Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/19/2018 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB151 | |
| Confirmation Hearing(s): State Medical Board | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| + | HB 151 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 151-DHSS;CINA; FOSTER CARE; CHILD PROTECTION
1:31:45 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced the consideration of HB 151. [CSHB
151(FIN) was before the committee.]
1:32:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA, Alaska State Legislature, sponsor of HB
151 said the bill is a major reform in the way the state does
child protection. This bill will result in healthier children,
healthier families, more stability, more retention of
caseworkers, and fewer wasted resources from losing caseworkers
that could otherwise be going to children and families. The
founder of UPS was the founder of the Casey Family Programs, the
largest nonprofit foster care in the nation. Their motto is that
child protection should be about customer service, not crisis
management. In most states it is about crisis management. When a
system is operated on the premise of crisis management, children
and families are harmed and families are torn apart.
He said this is where we are today:
By age 21
• 29 percent of Alaskan foster youth have been incarcerated
• 53 percent have been homeless (after leaving care)
• 37 percent have children of their own
• 40 percent are utilizing public assistance
• 34 percent are employed
He said these statistics are similar to other states. The system
in Alaska is like the system in many states where the reforms
have not been adopted. Alaska's bigger problem is that the
maltreatment rate is 70 percent higher than the national
average. According to the Child Welfare League of America,
Alaska consistently has one of the top five rates of child abuse
in the U.S. This results in more youth being physically or
emotionally damaged in their own homes. With the kind of
caseloads in the system, Alaska loses almost half of its
caseworkers within the first year. He said this can all be
fixed.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said the nation has the highest number of
foster youth ever. It is time to adopt comprehensive and
recommended reforms like New Jersey did. That state had one of
the most in-crisis foster care systems in the country. After a
2005 lawsuit, the court ordered the state to adopt caseload
limits and training standards. Today over 80 percent of children
in foster care in New Jersey experience two or fewer placements
within the first year, not 20 or 30 like people heard from the
youth [from Facing Foster Care in Alaska] who came through the
Capitol recently. The number of youth in foster care in New
Jersey is down almost 50 percent from when these reforms were
adopted. He said almost nothing is more important in the foster
care system than placement with relatives. In New Jersey
relative placements have gone up ever since the reforms were
adopted.
1:36:43 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said when a child is in care, a child is
being damaged, a child is living in a temporary home or a number
of temporary homes. Being in care is a series of damaging
placements, especially for the youth who end up in 5, 10, 15 or
20 different homes. The average time a child is in care in New
Jersey is ten months. The average time in care nationally is 12
to 24 months. Reunification with the original family is up
substantially in New Jersey. There are fewer placement changes
in New Jersey and for those youth who cannot be reunified with
their original families, adoptions are occurring faster and more
frequently. The biggest indicators that lead to childhood
success and opportunity are working in New Jersey.
In Alaska, 50 percent of cases called into OCS (Office of
Children's Services) are not screened in. They are essentially
rejected. Of the remaining half, about half are placed in foster
care. Over 70 percent of OCS calls come from mandatory
reporters, not meddling neighbors.
In Alaska, there has been a 43 percent increase in reports of
harm since 2014, a 51 percent increase in children in out-of-
home care since 2012, and only a 14 percent increase in front-
line caseworkers from FY 11-FY 19, including the 31 added last
year.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA quoted Casey Family Programs:
A well-trained, highly skilled, well-resourced and
appropriately deployed workforce is foundational to a
child welfare agency's ability to achieve best
outcomes for the vulnerable children, youth and
families it serves.
He said Alaska has unmanageable caseloads.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA listed the ways an excessive caseload harms
children.
• Can't work with families to arrange frequent visitation,
which increases reunification
• High caseloads lead to more turnover 49 percent for new
workers at OCS
• More turnover leads to damaging placement changes
• Inadequate time to investigate cases and work with families
and youth
He highlighted that a youth recently reported having lived in
over 50 homes. He said it is his belief that when there is not
enough time to investigate a case, you will err on the side of
child safety. That means you err on the side of taking a child
away from a family. That is not the kind of system Alaska should
have and it costs money.
