Use of foster care down across state: More emphasis on counseling, education to keep children home

By Chris Parker  |  The Morning Call
March 16, 2008

When doctors found fractures in 23-day-old Giosyra Prendes' legs and ribs and evidence of shaken-baby syndrome, Lehigh County child welfare authorities placed her in foster care.

Her teenage father admitted hurting the baby, born on July 29, 2005.

In July 2007, after her mother, Audrey Johnson, now 19, took parenting classes and complied with other requirements -- and when caseworkers were sure the toddler would be safe -- Giosyra came home.

Giosyra is among an increasing number of children who have moved out of foster care and either back to biological parents or into an adoptive family.

The number of children in placement in Pennsylvania has dropped 4,252 -- 11.2 percent -- since 2002, according to the state Department of Public Welfare.

The number went from 37,941 in 2002 to 33,689 in 2007, said spokeswoman Anne Bale.

The drop is the result of providing more services to children in their homes, including counseling and parenting education, to prevent placement, said Cathy Utz, director of the Bureau of Policy and Program Development with the department's Office of Children, Youth and Families.

''We've tried to provide better services to children in their homes -- we're seeing an increase in those services,'' Utz said. ''We've seen a decline in the number of children'' in placement because of the improvements.

The number of children entering residential care dropped by about 1,000 per year from 2004 to 2006.

Giosyra's family, which includes Johnson's year-old twin boys, Jazyr and Jalyr McKoy, illustrates the efforts of child welfare workers to keep children in their own homes.

''They had me go to nonoffending parenting classes, basic parenting classes; they had me do therapy sessions,'' Johnson said.

She has returned to high school, where she is in her senior year. Johnson plans to attend beauty school, then community college.

While she concedes caseworkers ''aren't my favorite type of person. But they are trying their hardest to get the kid back to you. But if you don't try, they can't do nothing for you.''

Giosyra's father was placed in a juvenile probation program, from which he has been released.

Utz said about 5,000 children a year are reunited with their families in Pennsylvania; about 1,900 a year are adopted, according to the Department of Welfare.

According to the department, the number of reunifications with family went from 5,069 in 2002 to 5,431 in 2006.

But the numbers of children who return to placement within a year of reunification has risen slightly, from 1,546 in 2002 to 1,571 in 2006.

The total number of discharges from placement rose from 7,708 in 2002 to 8,721 in 2006.

The total number of children returning to foster care within a year of discharge has decreased, from 1,975 in 2002 to 1,884 in 2006.

Locally, the numbers of children in placement has declined in Lehigh, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery and Northampton counties, according to state numbers.

In Lehigh County, where Johnson lives, the numbers of children in residential care dropped significantly.

Pam Buehrle, executive director of the county's Children and Youth Services agency, attributes much of the decrease to the increase in services.

The agency provides services, including parenting education, counseling and programs to resolve parent-child conflict issues, and more concrete assistance, such as helping a family to find housing, or get treatment for a drug or alcohol problem.

''We even assist sometimes with a visiting nurse'' to make sure an infant is thriving, she said. ''You name it, we can provide it. We try to provide anything that is needed to keep the child in the home.''

One service -- STOP, or Short-Term Options to Prevent Placement -- is provided within two hours of a child's pending removal from a home to figure out what can be done instead.

But some counties are reporting more children in need of residential care: Schuylkill, Berks and Monroe counties saw their numbers rise since 2002.

Barbara Jakubek, director of Placement Services for the Berks County Children and Youth Services agency, said that an influx of newcomers, drug abuse and ''hypervigilance'' after the death of a child under agency supervision in 2003 all contributed to the rise.

Also, the county saw ''a lot of drug offenses -- kids with drug and alcohol issues'' and a corresponding rise in assaults and other crime in 2001, Jakubek said.

Further, an influx of poor families into the county has brought problems. ''We have folks from different counties coming here -- if people don't have housing...often the kids are the ones who fall through the cracks and we get calls from schools,'' she said.

In Schuylkill County, where the numbers also are up, Children and Youth Services agency Director Gerry Campbell said ''We're seeing a dramatic increase in our intake over the past two years. If it continues, we're probably going to see a 115 percent increase by the end of the fiscal year.''

Three years ago, the agency saw an intake of about 800 children; now it's about 2,000, he said.

''With that increase in demand for services, we're going see an increase in placement,'' Campbell said.

He attributed the increase in part to the number of young children in homes where parents have drug and alcohol problems.

''Obviously, the younger the child, the greater the risk,'' Campbell said, and therefore more likelihood of placement.

But while child welfare officials are heartened by the drop in the numbers of children in residential foster care, at least one advocacy organization is calling for more federal money to help families keep children at home.

''Right now, despite reunification being the primary goal for children in foster care, the majority of federal child welfare funds can only be used to help a child while in out-of-home placement -- foster care,'' said Marci McCoy-Roth, a health and human services officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts.

''The truth is, many of the same pressures in a family will still exist when a child is returned home after being in foster care, and parents and children alike may need services like counseling to help the reunification be successful,'' McCoy-Roth said.

''In most counties and states, once a child leaves foster care, the services and supports provided to that child and his or her birth family also stop -- simply because of inadequate funding.''

''We must do a better job before and after a child is in foster care to help keep children safe, strengthen families,'' she said. ''The national re-entry rate into foster care after reunification is about 15 percent, and our hope is that we can bring that number down closer to zero.''