An Excerpt: “Towards a Stronger Child Welfare System: The Pandemic’s Impact on Foster Families”
By Matthew Strong and Mark Moland, DPA
Matthew Strong is a 2021 recipient of the Center for Public Justice’s Hatfield Prize. Strong (LeTourneau University ‘23) and faculty advisor Mark Moland, DPA, examine COVID-19’s impact on the recruitment, retention, and support of foster parents and provide recommendations for how government and civil society can better support foster families post-pandemic.
DISCOVER
Chris and Amber Reynolds will always remember March 14, 2020. Over the course of four years, the couple fostered 12 children and adopted three. Chris, an EMT from Chicago, and Amber, an elementary school physical education teacher, have dedicated their lives to fostering children. The Reynolds started their own home fellowship group to connect foster families and share the joys and challenges of fostering. With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 and with two foster children in their care, the Reynolds instantly lost community — the support groups, caseworker check-ins, and child therapists who once provided in-person support were now reduced to images on a screen. Despite feeling isolated, the Reynolds, like many foster parents across the U.S., persevered through the pandemic seeking to keep life as normal as possible for their foster children.
Family life dramatically shifted during the COVID-19 pandemic. While every family is unique, almost all families experienced the impacts of the pandemic’s dual health and economic crises. When businesses closed or went remote, many parents lost their jobs or quickly adjusted to working from home. At the same time, most parents were transitioning their children to remote learning at home when their schools closed. Children’s worlds became defined by the walls of their home, separated from their friends at a time in their social development when interpersonal engagement is critical. For children and parents alike, social interactions were limited to what could be communicated through a screen.
While nearly all families experienced loss and challenges during the pandemic, foster families were uniquely impacted. For foster parents, who prior to the pandemic took on the important responsibility of caring for children separated from their parents by the state, and for the institutions that traditionally support them, the set of challenges brought on by COVID-19 were new and complex.
While there is much to learn about the pandemic’s toll on foster children themselves, this report will focus on the impact that COVID-19 had specifically on foster parents — who are critical to the child welfare system — as well as on the institutions that support them. COVID-19 disrupted programs and systems designed to recruit, retain, and support foster families, which will be explored in greater detail.
The child welfare system (CWS) “is a group of public and private services that are focused on ensuring that all children live in safe, permanent and stable environments that support their well-being.” The structure of the CWS varies by state, and each state engages with nonprofit agencies in differing manners; however, all agencies look to the Children’s Bureau, an Office of the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for federal guidance. In this report, biological parents are referred to as parents while foster parents are referred to as foster parents. The word children will be used interchangeably with foster children, ranging in age from infancy to 18 years (the age when most children become independent of the CWS).
In all states, a child’s experience in the CWS begins when the state’s Child Protective Services (CPS) agency is notified of potential abuse or neglect and CPS workers investigate the situation. Often, the family will receive support, training, and other services from the CWS. In some cases, the state will make the decision to remove the child or children from the family for a time and place the child in foster care. CPS first attempts to place the child with a member of their extended family (called kinship care), but if that is not an option, the child is placed with a foster family.
“While nearly all families experienced loss and challenges during the pandemic, foster families were uniquely impacted.”
The Children’s Bureau defines foster care as “a temporary service provided by states for children who cannot live with their families.” While the child is in foster care, the CWS provides training, counselling, and other resources for the parents of the children to focus their energy and skillsets on building a safe and stable home environment for raising their children. During this time, a child who might have been neglected, abused, or left unattended because of parental incarceration, parental death, or abandonment, is provided a sense of normalcy through the physical and emotional care in the home of a foster family. The primary goal of the CWS is the reunification, when possible, of children and their parents. Reunification is reached when a child is returned to his or her parents and can safely receive the nurturing he or she needs. The process of reunification requires significant initiative from parents — such as engaging in substance abuse rehabilitation, undertaking counselling or job training, visiting their child frequently, and communicating with case workers. Through the goal of reunification, the CWS aims to support the healthy development of a biological family whenever possible.
