Children & the Law Blog

New York City’s plan to move teenagers out of group homes and into foster care may be having a few issues, as reported in the recent New York Times article, As Teenagers Leave Group Homes, a Challenge Placing Those Who Remain.

The system is stretched so thin that many involved say they are having trouble making thoughtful matches between foster parents and their charges. Some child-welfare experts are worried they may soon be unable to recruit enough qualified foster parents, while others say the city has moved too slowly in putting support systems in place to help these older children flourish in private homes.

“It’s a good direction, but the problem is that we’re implementing the plan before the infrastructures are all in place,” said Bill Baccaglini, executive director of the New York Foundling, one of the largest of about three dozen private foster care agencies that contract with the city to find and monitor homes. “We run the risk of burning out our foster parents and losing them.”

The city is especially trying to find private homes for teenagers; however, it can be a challenge to find a sufficient number of foster parents willing to adopt teenagers.

Mr. Mattingly said the key is to place teenagers in private homes immediately on being removed from their families, because otherwise they often languish forgotten in institutions. “The basic experience we have in the field, and research supports this, is that if you work at it, you can place teens at the very get-go in foster families,” Mr. Mattingly said. “Those foster families sometimes will need additional supports, not always, and the young people will do better and achieve permanency more quickly if placed at the outset with a family.”

But the challenges of placing teenagers only grow more complicated as the numbers dwindle, since those left behind tend to have more physical, behavioral, emotional, psychological or learning problems. Some were badly abused and further traumatized by bouncing from foster home to foster home.

“Good, solid, healthy teens have issues in the best of families,” said Mr. Gutheil, of Episcopal Social Services. “But these are not run-of-the-mill, ‘I’m in a bad mood today’ adolescents. These are kids who have gone through some pretty rugged times. The notion that an adult is somehow going to take control of their lives is very difficult for them.”

To address these issues, the Administration for Children’s Services has created nearly 1,000 so-called therapeutic foster homes, which come with extra counseling services, as well as crisis-management support and more training for parents. The city has also relaxed its rules regarding kinship placement, allowing a godparent, coach or family friend to take in a child.

And foster care agencies have begun to tailor their recruiting pitches at churches and street fairs to play up the benefits of fostering a teenager, including the freedom from diaper changes and sleep deprivation. Among the most effective tools has been including a panel of teenagers who need homes in the 10-week training of prospective parents: Mr. Mattingly said that while perhaps 7 percent start out willing to take in teenagers, by the end, 25 percent raise their hands.

Source: Foderaro, Lisa, “As Teenagers Leave Group Homes, a Challenge Placing Those Who Remain” (June 8, 2008). N.Y. Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/nyregion/08foster.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss