Foster Care and Reunification

Jodotha said:

Hi all,

I have many questions. I'll try to keep this simple, so if you need more information, please let me know.

My protagonist is a fifteen year old boy in the system, and (without attempting a summary here) his mother is back. She's been in prison and rehab off and on for various offenses, mostly prostitution and a few other things I haven't identified yet and will likely be asking YOU ALL about in the future.

Question 1: If Mom has attempted to keep in contact with Boy via letters, phone calls, requests for visits, etc - is this enough to stay the revocation of her parental rights? In this draft, there have been two attempts at reunification. He was taken from her at five, one attempt at seven, one at 12. I'm not set on these, so any other plausible scenarios would be welcome. She never beat him, but there was neglect and drug use.

Under most circumstances, mom would have lost her chance after the first family reunification plan failed.

However, a good caseworker (most are not - PM me if you want the first-hand perspective of a child who grew up entangled in the system) would listen to the kid and put in the time to investigate, locate Mom and see if reunification was possible - if the child hadn't already been adopted or placed into a long-term foster care situation.



Question 2: If Boy does not WANT to be reunified with her, how might that be treated? I'd love answers ranging from GOOD caseworker all the way to BAD caseworker. Also, legally? This is my BIG BIG QUESTION as the continued plot depends on it. I greatly appreciate time and effort. Like...lots of appreciation. And virtual hugs.

Children's opinions are highly considered by the system (family courts, social workers, family court judges) from about the age of twelve onward, and there's almost zero chance a fifteen-year-old would be reunited against his wishes with a birth mother whose parental rights to him had already been severed. A good social worker (or CASA advisor) would advocate on behalf of a child over the age of twelve who expressed a wish to be reunited with their mother. I have heard both extremely positive and extremely negative opinions regarding the CASA program.

http://www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5301295/k.BE9A/Home.htm

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Jodotha said:

Thanks for your response.
I understand the basics of what you're telling me. If I could, I'd like to further this discussion? In my story, Mom has cleared rehab and stayed sober, and is employed full time - she's doing everything she's supposed to. My protag still doesn't want to go back to her, though. In a normal, good situation, this would be noted and taken into consideration, as you stated above? Who all is involved in this process? The child, case worker, foster parents, judge...?
Also - and I realize this would be an exception, but it's fiction so we're all about exceptions - what could make his requests go unheeded? He has a history of troublesome behavior - silence, not allowing touching of any kind, then lashing out. He never stays in one foster home very long, and refuses any kind of treatment.
He wouldn't push, though, if he was silenced.

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Jodotha said:

Hi all,

I have many questions. I'll try to keep this simple, so if you need more information, please let me know.

My protagonist is a fifteen year old boy in the system, and (without attempting a summary here) his mother is back. She's been in prison and rehab off and on for various offenses, mostly prostitution and a few other things I haven't identified yet and will likely be asking YOU ALL about in the future.

Question 1: If Mom has attempted to keep in contact with Boy via letters, phone calls, requests for visits, etc - is this enough to stay the revocation of her parental rights? In this draft, there have been two attempts at reunification. He was taken from her at five, one attempt at seven, one at 12. I'm not set on these, so any other plausible scenarios would be welcome. She never beat him, but there was neglect and drug use.
Regulations would state that her parental rights should have been terminated, but reality doesn't usually match regulations and kids stay in the system a lot longer than what's recommended. Regulations state that the "best interests of the child" are paramount. If the regulations were followed to a T- her parental rights would have been terminated 18 months to 2 years after he was in care, but as I said, regulations and reality rarely meet. Reunification is the first goal of foster care, if possible. In your situation, it sounds like the mother failed that repeatedly. In reality, there are more foster children than places for them. The boy was likely in several different places, and if he was a behavior problem, he's probably be in a group home rather than in a family environment. There is a possibility that he could be with the initial family who fostered him, but that is not likely. If he's in kinship care (family who is paid to foster him) that might be different.

Question 2: If Boy does not WANT to be reunified with her, how might that be treated? I'd love answers ranging from GOOD caseworker all the way to BAD caseworker. Also, legally? This is my BIG BIG QUESTION as the continued plot depends on it. I greatly appreciate time and effort. Like...lots of appreciation. And virtual hugs.

The caseworker isn't usually the one who will make the final decision, her supervisor will work with her. In some cases family court will be involved. At 15, if he doesn't want to be reunited with her, and if he's in a stable foster environment with people who want to keep him and where he wants to stay, a judge would look positively on the situation. If he has therapist, guidance counselor or other professionals advocating for him to stay in foster care, that will carry weight. Forcing reunification between a 15 yo who has been in the system for 10 years most likely won't happen, in my experience. About the caseworker--he's likely had multiple caseworkers throught his stay in foster care. If he's had his current one for a while and if she is respected at her agency and a good worker, her recommendations will carry more weight. If she's not good, inexperienced, overworked that she doesn't have time, lazy etc. the supervisor's recommendation will probably overrule the caseworker. You can come up with a scenario to fit whatever you want, and make it believable and realistic. The least likely would be that he's dragged kicking and screaming to his bio mother's place, but we could make that work

Question 3: This is just a small one, but I'm curious. I've read that foster kids can share a room with a foster sibling of the same sex "up until a certain age". Pray tell, WHAT is that certain age? do you mean same sex or opposite sex. In my state foster kids do not need their own bedroom, they can share with another. They cannot be in a bedroom with the opposite sex. These regulations will vary by state. In New York city, where many families live in apartments, I believe that the regulations are different. I believe the regulations vary by county.

