[ Put 'care' back in foster care ]

Put 'care' back in foster care

By CAROL M. JOLLY

Special to The Capital-Journal

The problem is not the Florence Crittenton Home. The problem is a big one and begins with all of us because we do not stand for the best interests of our state's children. If we did, abused and neglected children would be permanently removed from damaging and neglectful environments long before the damage is irreparable. If we did care, the financial resources would be there to look after these children in a thoughtful and comprehensive way. This would mean we would be willing to see tax dollars allocated appropriate to their needs.

If we cared, we would be taking a good look at the very serious problems with the existing foster care system, starting with Kansas Children's Service League. Privatization has only shifted the shame and blame from the State Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to KCSL. Has anyone wondered why KCSL is constantly advertising to fill employee positions? Ask any social worker who works there if he or she feels great about the work they do or are expected to do. Ask them if they go home at night feeling exhausted, worried and defeated by lack of adequate funds and inadequate administrative support for their clinical expertise. Ask them if they can support such things as placing children in a foster home they are unable to supervise and support with the kind of time and attention such a job deserves. Ask them how they feel about being ordered to remove children who have made good adjustments without so much as a few days to allow that child to say goodbye to loving foster parents, teachers and school friends. Ask the good foster parents how they feel about having little or no relief when they need it from challenging, troubled kids. Ask those same foster parents if they feel supported by KCSL. Ask them if the money they are paid even begins to compensate the 24 hours a day, seven days a week they may spend in the care and supervision of a foster child. Foster parents are not getting rich being foster parents, at least not in this state. And we should all understand this.

Think about why Lutheran Social Services found itself in financial trouble and ask if it was because it was throwing tax dollars out a drafty window. I don't think so. It was trying to do a good job on a budget which did not fund "good" work.

Kansas gets an "F" in my book for its commitment and care for dependent children. If it is doing a better job than other states, it only means it gets a higher "F." So, when Ms. Ness of KCSL states that studies suggest residential treatment is not as good as foster care, she must be talking about the foster care programs in other states. I have seen the Florence Crittenton home and I know a bit about the staff who work at that home. They get relief. They get supervision. They get education. They get consultation.

All of this allows them to provide good care and treatment to some very troubled, needful youngsters. Is the State getting its money's worth? You bet it is. If Ms. Ness found Dr. Karen Shectman a bit difficult, perhaps it was because Dr. Shectman knows what I know --- that the "fallen out of favor residential treatment" which is replaced by foster care is a replacement to something none of us should be feeling good about. Until Ms. Ness can assure all of us that she is running a top notched agency, well funded by the state of Kansas, she need not take others to task. Meanwhile, we had best be thinking about tomorrow's adults coming out of the system we currently support.

I do not believe our governor, state senators or representatives who have children of foster care age would want any of their children in the kind of foster care system we currently operate, not even for a day!

Carol Jolly is a therapist living in Topeka.

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