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Articles

May 2008
Foster Children Need Help In School (from the Kansas City Star/Lori Ross): May is National Foster Care Month. There are 10,000 foster children being parented by the state of Missouri and approximately 1,000 in care in Jackson County... LINK TO THE ARTICLE

What is An Adoption Subsidy?: This brief overview may help explain adoption subsidies (you can also call us with questions - 816-350-0215). READ IT

From MFCAA

June 2008
Coming Soon!

May 2008
Communication and Child Welfare: As you know MFCAA staff, me included, spend numerous hours working with foster and adoptive parents to try to solve problems.  Problems we tackle may be worker/foster parent personality clashes, GAL/foster parent clashes, problems with accessing services, problems managing kids behaviors, problems getting educational needs met, etc… Whatever the problem, the solution is frequently found in utilizing effective communication to spur reasonable compromise.
READ MORE 

Summer Attachment Parenting Ideas: Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears, is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of the attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, a strong emotional bond with parents during childhood, also known as a secure attachment, is a precursor of secure, empathic relationships in adulthood. READ MORE

April 2008
Liking The Children You Love: I know that you all are aware that I sometimes have lightning moments.  I write to you about them every now and then... I was thinking this morning about why I’m struggling so much to genuinely ‘like’ one of my kids. READ MORE

March 2008
Prior Authorization for Mental Health Services for Children MFCAA began collecting data on problems experienced by families and providers as the Prior Authorization process has been implemented.  Since January, the following concerns have been noted: READ MORE

Social Worker Retention: (Response) Dear Lori, I wanted to take a minute to respond to your letter in the March 2008 MFCAA newsletter... As your letter dealt with staff retention, I wanted to share a few things that we do in Jackson County to address staff retention. READ MORE

Social Worker Retention: March is Social Worker Appreciation Month.  This month I’ve decided to delve into a topic that we spend a whole lot of time thinking about here at MFCAA as it concerns foster parents, but that we’ve never talked much about as it concerns child welfare workers.  That issue is retention....READ MORE

January 2008
Presidential Candidates' Positions on Foster Care and Child Welfare Issues: With Presidential Election Politics taking center stage in Media everywhere, we at MFCAA felt like it might help you all with your decision making if we did some research on the Candidate’s stances on the issues of Foster Care, Adoption, and Child Welfare in general. We encourage you to take the time to research this and other important issues to you and to your family, so that you can make your voice heard, and your vote count. READ MORE
 

New Legislation

The House of Representatives this afternoon passed the Fostering Connections to Success Act (H.R. 6307), major new child welfare legislation that would create a new kinship care program, provide services for children aging out of foster care...Click on the link to read more

Who Are Your Legislators? - to look up Senator and Representatives go to the link at the left. When you get to the webpage click on find your Legislator in the left hand column, then enter your zip plus 4 (if you do not know the "plus 4", you have the option to look it up through a USPS link on the website). Send them a letter or email and tell them what issues are important to you. Influencing reformation is as easy as taking the time to ask.

January 2008
Governor Blunt Calls for Funding Increases: READ ARTICLE
 

Important Laws&Legislation

Ongoing
Children's Rights is a national organization working on improving policy related to child welfare. Check out their policy projects.

May 2008
MFCAA staff have written two bills which have been amended onto other bills currently pending at the Missouri Capitol. One bill addresses issues with GAL (Guardian Ad Litum)representation for children. We would like for all children to have their own legal representation. The other addresses legal recognition of the Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Board and duties of that Board.

May 2007
MFCAA Legislative Update: With the assistance of Patek and Associates, MFCAA’s lobbying firm, and a host of concerned and amenable legislators from both parties, we were able to accomplish some pretty substantial legislative results for foster and adoptive children and their families this year. READ MORE
 

Full Text

Communication And Child Welfare

Dear Friends;

As you know MFCAA staff, me included, spend numerous hours working with foster and adoptive parents to try to solve problems.  Problems we tackle may be worker/foster parent personality clashes, GAL/foster parent clashes, problems with accessing services, problems managing kids behaviors, problems getting educational needs met, etc… Whatever the problem, the solution is frequently found in utilizing effective communication to spur reasonable compromise. 

Child welfare is a people business.  People are emotionally invested in this work.  You all know how deeply we love the kids who come to our homes. We witness their struggles and their triumphs.  We cheer for them and we challenge them to move forward.  We believe in the possibility that they can live happy lives some day. Workers, lawyers, therapists and other professionals also care deeply about the children they work to protect.  They get up each day and try to meet the needs of way too many needy people. Still, they are committed to the possibility that people can improve their circumstances.  They offer services designed to help people to get off drugs, find work, learn parenting techniques, etc…  They don’t quit caring what happens when they go home at night. 