Foster parents care for and nurture foster children until they are reunified with their family or until another form of permanency is reached. While the population of foster parents is continually in flux, the number of children in foster care has increased, with one study noting a 147 percent increase of children in foster care between 2000-2017. Further, 30-50 percent of foster families close their homes to further placements each year. To ensure the well-being of children, the CWS must both continually recruit more families and support and retain those families who are already certified to serve children in need.
Foster Parents: An Essential Pillar of the Child Welfare System
As of 2019, there were approximately 424,000 children in the foster care system. The average age of a foster child is eight years old and there are slightly more boys than girls in foster care. Children of color are overrepresented in the CWS. Black and American Indian/Alaska Native children represent 13.71 percent of the population but make up 22.75 percent of children in the foster system. Additionally, American Indian/Alaska Native children represent less than one percent of the population, but represent 2.4 percent of children in foster care. White children makeup 50.5 percent of the population but account for 44.37 percent of children in foster care. There is currently a larger population of children in need of a foster home than there are foster homes available. In 2019, the 424,000 children in foster care were supported by roughly 219,000 licensed foster parents. According to Imprint’s “Who Cares 2020: A National Count of Foster Homes and Families” report, there were approximately 214,000 licensed foster homes in the United States as of March 2020.
When a child is removed from their family, CWS first seeks to place the child with a relative in the child’s extended family or with a close family friend who legally qualifies as “fictive kin.” Placing children in kinship care is ideal and has been shown to reduce trauma on the children, increase the likelihood of permanency, and keeps families together. However, for a child to be placed with kin, the CPS must first assess if the relatives are “fit and willing” to provide a suitable home for the child by interviewing the kin and reviewing criminal records. In 2019, children were placed with kin in 32 percent of cases nationally. While some children are placed in group homes and institutions equipped to address special physical and psychological conditions, foster families are needed to support nearly half of all children placed outside their home.
Demographic data that provides a clear portrait of the U.S. foster family population is limited and a dedicated effort to track data on foster parents is needed. Foster parents are recruited by state agencies and nonprofits licensed to serve as child placement agencies. While demographic data for children is centralized through U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, national data on foster families is diffused across state and nonprofit databases. One rough approximation of the foster population is the demographic data of families adopting children from foster care, since 52 percent of these adoptions are by the child’s foster parents. Foster children are adopted primarily into families described as married couples (68 percent), with 26 percent adopted by single females and three percent by single males. One 2018 study by University of Chicago researchers of an undisclosed state child welfare agency noted that 75 percent of foster families were white, 20 percent Black, and two percent Hispanic.
With a high annual turnover rate of foster parents, efforts to recruit, support, and retain foster parents are focused on ensuring there are a sufficient number of foster homes available for the placement of children who have been removed from their parents and kinship care is not an option. Recruitment programs are conducted by the state agencies and nonprofits who both license and support foster families. The goal of recruitment is to identify, train, and license families who are willing to meet the state’s high standards to provide temporary homes for children who have been separated from their homes and may be grappling with personal or family trauma. The recruitment process includes a nearly yearlong training and licensing process.
Support and retention efforts overlap significantly. When a family decides to no longer foster, they frequently cite a lack of support from CWS workers and agencies. For the purpose of this report, support refers to actions undertaken by state agencies, houses of worship, and nonprofits to sustain foster families when a child is placed with them. Some examples of support activities include training and guidance provided by CWS workers, support groups arranged by local churches, certified babysitters, and nonprofit agencies and churches that provide clothing and supplies to foster families during new placements. Retention focuses on efforts to encourage foster families to continue fostering after a placement ends.
While the foster care system was stretched thin before the pandemic, the pandemic exacerbated existing challenges and created new ones. As a result, government and civil society institutions had to adapt recruitment, support, and retention strategies to ensure that foster parents were available and equipped to care for children during the pandemic.