According to surveys, excessive workloads are the number one
factor affecting someone's decision to leave OCS. The higher the
caseload, the higher the turnover, and the higher the turnover,
the worse the results. A study from Wisconsin shows that timely
placement into a permanent home happens 75 percent of the time
when there is one caseworker. With two caseworkers, permanency
drops to 17 percent. Children who have many caseworkers do not
go into a permanent, loving home. They will languish and as they
languish they will be harmed. With more turnover and more
placements, ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) scores go up.
1:42:35 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said the federal Children's Bureau uses a
study from Texas to estimate the cost per lost caseworker is
about $54,000 after recruiting, hiring, and training a new
caseworker. This is money that should instead be spent on making
healthier families and healthier children.
In 2013 a New York report found counties in which workers had
higher caseloads also had higher rates of repeated maltreatment.
Maltreatment is abuse and neglect. A 2006 study by the National
Council on Crime and Delinquency found "the correlation between
turnover rate and maltreatment recurrence at every time point
was strong and statistically significant."
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said HB 151 is a cost-effective way to
create healthier outcomes for children and families, more stable
families, and more family reunification. It is cost effective
because the less time a child spends in foster care, the less
staff is needed at an agency, the less paid for the daily foster
care rate, which is $30 a day in Anchorage and up to $100 a day
for high-needs children. It also produces healthier children.
Financially, you are not paying for jail or homelessness. You
are getting people who work instead of costing the state money.
1:45:18 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said HB 151 would set manageable caseloads.
.
• For new caseworkers, 6 families in the first
three months and 12 families in the first six
months
He noted an Ombudsman report about a caseworker in the MatSu
Valley who had about 50 cases.
• A statewide average caseload limit of not more
than 13 families per worker
• These levels are consistent with national
recommendations, taking Alaska travel times into
account
He noted that OCS believes 12 families should be the statewide
standard for caseloads on average, but at 13 the cost went down
$1 million. Even with the 31 staff that were added last year,
the caseloads are not close to these limits. In 12 offices the
caseload is much higher than what caseworkers can handle.
He said the evidence shows that children do better when they are
placed with healthy family members. Part of the bill focuses on
that. Foster youth will say this is often missed, but the
caseworker with a high caseload does not have time to do a
family search. He knows of one caseworker who did not know it
was part of the job to do a family search. The bill says that a
supervisor must sign off that a thorough family search was done.
HB 151 says that caseworkers need to be trained, which makes
sense. Before last year's budget amendment, OCS did three weeks
of training. That was inadequate. This bill says there should be
six weeks of training, which is not six weeks in a row. The bill
also adopts a best practice of assigning mentors. The training
is being provided at the University of Alaska Child Welfare
Academy.
1:50:25 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said the goal is to keep families together
and cut red tape. Roughly 11 other states have adopted the
prudent parent standard. It lets foster care parents make
decisions that a prudent parent would, such as allowing children
to play sports and go on vacation. Foster care parents won't be
as likely to quit out of frustration when they have to call for
permission. The bill reduces removals from homes. As long as
there is a safe family member in the house--it does not need to
be parent--the child can remain in the house. The bill maintains
connections and support, including with former foster families.
The old model said no contact with former foster families.
Another provision in the bill is that decisions on foster care
home license applications must be made within 45 days and allows
youth 14 and older to participate in their case plan.
He said it is not all bad news. He pointed out the National
Conference of State Legislatures magazine article that focused
on what states do when foster kids are on own to make sure they
have an opportunity in life. These measures are being
implemented in Alaska. Foster care is extended to age 21 if a
child needs it. More is being done to get youths into college
and more are graduating than ever before at the University of
Alaska Anchorage.
The other good news, he said, is that for the first time in a
long time more Alaskan kids went out of foster care than went
in. He cannot guarantee that that trend will continue every
month, but the predictors from New Jersey and other studies
suggest that that is going to happen. Youth will exit from
foster care faster into permanent homes and not left to languish
in a system that is often harming them.
1:55:21 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL asked Representative Gara his thoughts on OCS'
tribal compacts.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said he is not the expert, but he believes
that the benefit for every tribal organization is that those
communities know better than social workers from Anchorage who
the best family placement is. The kind of casework they can do
will depend on how well trained and how well financed the tribal
entity is. The obvious benefit is they will find more kindship
homes and possibly more adoptive homes.
SENATOR BEGICH asked Representative Gara what it meant that in
2017 removals were down and discharges were up.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said that means Alaska is doing a better job
getting children into permanent homes.