Child welfare is also a complicated business.  The policy manuals and law governing child welfare are finally online, but even with that access, there are volumes of ever-changing policies to learn and understand.  There are multiple systems (CD, Courts, Schools, Healthcare, Mental Health, etc…) to effectively navigate in order to be effective at serving and protecting these kids. 

So, it is highly likely that emotionally charged problems will come up on a regular basis. And clearly they do, as our phones are rarely silent at MFCAA.  We have a pretty good track record for helping people to solve problems.  The way we do that isn’t rocket science. We don’t wave a magic wand and fix things.  We simply communicate as effectively as possible so that reason prevails and compromise can happen in many situations. 

When we hear from a family about a situation that is causing them distress we employ a basic 3 step method for involvement.  First we gather information (the family shares their perspective, then we seek out the perspective of others involved in the situation so that we get a multidimensional picture of the issue).  Once we have the whole picture, there are typically some fairly obvious issues that need to be addressed. We can usually see which position needs to be altered slightly to be kinder, fairer, easier to accept, more in line with practice, more reality based, within the policy or law, etc...  If we take an honest look at a whole situation and see that some of the fault lies within the foster/adoptive parents control, then we first address those issues directly with the family.  It’s important to be able to take responsibility for our part in creating issues. 

Step two, then, involves opening up a dialogue with the parties in question.  In this step there are some pretty important ways to share a message without alienating the recipient further.  (Emotion sometimes causes people to write fiery e-mails or to say things that reflect the nature of their hurt, not the crux of the problem).  Some of you have heard me tell you to ‘think like a lawyer’.  When I speak with someone about writing a letter about their situation, I tell people to try to take the emotion out of the story for the most part.  Write situations up chronologically.  What happened first, second, third, etc…?  This method allows the reader to follow along with the story from beginning to end.  It’s very helpful for someone who hasn’t been involved to get a general overview of your experiences.  When you are writing to someone you are upset with, it is especially important to follow these tried and true Dale Carnegie techniques:

1. Begin with honest appreciation and praise. Ex: “Dear Sally, I know how devoted you are to little Johnny.  It’s easy to see how much you care about him in the way that you speak with him when you visit him in our home.”

2. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. “I was surprised, this morning, when I got notification from the daycare center that little Johnny’s daycare authorization was not current.”

3. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. “You know how busy I am so I’m probably remembering wrong, but for some reason I thought that I had mentioned the daycare issue the last time you were out a couple of weeks ago.  You know we have so much to cover during those visits.”

4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders. “I’m just wondering if there is some way to expedite the daycare approval process. Is there something you can do to cut through some of the red tape?”

5. Let the other person save face. “I’ll be picking up Johnny tonight, and I’m sure the daycare director will ask me about this again.  If you were able to find something out between now and then, you’d really be helping me out.”

6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. 

7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to. “It’s no wonder that my licensing worker (other foster parents, therapists, etc..) has such good things to say about you.  It’s so reassuring to work with someone who cares so much. 

8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.  “I’m sure if anyone can figure out how to get this approved quickly, you can.”

9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

When we communicate our issues in ways that inspire people to work with us rather than against us, we open the door to the compromise necessary to solve most problems.  That is step 3.  The final step involves working WITH the other folks involved to solve the problem.  In this final step, while we may not get exactly what we want, and we may walk away with a disagreement that hasn’t been totally eliminated, we hope to have maintained the most important piece, the focus on what is best for the child.  During the reasonable compromise part, if the adults can stay committed to doing what is right for the CHILD, then all of the rest frequently falls into place.  Reasonable people, who feel respected, can often come to a compromise that allows some resolution to the problems.

Communication is a tricky process when emotions are involved.  If you’ve ever had any significant human relationship, you know that is true.  As foster and adoptive parents it is our job to be advocates for the children we care for and love.  Communicating effectively is a critical piece of effective advocacy.  Next time you need to solve a problem, try some of these techniques and see if it helps you the same way it helps us.  And, finally a little disclaimer, there are times to write fiery emails and take strong stands.  Usually, those times come when all efforts described above have been exhausted.  MFCAA sometimes uses those techniques as well.  However, it’s just like Mama always said, “You catch more flies with honey than vinegar!

Here’s to communication!