Recruitment of New Foster Parents During COVID-19
The recruitment process ranges from the point when a family initiates interest in fostering to the point when they are licensed. Recruiting activities can include events to galvanize interest amongst the community, informational sessions on fostering for prospective parents, and training and licensing of prospective foster parents. Nonprofit child placement agencies are highly engaged with recruiting foster parents. In many states these agencies recruit, train, and license families on the state’s behalf, and they serve as the main contact for the prospective parent. Some nonprofits focus on advocacy and support of foster parents. These organizations hold recruitment drives and connect interested individuals with one of several child placement agencies in the region.
In many states, COVID-19 complicated the recruitment of foster parents as many home inspections, trainings, and courtroom hearings went virtual or were delayed indefinitely. Families who would have otherwise welcomed a child into their home were unable to do so as a result of economic uncertainty or health concerns brought on by the pandemic. These circumstances resulted in an even greater need for foster parents reflected in cities and states across America. In Chicago, for example, the need for foster families increased by 33 percent.
“COVID-19 disrupted programs and systems designed to recruit, retain, and support foster families.”
Facing additional barriers to recruiting new foster parents, the CWS needed to adapt and innovate where possible. In many states, in-person recruiting events, orientations, trainings, and licensures shifted to an online format, when possible. Early in the pandemic, for instance, Florida began conducting the bulk of the work certifying foster parents, placing children, and conducting social worker visits, parenting courses, courtroom hearings and much more — remotely. In other states, like Texas, state policy did not authorize virtual trainings of prospective foster parents for the first six months of the pandemic, significantly delaying licensure to prospective families.
Support and Retention of Foster Parents During COVID-19
Once a foster family is licensed and welcomes a child into their home, they are responsible for the child’s physical, emotional, and educational well-being. An assigned caseworker visits the child and the foster family routinely (monthly at a minimum) to observe how the child is adjusting to foster care and document any social, mental, or physical challenges the child may be experiencing. The state serves as a child’s legal guardian during his or her involvement with CWS and appoints an attorney to act as guardian ad litum to advocate for the child’s rights. While the child is in foster care, his or her parents have the right to be notified about their child’s health, well-being, and performance in school.
Government support for foster families before the pandemic came in a variety of forms. State CWS agencies provide monthly stipends of $400 to $900 per month, varying by state or municipality, for the child’s needs. These payments continued during the pandemic. However other direct support ceased or went virtual. Prior to the pandemic, caseworkers would visit foster parents monthly — providing constructive feedback, training when needed, and encouragement. Trauma therapists would work with children to help the child address trauma. Caseworkers were responsible for in-person visitations between the child and parents. Prior to the pandemic, there was a clear schedule of court cases and an understanding of the timeline to achieve permanency for the child’s case. In many states during the pandemic, all visits and therapy went virtual. Foster parents had to manage virtual visits between children and their parents, witness court proceedings when the child needed to attend, and become an active participant in Zoom sessions with caseworkers.
Foster families need a supportive network, including the CWS, local nonprofit organizations, and houses of worship stepping in to help in a variety of ways. One method of supporting foster parents is through providing day care, babysitting, and respite care. When both foster parents work or children need special accommodations, most states offer to cover the cost of childcare for foster children up to a state-determined rate. One cannot hire the neighborhood babysitter for a night out or necessary travel. Depending on the state’s guidelines, babysitters for foster children may need to be licensed individuals over 21 years old who have completed a day’s worth of training, been fingerprinted, and completed a criminal background check. Supporting foster families requires a significant commitment. One of the most successful support and retention strategies has been to connect new foster families with more experienced ones. Some states, such as Florida, have formal mentoring programs which include in-home visits from experienced foster parents.
Support and retention go hand in hand. States and nonprofits cooperate to retain foster families. The Children Need Amazing Parents (CHAMPS) coalition developed a foster parent retention framework which emphasizes providing immediate, adaptive, and contextualized support for foster parents — whether it be through answering questions, addressing frustrations, or meeting a child’s unique physical needs. Providing foster parents with the context of a child’s situation — including culture, language, current community, and age of the child — empowers foster parents to care for the child well.
