every year, and find themselves alone in society. Without the backbone of support from a loving family, they are expected to go on in school or find gainful employment. It’s no surprise that rates of homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration are higher within this population. 

As grim as this picture may seem, there have been some improvements. It was in 1980 that the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act was signed into law, encouraging the adoption of children from foster care by providing the first federal subsidies. In 1994, President Clinton signed the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, which stipulates that race cannot be used as the sole determining factor in adoptive placement. 

Yet there are still far too many children whose lives have been compromised from insufficient numbers of good foster homes, or fost-adopt placements. 

A vital component of taking on foster children is a commitment to meet challenges beyond those of normal parenting. It’s not for everybody. Bonds and trust can be broken as quickly as they are created, and undertones of attachment and loss are commonplace. 

But being a foster parent--embracing a slice of humanity as vulnerable as any; or becoming a fost-adopt parent and providing a permanent home for a child who otherwise may never have one, can be enormously gratifying. 

What if all the all the politically minded folks of the Bay Area; the ones committed to positive social change, and as passionate about their politics as their produce, considered adopting a foster child? 

Imagine that. 

 

Freelance writer Annie Kassof lives in Berkeley. She adopted her first foster child in 2001, and continues to foster other children. She is certified with A Better Way Foster Family and Adoption Program, which is always recruiting new foster and fost adopt parents. They can be reached at 601-0203.›