Lori Ross

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Summer Attachment Parenting Ideas

Attachment parenting, a phrase coined by pediatrician William Sears, is a parenting philosophy based on the principles of the attachment theory in developmental psychology. According to attachment theory, a strong emotional bond with parents during childhood, also known as a secure attachment, is a precursor of secure, empathic relationships in adulthood. Dr. Sears described attachment parenting in relation to eight principles that biological parents can focus on with their infants to encourage normal development and secure bonding.

 In terms of the work we do as we parent children who have suffered abuse and neglect, attachment parenting is clearly different. Traditional attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children's physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment.  Attachment parenting with foster and adoptive children involves providing a stable and consistent environment and taking a calm, sensitive, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children. This environment, with this type of caretaking, fosters the development of attachment.  The more time children spend with their foster or adoptive family, the faster they bond.

Because time together is part of the prescription for attachment parenting to work, the summer is a wonderful time to engage in attachment parenting activities that can be enjoyed by both parents and kids.  Let’s face it, with kids who struggle to attach, much of our time together isn’t pleasant for either of us.  The following ideas are both fun and encourage communication, sharing, turn taking and relationship building.  Replacing even a small portion of our struggle time with fun time will work wonders for the morale of our kids and our families.

Some ways our kids can play with us to learn to be respectful, responsible and fun to be around are:

·        Playing family fun games: Jenga, Down and Out, Bingo, Sorry, Labyrinth, Scrabble, Quiddler, Codo, Uno, Apples to Apples, etc…  You can also teach your children special family specific rules to the card games  it is a tradition to play in your family (this turns into a family claiming activity). 

·        Inside activities like baking, cooking dinner, scrapbooking, painting, singing, manicuring, pedicuring, styling hair, etc…

·        Outside activities like making mud pies, building sand castles, walking, bird watching, feeding the ducks, sidewalk chalk art, hopscotch, jacks, hoola hoop, jump rope, bike riding, swimming, pool games like Marco Polo or team games like pool volleyball, picnic lunches, flying kites or playing hide and seek.

These activities in which parents play with kids promote natural bonding and attachment the same way that playing peek-a-boo and patty-cake does with babies.  Our kids want and need to play and laugh with us.  Summertime is a great time for attachment parenting fun.

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Liking the Children You Love

Dear Friends,

I know that you all are aware that I sometimes have lightning moments.  I write to you about them every now and then. They aren’t strokes of genius, but more like ‘duh’ moments.  These are the moments when suddenly a thought occurs to me that I have never had before.  I was thinking this morning about why I’m struggling so much to genuinely ‘like’ one of my kids. This isn’t a kid with a serious attachment disorder that causes him to be almost sociopathic in relating to others.  It’s just a typical “I had a crappy start in life” kid who doesn’t do too much outrageous stuff to really push us away. But he also doesn’t do anything at all that is geared toward drawing us close, or in other words ‘building a relationship’. Usually he minimally does what he is asked, at some point (not immediately), and with very poor effort. He’s capable of interacting with all of us in some positive ways, but only when he feels like it. He expects to be provided for, but doesn’t likewise expect to contribute.  And, I’m really starting to think, several years into our adoption, that something is wrong with this picture.

We’re at the point now where he’s worked through all of the behaviors he originally demonstrated to try to get us to give up on him (as others had).  He’s settled and he knows us well.  But he still doesn’t seem to know how to be in a real and genuine relationship with us as his family.  And as his mom, the scary part to me is that if he can’t turn it around, I can picture the very hard life he’ll have down the road.  People who aren’t very likeable have a very difficult time navigating the hurdles life throws at them.

Now don’t get me wrong, you all know that I love all of my kids.  Remember I’ve talked about love being the action of commitment and caring. I truly love this particular child. But like is different.  Like is the part of a relationship where you feel warm and fuzzy about someone.  And suddenly this morning, it dawned on me that what I was seeing with this kid is that he doesn’t understand the basic concept that likeability is based on relationships that go both ways.

I really ‘like’ lots of my kids.  They are the kids who can see when I am stressed out and ask quietly, “Is everything okay, Mom?”  They are the kids who get up from the table (once in a while) and start loading up the dishwasher without being asked. I even get compliments about them from other people for things they’ve done.   They are the kids who ask me what I think about something like the presidential election or a TV show, that doesn’t have anything to do with me giving them money or a ride.  They are the kids who apologize when they’ve been out of line, and really mean it.

This particular kid thinks that doing a little bit of what is asked is good enough.  He thinks that not causing constant chaos is good enough, chaos every once in a while should be acceptable.  He doesn’t understand that he’s obligated (by the demands of familial relationships) to do more than that.

