Foster Care: Put Money Into Reunification

It is a sad fact that “years of blue-ribbon inquiries, grand jury reports and other probes have detailed the continuing failures of the foster care system” without positive reforms being implemented (editorial, Aug. 5). As a lawyer practicing in L.A County’s Dependency Court system for over a decade, I have personally witnessed the traumatic impact the Department of Children and Family Services has had upon thousands of families unfortunate enough to be caught within its inefficient bureaucratic web. The abysmal state of our foster care system was recently illustrated in a county study that concluded dependent children had nearly as great a chance to be abused in a foster home as in the allegedly inappropriate home environment they were initially detained from for their protection.

Perhaps it’s time to place more economic resources into successfully reunifying children with their biological parents rather than just pursuing the quick fix of adopting them out. We can only hope state Controller Kathleen Connell’s audit results in a far better utilization of the more than $446 million in state and federal funds expended annually for the “best interests” of our society’s most vulnerable citizens, abused children.

Nathan V. Hoffman

President, Juvenile Courts

Bar Assn., Los Angeles