This story takes place in New York, though any information from any states is welcome. It is contemporary.

As I said, I have many more questions, but those top two are the most prevalent. Thank you!

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Jodotha said:

Really? I've read articles about multiple reunification attempts in several different situations. Okay - what if I were to take the previous attempts out? The problem there is the long time-span of ten years. Is there any way she could retain parental rights over that time span?


What if the she still retains rights? I'm not at all trying to refute your information, just exploring possibilities. Thank you!

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Jodotha said:

You guys are amazing.

Wow, okay.



Oh sure, use LOGIC ;-) In truth, I'm not clear on what I want to happen. I've always said the plot is this character, this boy, Ben. So I have a few options, and what I've learned from all of you has given me more ideas. YAY!!
Your offer is EPICALLY AWESOME, though, so I'll tell a few of the ideas, and maybe you can give me information from there?
When I started writing Ben, he came into my head, told me his life sucked, and we went from there. Without doing research, what came out was a story of a kid who was taken away at five, bounced from home to home because of problem after problem. There are still plenty of issues here that require further research, so I'm going to gloss a bit. Basically, he has symptoms of Asperger's autism, but not the full gamut. He's also dyslexic, and possibly (?) some disgraphia? I'm hesitant to fully label him one way or another, because mostly - he's Ben. Personally I've had some mild suffering from being labeled, so I try to keep that to a minimum, at least until it's time to pitch. (the diagnoses is shorter than describing symptoms, see...) As a rule, asperger's kids usually have high IQs, but it's not unheard of that they would also have a learning disability. Since you're writing for YA, I think you'd be better off labeling him because teens for the most part won't pick up on his issues. Because's he's a foster kid he could easily have slipped through the cracks in terms of testing OR he could be tested more if he's a difficult to place kid.
Anyhoo, he refuses any kind of treatment because of an extreme paranoia of drugs/doctors/etc. This goes back to his childhood (and more I have yet to research). This also means he’s not correctly diagnosed, likely, though his dyslexia has been identified.You're going to have difficulty writing Ben as refusing treatment. because he's a foster kid he doesn't have a choice. He might go begrudgingly and not participate in tx, but if he refused to go he's likely end up in a group home. Asperger's kids are usually sticklers for rules and compliant because they are rigid thinking. You can still write him fearing drugs/drs etc, but you've got to find concrete reasoning for this. Perhaps he's hooked on a naturalistic website that advocates against doctors and western medicine (and also things like chemo for cancer).
In my original notes, he didn't see his mother for ten years, developed deep anger towards her, and she suddenly showed up and took him back.
Well. I learned that was not exactly plausible. That’s a good thing, even if it screws with my angsty!Ben plot.Since Ben is a special need due to a learning disability or asperger's his mother will have a harder time getting him back. Asperger's folks do not do well with change.
So I tweaked. Added a couple reunification attempts, a lot of phone calls, letters, visits, etc.
Ben is self-taught that no one wants him and no one cares and angst angst depression depression. When Mom comes back, he tells her he doesn't want her, but when he's not listened to immediately, he gives up. People with asperger's have feelings intellectually rather than emotionally. He will understand he's not quite like other kids and want to be like others, he'll try to copy their behaviors to fit in. He won't emotionally feel like a misfit in the same way someone w/o asperger's would feel it. He will have hobbies and interests that substitute for relationships, that mean more to him than people. Often this will be something mathematical, like statistics or a type of building or engineering, making bird houses or building houses of cards or architectural drawings of buildings he wants to make some day.
That’s sort of the theme, in my head, learning to care about yourself. My goal, in the end, is to have him save himself somehow. What happens in the interim is important, but I’m still flexible.
With that in mind, there are plenty of options, still.
The idea of her coming back and petitioning to reinstate her parental rights is also a possibility.
As it stands, he is moved to a stable family home that has a good track record with previous foster kids.this is your most realistic scenario for him to remain in foster care w/o a group home. There are "therapeutic foster care' homes for kids like Ben, where the foster parents would be trained to deal with more difficult children. They'd know how to deal with Ben's OCD behaviors and melt downs and de-escalate the situation.
Woot!

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PinkAmy said:

Ben sounds like an interesting character with a great story. He's going to have trust and attachment issues being in foster care, bouncing from place to place.
Foster care ends at 18, although some foster kids are helped with college expenses. If a foster child is fortunate, he has a great foster family who will consider him family after the age of 18, without the payment. Foster parents are paid per child based on the level of placeability. An easy child like a baby would get the lowest and a child in a therapeutic foster family or the highest. Harder to place kids like boys, older children, sibling sets, have higher rates than the easier ones. Girls are always easier to place because they have less behavior problems-girls generally turn they problems inward with self destructive behavior, boys outward. In the end, the boys are the healthier for doing so. I worked in foster care a while ago, the rates ranged from about $5 a day to $12 but I'm sure they've gone up since then. The pay is for their room and board. Contrary to popular belief, foster parents don't get rich taking in a ton of kids.

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JulieHowe said:

In California, the age of maturity for foster children was *finally* changed to 21, so this means kids can get services for three extra years. There were kids (as you probably are aware, having worked in the system) who would turn 18 halfway through their senior year of high school, which meant the foster parents' check was cut off, and so was the state medical care for the foster child. Now, the kids can be provided with services until they turn 21, including transitional housing, although I don't know what has happened to the housing programs with budget cuts.

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