SENATOR VON IMHOF said she learned that a case doesn't mean one
child. It can mean a wide variety of numbers.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA said in the child welfare world, cases are
families. That could be three children.
1:58:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARA paraphrased the sectional for CSHB 151(FIN),
version L, as follows:
Section 1 is the bill title.
Section 2 talks about more contact with prior caregivers, prior
foster homes.
Sections 3-5 are conforming amendments.
Section 6 is an amendment that says even if someone has a
barrier crime more than ten years old, someone can be considered
as a placement if it is in the child's best interest.
Sections 7 and 10 require that supervisors certify that a family
or family friend search has occurred.
Section 8 adopts the prudent parent standard.
Section 9 allows someone 14 or older to be part of the
development of the case plan and permanency goals.
Section 10 is a way to keep siblings in contact with each other.
Sections 11 and 12 are repeats of the supervisor's duty to
certify that a thorough family search has been done.
Section 13 states no removal from a home if there is a safe
adult family member in the home.
Section 14 is about sibling contact.
Section 15 is the guts of the bill. This is the training
standards and workload standards. With those standards, turnover
will be reduced, childhood health will increase, ACEs scores
will be reduced, and the state will have more positive outcomes
with less cost over the long term.
Section 16. All foster care is considered out-of-home placement
but some out-of-home placements, with relatives, for example,
are not considered foster care. Those relatives not entitled to
the daily reimbursement rate. Sometimes they cannot afford to
take care of a child for a longer period of time. OCS will
assist in those relatives becoming licensed foster care
families.
Section 17. Many times foster care leave youth without a birth
certificate, social security card, health insurance information,
etc. OCS shall help a child leaving care have those things.
Section 18 requires a variance for foster homes within 45 days.
Sections 19-22 are the timelines for the sections to come into
effect over a three-year period.
2:02:49 PM
AMANDA METIVIER, Statewide Coordinator, Facing Foster Care in
Alaska (FFCA), supported HB 151. She said she spent three years
in foster care in Anchorage and aged out of the system. She has
been a licensed foster parent for ten years. She has two young
people in her home, along with her baby. She helped start Facing
Foster Care when she was 19 to give young people in the system a
voice.
She said last week FFCA brought 28 current and former foster
youth to the Capitol to advocate and lobby. She wanted to
highlight a few things in the bill that are really important to
foster youth. Current law says OCS is supposed to try to find a
relative or family friend up front to prevent a child from going
into stranger foster care. HB 151 adds that a supervisor would
certify that a relative search did happen. One of the priorities
of tribal compacting is relative search.
She addressed the 45-day response for licensing. She said
someone interested in becoming a foster parent may never hear
back on an application because people are overwhelmed. HB 151
forces a response within 45 days, which will prevent the loss of
quality foster families or relatives. A child coming into the
protection system can stay at home if someone safe is added to
the home, such as an aunt. If a child can safely maintain in
their home, they can stay in their schools and be in their own
neighborhoods with their friends.
2:06:14 PM
MS. METIVIER said contact with siblings is very important. Last
week during the Lunch and Learn program at the Capitol, the
topic of siblings was very emotional. The state is supposed to
make an effort to keep siblings together. If they aren't, a
supervisor has to sign off that efforts were made. HB 151 would
require that if siblings are separated, they have contact
information. They have a lot of youth who complain that they
never get to talk to their brothers and sisters. When someone
experiences abuse and neglect with siblings, the bond is even
stronger. Many older siblings become parentified and being
separated from their younger siblings is like having a child
removed.
She said the reasonable and prudent parent standard has been
adopted federally but would be helpful in state statute because
then Alaska courts would follow it. It would be in regulation
and licensing. Their youth call it normalcy. As a licensed
foster parent, she knows the rules are strict sometimes and
foster parents are held liable. When she was in foster care she
was not allowed to jump on a trampoline. Letting foster parents
allow children to engage in normal activities takes the burden
off caseworkers to respond to all the requests because foster
parents are empowered to make those decisions. That may lead to
them becoming a permanent loving family because they can better
bond with that child. It's not just about fun things, it's also
about disciplinary actions.
2:09:21 PM
MS. METIVIER said many studies show that young people who are
engaged in their case plan are more likely and more quickly to
move toward permanency. Efforts are being made to get more youth
into court hearings, so judges hear their voices and not just
the caseworker and guardian ad litem. She said the bill also
states that foster youth should not leave care without their
documents. That should be happening now but does not always
happen. She noted that she left foster care without a birth
certificate.
