Finding new ways to reward foster care performance in Tennessee

Demarius Cummings shows his cartoon drawings that he usually keeps folded up in his pockets. He and his sister lived in a foster home while his mother worked through lifestyle problems. The children were recently reunited with their mother and the family receives financial aid and counseling from the agency. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Dec. 10, 2013 3:44 PM PT

Tennessee had one of the worst foster care systems in the country. But after a lawsuit by children’s advocates was settled in 2001, the state made a change. Instead of paying private contractors a fixed fee for each child, the state created a system of severe punishments and incentives.

Beauty Cummings tidies up the living room as her children Lashunta, 7, and Demarius, 10, read a storybook. The Tennessee foster care system rewards agencies that reunite children with their parents. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Beauty Cummings enjoys an evening chat with her children Demarius, 10, and Lashunta, 7. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Demarius Cummings, 10, drinks a glass of milk in the kitchen of his home in Memphis, Tenn. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Calandra Ayers and her husband, Marvin, belt their adopted twin boys Taylor and Tyler in the family car for a trip to school in suburban Memphis, Tenn. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Marvin Ayers waters the garden as his 4-year-old adopted twin boys Taylor and Tyler play in the yard of his Memphis, Tenn., home. Marvin and his wife, Calandra, adopted the youngsters from Youth Villages, a performance-based adoption agency. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Calandra Ayers helps her newly adopted 4-year-old son Tyler brush his teeth. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Outside her home in suburban Memphis, Tenn., Barbara Borum tries to coax a smile out of her recently adopted son Marshall Jamison, 12. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Outside his home in suburban Memphis, Tenn., Tevontae Patrick, 15 shows his newly adopted brother Marshall Jamison, 12, how to grip a football. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

In a Memphis, Tenn., park, Victoria Wheeler hugs siblings Jasmine, 8, and Ezra, 4. She adopted them from Youth Villages, a performance-based adoption agency in Memphis. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)