A Policy Response to COVID-19’s Impact on Foster Parents
COVID-19 altered the CWS landscape and necessitated that federal and state governments respond to effectively meet the needs of foster children and families. The federal government funds states to provide care for children and foster families through the Title IV-E Foster Care program included in the Social Security Act. According to an HHS Issue Brief, “the program’s funding (approximately $5 billion per year) is structured as an uncapped entitlement, so any qualifying State expenditure will be partially reimbursed, or matched, without limit.” The majority of states contract directly with licensing organizations to provide licensure for foster parents. Other states, including California, Virginia, North Carolina, New York, and Pennsylvania allow counties to administer contracts with licensing organizations. Licensing organizations are nonprofits focused on licensing foster and adoptive parents. In each state, there are a variety of both faith-based and secular licensing agencies, including large faith-based agencies such as Catholic Charities, Buckner International, and Bethany Christian Services.
States such as Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah included additional funding for child welfare agencies in their COVID-19 appropriation bills. Sixteen states and Guam recognized child protection agencies’ work as essential government functions to continue services during COVID-19-related lockdowns. California’s Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order permitting “flexibility in emergency placements” of foster children and increasing their access to “critical programs and technology.” In addition to support for foster parents, New York, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia increased families’ access to social services.
Essential to an effective CWS is the wellbeing of civil society institutions that provide critical resources, care, and support to foster families. Due to COVID-19, these institutions — many of which are faith-based nonprofits and houses of worship — struggled to keep their doors open and provide the same level of support as they did before the pandemic. To support these institutions during a period of prolonged economic uncertainty, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), first included in the CARES Act, provided loans to small businesses, child care providers, community and faith-based nonprofits, and houses of worship to help them to continue operating during the pandemic.
Like the rest of society, family life for children and foster parents shifted significantly due to COVID-19. With families encountering new needs and challenges, it was important for the CWS to adapt to ensure that children were in safe and stable foster homes, that foster parents were well supported, and that new foster families continued to be recruited to meet the scale of the need. The following section explores why the work of foster parents is so essential, examines lessons learned from the pandemic, and offers recommendations for how government and civil society — including faith-based organizations and churches — can best support foster families in post-pandemic life.
Read the rest of “Towards a Stronger Child Welfare System: The Pandemic’s Impact on Foster Families,” which includes the research team’s recommendations for improving foster care through public policy and civil society, and a case study of Longview, Texas.
Matthew Strong is a junior Physics Engineering major at LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas. He completed his research for The Hatfield Prize during his sophomore year. Having grown up in Asia, he desires to use his current STEM education to teach and provide schooling opportunities domestically and internationally. In 2018 Strong received the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) Global Citizenship award for significant engagement in his community, including flood relief and interaction with refugees. Strong has been an active member of his university as a peer advisor and student instructor. He was a LeTourneau student representative at the Student Congress on Racial Reconciliation (SCORR) held at Biola University in early 2020. Growing up amongst marginalized communities in Asia, he has used this background to establish a rich social network focused on reconciliation and growth through multiple organizations in Longview. His desire is to see the glory of God established in communities across the world as they holistically develop through refined education enhanced by illuminating research.
Mark G. Moland, DPA, is an Associate Professor of Political Science & Criminal Justice at LeTourneau University. Moland earned his Doctor of Public Administration from California Baptist University. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Government from the US Coast Guard Academy, and a Master of Public Policy from Duke University. Prior to teaching at LeTourneau, Moland retired as a Commander from the U. S. Coast Guard after a 21-year career specializing in boat operations, search and rescue, and homeland security. His research areas include criminal justice reform, foster care, immigration, and ethics. Moland is also a Colson Fellow and a graduate of the World Journalism Institute’s Mid-career program. He and his wife Shana have four children and live in Henderson, Texas.
Address Foster Care in Your Community
Inspired by what you’ve read? Consider starting a Political Discipleship group to address foster care policy in your community. The Center for Public Justice’s Political Discipleship is a guide for active Christian citizenship, designed to empower people with skills and tools to shape policy and address inequality and injustice in their communities. To learn more about starting a group, visit our website or contact katie.thompson@cpjustice.org.
The Hatfield Prize is made possible through the generosity of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. We thank them for their support, but acknowledge that the findings and conclusions presented in these reports are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of these foundations.