She said the training and workload standards in the bill are the
most comprehensive thing Alaska has considered. For the past 15
years, young people have made many recommendations for foster
care. Many of the problems and challenges are related to
workload and staff time and caseworkers being able to do
meaningful social work and do home visits. If a caseworker has
30 cases and is responsible for 50-70 children, it is not
possible to visit those children every 30 days and know if
children are safe and their needs are being met.
MS. METIVIER said many of us believe that the state is the
parent to children in the system. The expectation should be that
it does do a better job. HB 151 will achieve that.
2:13:10 PM
CHRISTY LAWTON, Director, Office of Children's Services,
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), supported HB
151. She said she started her career in child welfare in 1996.
She completed her undergraduate internship in the Fairbanks
office of the then-called Division of Family and Youth Services.
That was when she developed a passion for child welfare. She had
led a relatively privileged and sheltered life without a real
concept of the hardships many Alaskan face and the impact that
can have on their children. It was a rude awakening to see
children who suffered and parents who hated themselves for being
the cause. But she saw the resiliency of children and the great
love parents have for their children, despite their many
challenges.
She said some of her biggest worries were the aggressive dogs in
the vast dog lots of Interior Alaska and occasionally the
emotionally explosive parent. Even after obtaining a Master of
Social Work in Anchorage, she only had a handful of cases where
she remembers real anxiety and fear working with a few
particularly ill and dangerous parents. Back then, she handwrote
her case notes in her car and did her best to meet the myriad of
requirements. She worked 10-12 hours a day and most weekends to
put a small dent in the effort required for her cases. She kept
many children safe and saw many happy endings, but there were
too many situations where she felt she could have, should have
done better.
MS. LAWTON said she was soon promoted to supervisor. She thought
she could help new workers avoid the pitfalls of child
protection. She mentored and supervised them. But with every
bright light that came into her unit, it wouldn't be long before
the light began to diminish as they become overwhelmed with the
burden of responsibility and the frustration of not being able
to do the job they were hired to do. Caseloads were high back
then also and requirements began to increase with the electronic
case management system. Caseworkers not only had to handwrite
their notes in the field, but they had to return to the office
and enter the data in the computer. That's still the way it is
today.
MS. LAWTON related her thoughts after she became a manager:
Now, now I'll be able to really make the changes to
help the caseworkers and families. I worked with some
of the most dedicated and brightest leaders and we
worked tirelessly to improve worker retention and
improve outcomes for the families we served and to try
to build the credibility of the profession of child
welfare in the eyes of the community. By then I had
the benefit of some greater insight and was acutely
aware of the systemic challenges we faced and every
other child welfare agency in the country faced. As I
continued my career, I had increased opportunity at
every step to make improvements. And along the way.
I'm proud of the accomplishments I and so many people
have made, but with those accomplishments came the
continued reality of the workforce problem. Despite
countless new ideas, technical assistance from
countless national experts and dedicated energy, we
simply couldn't fix the turnover of caseworkers and
the impact it had on those we served.
She said the challenges workers face today are on a whole
different level than 20 years when she was a caseworker. They
face increasing credible threats to their personal safety in the
office and in the field. Crime and the never-ending drug
epidemic on top of the previous high rates of alcohol abuse,
domestic violence, and sexual assault make the work harder than
ever, and more dangerous. She has been director for almost eight
years and the child welfare system has had as many highs as
lows. It is a roller coaster every single day. The one thing
that never changes is the inability to give their employees the
one thing they really want most, which is the time and caseload
size to enable them to see countless more kids and families
reunified or never separated to begin with. Alaska has a choice.
She said you can decide to invest in the workforce by supporting
HB 151 and fix the primary problem or you can let things
continue as they are.
2:18:46 PM
MS. LAWTON said investing will help ensure safe children and
strong families with many opportunities for budget reductions in
the future when the system is able to give families what they
need. Choosing not to support this legislation may put Alaska at
risk to be the next state subject to a class action lawsuit. The
number of states with consent decrees in place is growing and
those consent decrees go on and on. New Jersey is one of those
states. That kind of investment and focus didn't come
voluntarily. Alaska could do something different. Workforce
retention in child welfare has been a chronic problem for over
five decades. Alaska could and should be proactive, so it can
develop its own solutions for the challenges the system faces
and not have it be a byproduct of a lawsuit settlement.