In reciprocal relationships, I do something for you, and you appreciate that.  So then you do something for me, and I appreciate that.  Liking develops when people give freely to each other.  We know this as adults.  We’ve learned it in our friendships since we were in kindergarten.  Our parents started teaching us even before then that we needed to ‘be nice’ to our friends, right?  But somehow I think that we don’t apply that lesson to our kids with any regularity.  Especially when we’re parenting kids who’ve been abused or neglected, we try so hard to be everything to them.  We want to fill up the holes that are left in their hearts as a result of their unfortunate early life experiences.  We have to be strong with and for them.  We commit to loving them even when they act terribly unlovable.  And none of that is wrong.

What is wrong is that we don’t consciously make the decision to train them about reciprocity in relationships as it applies to your own family.  They didn’t naturally learn those things in birth families in which parent’s needs always came first.  They didn’t naturally learn those things in birth families in which they had to focus solely on survival.  And yet, reciprocity is a critical survival skill.

So what happens to kids who never learn that you can’t simply take and take and never give back?  As teens and when they grow up they get fired from their jobs.  Even if they establish relationships, they can’t maintain them.  They make terrible parents.  They burn bridge after bridge until they have no one to fall back on when times get tough. They drain us until we aren’t able to be drained anymore, and then they drain society.  Even if they aren’t criminals, they aren’t people who competently manage their worlds and create lives that will ultimately provide them or anyone around them with good and positive experiences.

It’s our job to teach them, while they are still young, that nothing is owed to you in life.  The world doesn’t work that way. Human relationships, the most important thing any of us will ever have, take lots of work on both people’s part.  It is only through human relationships that we are able to find and hold jobs, have something to do with our free time, experience true joy and despair, etc…

So how do you teach reciprocity in relationships?  For a child like mine, I’m thinking that I’ll need to start with encouragement of general empathy.  I think he, like so many of our kids, is very focused on himself.  I think he’s been worrying about him and only him long enough now that he hasn’t learned in general how to ‘imagine’ what other people are feeling.  I’m thinking that we might start by figuring out how other people feel at times when there isn’t a crisis at our house.  Beyond the issue of “How did your brother feel when you smacked him?” we can actually try to get to “How does Mom feel when she comes home from work and finds that nothing she’d asked you to do has been done yet?”, “How does Dad feel when he finds the new shoes he just bought for you soaking wet in the backyard?”, “How does your sister feel when she has to help with the littler kids every morning while you lay still sleeping in your bed?”. “What must it feel like for your teachers to stay after school to work with you, leaving their own kids at daycare longer, and then find that you won’t even complete and turn in your paper for credit?”  If there is a glimmer of hope that he actually does care at some level about how Mom, Dad, his siblings or other adults in his life feel, then this might work.

If empathy isn’t possible, then good old fashioned American pioneer mentality might help.  Whether or not you care about how I feel may not really matter.  The bottom line is (and it’s mine to draw because I pay the bills around here), that you must earn your keep.  As an adult that is a fact.  It isn’t too early for you to learn that as a child, when the consequence of messing up is not homelessness.  That means that dinner will be on the table waiting for you until you finish cleaning that room to my satisfaction.  If you don’t respond to me in a respectful tone of voice, then maybe my ears don’t work to hear what you are trying to say. 

Instead of cutting you slack for the life experiences you’ve had, I might decide as your parent to empower you with my absolute faith that you can do things that you think are too hard.  Instead of letting you slide with minimal effort, I could teach you that with maximum effort you reap the rewards of a job well done.  You might learn that not only can you do it, but society (not Mom and Dad) will reward you for your efforts.

Once you’ve got some reciprocity going at home, it might be time to take it a bit further. A step up from those lessons is the idea that just doing what is necessary for your own best interest is never enough.  You have to learn to pay it forward.  Sure you’ve suffered, and in this world most of us do.  But you’ve also been abundantly blessed in this home with this family.  Part of our job in this world is to give back.  You aren’t doing your part until you are actually helping others without expecting something in return.  Wouldn’t it be nice if your kids were the kids who stopped at the neighbor girl’s lemonade stand on the way home from school and paid her 50 cents for a 10 cent lemonade just to ‘be nice’?  Or if you got a phone call from the elderly lady down the street who was just calling to thank you because your nice young man shoveled the snow off of her walk and didn’t ask for anything in return.

