D.C. is facing a shortage of foster parents, and child welfare advocates say this is putting children at risk of harm and even leading to some spending the night in an office building while awaiting homes.
“We’ve seen cases where kids have been exposed to a lot of violence, have been physically hurt, but have remained in their homes because [D.C’s Child and Family Service Agency] has not had the placements for them,” says Aubrey Edwards-Luce, senior policy attorney at Children’s Law Center.
Edwards-Luce says she had a toddler client who was left at home after an older sibling was hurt while trying to protect one of their parents during a domestic violence incident.
“We think the main drivers of this is that there are not enough foster homes right now,” she says.
Edwards-Luce says the shortage has been caused in part by increased housing costs, experienced foster parents retiring, and changing demographics in the city.
A spokesperson for D.C’s Child and Family Service Agency (CFSA) says the agency is currently looking to add 40 new beds in the foster care system over this fiscal year.
Sheryl Chapman, executive director of the National Center for Children and Families (NCCF), says her agency could also use 40 to 50 more foster parents in Maryland to care for children from D.C. NCCF contracts with the District for children placed in Maryland.
Chapman says it’s important to have an array of foster care families available so that the agency can appropriately pair children with homes that are the best match possible.
The agency specifically has a shortage of parents for children with special needs and for older children, she says. These parents need to be able to address children’s mental health or behavioral issues.
“We really do need foster parents who are really up for training and for sacrificing and investing and supporting these children,” Chapman says.
At the end of 2018, the District had 849 foster children in its care, but only 746 beds available in D.C. and Maryland.
A report by the the Chronicle of Social Change found that at least half the states in the U.S. have seen their foster care capacity decrease between 2012 and 2017. While Pew reports that more children need fostering nationwide, the number of kids in CFSA’s care has dropped in recent years.
Rachel Paletta, senior associate at the Center for the Study of Social Policy, told a D.C. Council committee last week in a budget oversight hearing that seven children spent the night at the office of D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) between July and December of last year.
“Primarily these were older youth who have experienced and continue to experience considerable placement instability. Having a child stay overnight at CFSA complicates the trauma of foster care placement,” Paletta said.
A spokesperson for CFSA says the agency is focusing on providing more support for foster families, increasing the use of social media to recruit prospective foster parents, and working on an incentive program for foster parents to recruit other parents.
This story originally appeared on WAMU.