SENATOR VON IMHOF said it was extraordinarily powerful and
effective to have the kids [from Facing Foster Care in Alaska]
in the Capitol last week. She thanked Ms. Lawton for her work
and said she can only imagine what she has seen and experienced.
The previous speaker said some the provisions in this bill came
directly from foster youth. Two ideas came from the youth in her
office when asked what could have helped them stay with their
parents. One said requiring a urinalysis for her parents. The
second said when counseling was required, he was able to stop
the conflict with his father but after counseling ended, the
conflict increased and he left the house. She asked Ms. Lawton
for her thoughts on those ideas.
2:21:33 PM
MS. LAWTON said urinalysis testing is an area where the pendulum
goes back and forth. It is expensive and research says if
someone is verified to be working a program, that sort of
excessive testing isn't needed. OCS has tried to tailor
urinalysis testing to match what is happening with the parent.
If a parent is in a residential or intensive out-patient
program, urinalysis testing is provided by those programs. If a
parent is doing their own program, then there usually is regular
urinalysis testing. If every parent with a substance abuse issue
was tested (which is 80 percent of the families they have) the
cost would be prohibitive.
She said for counseling, every case is different. They worry
that workers can be automatic when setting up referrals for
counseling and sometimes providers will continue counseling for
a long time without reevaluating whether it is needed. This too
is expensive so it is a case-by-case determination. OCS takes
its lead from the therapeutic person providing the services.
Many of their staff do not have the expertise to dictate when it
is appropriate to end therapeutic services.
SENATOR BEGICH called the testimony outstanding. He asked if
most of the caseworkers still don't have laptops.
MS. LAWTON confirmed that the majority of caseworkers do not
have laptops. It has not been feasible with their budget. Some
workers in some officers can check out laptops. Over the next
three or four years as computers are replaced, workers will have
docking tablets.
2:25:07 PM
CHAIR WILSON said in his professional career, he has worked with
OCS almost 11 years advocating for youth and working on
reunifications. One part of the bill is to strengthen systems
within OCS and another part addresses the foster care situation.
He asked what the average application time for placement is and
how private organizations are able to certify foster homes.
MS. LAWTON responded that the average time to process a foster
care application varies significantly around the state. Their
goal is 45 days, but they are struggling to meet that goal.
Getting fingerprints in smaller communities is a challenge.
Applications often need a lot of information clarified. Getting
past court records can lead to delays. She noted that a few
years ago OCS received more funding to increase the number of
licensing staff. In a place like Anchorage, where there are not
have enough foster homes in a time of increasing demand, someone
would get a call for a placement right away, unless they had a
specialty license or were asking for a specific type of child.
CHAIR WILSON asked Ms. Lawton to provide information on whether
OCS recruits for foster homes and how private organizations do
their certification of foster homes.
He also asked for information about whether training has changed
for the new workers added last year and how many are still
employed. He likes to look at problems as either a single
occurrence or a systemic issue. Before he makes an investment,
he wants to make sure that there is a plan in place that
addresses the research, the data, and the historical situation.
When he goes to administration with an issue, he is constantly
reminded that he is there to legislate and appropriate, not
administrate. He sees this bill as an administrative function.
He is supportive of the whole concept, but feels these things
are more of an administrative function than a legislative
function. He has talked to the department about having a plan in
place like the Department of Public Safety has in terms of
recruitment and retention efforts before dollars and folks are
invested. He wants DHSS to have an investment plan of how these
positions, once hired, will be different in terms of training.
He asked if PCNs [Position Control Numbers] would need to be
modified before some of these items can be implemented. He said
he wants to make sure the department is ready before it adds 30
additional positions. He also asked what has happened with the
previous 30 workers.
MS. LAWTON said she would be happy to provide the information.
She clarified that the fiscal note is 21 additional positions.
2:31:50 PM
At ease.
2:31:54 PM
CHAIR WILSON reconvened the meeting and continued public
testimony.
