Shortage of Foster Parents Threatens, Grand Jury Says

An increase in children needing placement in foster homes and a decline in people available to care for them may lead to a shortage of foster parents in San Diego County, a grand jury report issued Wednesday said.

The report said 5,200 children are served each month in the county’s foster care system. The number of children needing long-term foster care is increasing by 8.5% a year, while the number of available homes is increasing by only 5%.

According to the report: “The increase in abused children entering foster care in the (1980s) was due to many factors: increase in population, heightened awareness by the public, poverty and homelessness, breakdown of the family, teen-age pregnancies and, most of all, the escalating use of drugs and alcohol.”

At the same time, foster parents have been dropping out of the program. The reasons given for their leaving varies, from more women entering the work force to the difficulties they often encounter when dealing with the foster care system.

The report was issued by the county grand jury’s Health and Social Services Committee after interviews with administrators and social workers for the Child Services Bureau Division of the Department of Social Services. Also interviewed were judges, doctors, nurses, psychologists and foster parents.

Although foster parents think that the Child Services Bureau is doing the best it can with an “overwhelmed and under-budgeted system,” many also feel they do not receive enough support from the system.

“They receive more support from one another than from those trained and hired to assist them,” the report said.

Some social workers often carry caseloads of 35 or more and are unable to spend enough time with the foster parents or the children.

Among the problems cited in the report was a lack of uniform policy regarding foster children among the school districts. Some districts were cooperative, others found the children to be nuisances. One district in the county gave foster children three days to adjust to their new school environment. If they did not adjust, they were not allowed to stay in the school. Other schools will not enroll foster children in their special education programs.

Among the grand jury’s recommendations are that advice from foster parents be used when training programs are planned and that a plan be formulated to ensure that children receive proper medical care. The medical plan would be created in conjunction with the Child Services Bureau, the Children’s Hospital Center for Child Protection, and other child health care and child protection agencies.

In addition, the grand jury recommended that a list be prepared of doctors whose services to children are funded by Medi-Cal.

The grand jury also recommended that the County Department of Social Services consider foster parents “equal members of the social services team and encourage more networking between foster parents and social workers.”