The "broken baby" arrived from the hospital with several fractured ribs, a fractured arm, a fractured leg and, the foster mother later discovered, a fractured skull.One month later, she still was waiting to talk to a Child Protective Services (CPS) worker and learn whom the court had appointed as the baby's guardian. The woman, who asked not to be identified, said she had no information about the baby, including required follow-up treatment. She talked to the social worker's assistant and an aide and relied on her own experience, she said.
Foster parents are trained to work with social workers and court-appointed guardians for CPS kids, she said. "I'm more than willing to work as a team member . . . but who are the members of the team?"
Sometimes when cases are reviewed after six months, the woman noted, she's the only one who has seen the child. "And they're going in there making life and death and life-long decisions."
"That story repeats itself again and again," said Sarah Casken, Hawaii State Foster Parents Association president.
Overburdened CPS workers and guardians, inconsistent and confusing policies hamper care, she said. For example, foster parents are required to look after the children's medical needs. "Yet, something as routine as child immunizations, we really can't do."
Other issues involve responsibility for enrolling children in school, HIV testing and other things "that keep breaking down in the system," Casken said.
A foster parents' committee has had encouraging meetings with state Human Services Director Susan Chandler and other agency officials, she said. After years of battling the department to get improvements, Casken said, foster parents see Chandler as "a breath of fresh air."
She said the new director recognizes the system will work better if policies are clearly presented in the foster parents' handbook, which is being rewritten. Among other changes, the department is backing association efforts to expand foster parent training, and a proposal to give the group names and phone numbers of foster parents, she said.
Chandler also provided money to send a foster parent and social worker to a recruitment and retention workshop.
"We lose them when they come to the front door and have all these roadblocks put in their way to becoming foster parents . . ." Casken said.
"Foster parenting can be a very rewarding experience. We want to make sure the system is being supportive."
The Related Story:
Broken Babies
Adoption
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