TAMMY SANDOVAL, Director, Alaska Child Welfare Academy,
University of Alaska Anchorage, supported HB 151. She said the
academy does the training for OCS staff. She is also Director
Lawton's predecessor at OCS. In her 34 years of experience with
child welfare, she has never witnessed any magic or silver
bullets. It takes the kind of reform Representative Gara is
proposing in HB 151. It takes enough qualified staff working
with community partners to work with children, youth, and
families that are more complex than she's ever seen. The changes
that were made last year are a good start. They added two more
weeks of training for new workers and OCS added mentors to
transfer learning from the classroom to practice. Workers have
expressed gratitude for these improvements, but it is not
enough. They can pay now or pay later when youth move to
homelessness, juvenile justice, and/or corrections. "Let's do it
right from the beginning," she said. To decrease the negative
rates of family dysfunction will take this kind of legislation.
2:35:04 PM
ELIZABETH RIPLEY, Chief Executive Officer, Mat-Su Health
Foundation, supported HB 151. She said that in 2013 the
foundation conducted a Mat-Su community health needs assessment.
Mat-Su residents identified their number one health objective as
insuring all children are safe and well cared for. The
foundation created a focus area dedicated to building family
resilience and preventing child maltreatment, which led to
staffing and funding a place-based, collective impact project
called Raising Our Children with Kindness, R.O.C.K. Mat-Su.
Since that time maltreatment reports in the Mat-Su OCS office
has increased from 2,840 in 2014 to 3,528 in 2015. The Palmer
court Child in Need of Aid cases have increased from 216 in 2014
to 271 in 2016, largely due to the opioid epidemic. The Mat-Su
OCS had 653 children in out-of-home care over 30 days in 2016.
The Mat-Su Health Foundation and R.O.C.K. Mat-Su staff have
become familiar with the caseload ratios, training deficits, and
challenging conditions of the Mat-Su OCS office. They hear lots
of complaining from parties across sectors across the state, but
very little constructive assistance to set OCS and their staff
up for success. HB 151 takes a crucial step in that direction.
It seeks to improve both caseload levels and worker retention
through new training and workforce standards. The bill also
provides for mentors to help caseworkers become more effective
and make the transition from training to a full caseload. These
evidence-based standards will improve outcomes and allow
caseworkers to perform their duties as intended. The Mat-Su
Health Foundation recognizes that the Alaska child welfare
system needs reform. HB 151 takes the step to make real positive
changes to support youth and families and the caseworkers who
serve them.
2:38:13 PM
BARBARA MALCHUK, Representing Self, supported HB 151. She spent
over 25 years as a guardian ad litem representing foster youth
and children around the state. She retired in 2010 and continued
as a CASA [court appointed special advocate] volunteer. She is
now working with a group of eight siblings. She is on the Board
of Directors for Facing Foster Care in Alaska and traveled to
Juneau with them last week. She developed a training curriculum
for the court system for lawyers, judges, child advocates,
tribal representatives, and social workers who handle Child in
Need of Aid cases. Her experience has given her a good feel
about how the child protection system works or does not work.
She supports the entire bill, but she wanted to focus on
children and youth keeping family connections. The sibling
relationship is even more important for children who have
experienced abuse and neglect. Often times the older children
are caregivers for the younger children.
She said during the Lunch and Learn program last week at the
Capitol, nearly all the foster youth there had been separated
from their siblings and most of them have lost contact
altogether. She's seen numerous youth tell their stories about
foster care. They always seem to hold it together until they get
to the part about losing contact with siblings and then the
tears start to flow. Under the current law siblings are supposed
to be together if possible and OCS policy requires ongoing
contact between siblings. But the reality is that it is not
happening. HB 151 has mechanisms to enforce ongoing contact. It
gives OCS the authority and responsibility to give contact
information and encourages caregivers to give siblings
opportunities to remain in touch.
2:41:56 PM
MS. MALCHUCK said relative placement is important for many
reasons. When children are with relatives they are more likely
to be in contact with other family members. It allows them to
maintain their cultural identity. It leaves foster homes
available to children without relatives to stay with. She hears
from many youth about the years in foster care and numerous
placements and many find out relatives were never contacted. All
too often the family search doesn't happen. HB 151 offers some
improvements to make relative placement a reality. Also, many
relatives cannot afford to take care of children and need
assistance through a foster care license. HB 151 requires OCS to
assist with that. HB 151 gives advocates in court a mechanism to
enforce good policy.
2:44:25 PM
CHAIR WILSON held HB 151 in committee.