I want my kids to be lots of things, but most of all I want them to be happy.  I don’t know anybody who cannot form a significant relationship or maintain such a relationship who is truly happy.  My son needs to learn to be likeable to me and to everyone else.  He needs to start by giving back at least a little, and end up being a person who gives far more than he takes.  That is his obligation in the world, just as it is mine and every other citizen of this planet.  If I can help him to understand that one concept, imagine what his future might hold.  If we can all help our kids to understand that one concept, imagine what all of our futures might hold.

 Sincerely, Lori Ross (MFCAA Executive Director)

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Prior Authorization for Mental Health Services for Foster Children

UPDATE:  MFCAA began collecting data on problems experienced by families and providers as the Prior Authorization process has been implemented.  Since January, the following concerns have been noted:

• Unclear written policy on prior authorizations and limited acceptance of various diagnostic codes for approval for treatment.

• Difficulty accessing the approval folks at Mo Healthnet. It is reported that the fax machine line is busy and turned off all weekend.

• Excessive and time-consuming documentation requirements in order to attempt to obtain authorizations. Requirements are reported to be far in excess of requirements of requirement for traditional insurance plans.

• Lack of access to Children’s Division Children’s Treatment Services funding to cover needed services which are not approved by Mo Healthnet.

• Multiple requests for approval for treatment have been approved for numbers of sessions which are far less than requested because the requests are perceived as deficient by the Mo Healthnet staff. 

• Therapists express concern that because limited diagnostic codes are acceptable (for example ‘sexual abuse of a child’ is not accepted) the need to change diagnosis to qualify
  for treatment is unethical and inappropriate.

• Comments on denials indicate that therapists are expected to provide case management services including identifying community resources to serve the children they are working with.

• Significant family therapy restrictions seem to indicate that there is a lack of understanding within Mo Healthnet of the very unique needs of foster children in general and the role of multiple families in the lives of these kids.  Treatment is provided with the birth parent or the foster parent, not both.

• Lack of access to sibling therapy for separated siblings indicates another lack of understanding within Mo Healthnet of the needs of separated siblings and the importance of resolving issues to provide the potential for sibling reunification. 

• As a result of all of the above, foster parents are reporting lack of access to supportive therapy services they need to maintain difficult children in their homes.

• As a result of all of the above, therapists are opting to limit or refuse clients who are Missouri foster children.  Therapists available to treat these kids are becoming significantly harder to find

MFCAA continues to work with the Children’s Division, Mo Healthnet and the Missouri legislature to seek a solution to this mental health crisis for Missouri’s foster children.  If you have stories you’d like to add to the growing list of concerns, please call Lori at 816-350-0215, or email lori@mfcaa.org.

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Social Worker Retention (Response)

Dear Lori,

I wanted to take a minute to respond to your letter in the March 2008 MFCAA newsletter.  As I have done on rare occasions in the past, I am hopeful that MFCAA will find the space to print this in  an upcoming edition of your  newsletter.  First and foremost, thank you for recognizing that March is National Social Work Appreciation Month.  We in Jackson County are delighted to use this month each year to recognize the work of our staff.  The fact that you took the time to address this and encourage your families to recognize their workers is truly appreciated.

As your letter dealt with staff retention, I wanted to share a few things that we do in Jackson County to address staff retention.  As your letter indicates, staff retention is critical to the direction of a case.  As with foster placements, the more stability we have with workers, the more likely permanency can be achieved timely.  This starts with quality recruitment.  To that end, the Jackson County office has dedicated specific staff to the task of staff recruitment and retention. In addition, we are committed to interviewing and hiring  new  staff on a monthly basis.  Recruitment efforts are varied and expanding as new research highlights effective recruitment tools.

In regards to staff retention, Jackson County employs the following activities:
 

· formal employee of the month and employee of the quarter programs

· informal recognitions at office meetings

· regular brown bag lunches with administration

· formal staff mentor programs

· exit interviews

· increase access to resources through databases and resource fairs

· learning circles 

· appreciation events
 

Retention efforts are also being enhanced at a statewide level.  As part of our Program Improvement Plan, a statewide supervisory workgroup was established 3 years ago.  Through those efforts, enhancements have been made to the quality of supervision provided to front line staff. Clinical  supervision training for supervisors has been implemented, as well as expectations for weekly supervisor/worker conferences. Assessments of front line supervisor duties have been conducted and adjustments have been made where possible.

In addition, changes are underway regarding how potential applicants are selected for employment.  The Division plans to create an on the job video for all potential applicants to view.  This should give them an idea of what to expect in the public child welfare field and increase their knowledge of whether or not employment with us is a good fit. There will also be a self assessment piece to this process.

For the past several years, the Division has participated in a Survey of Organizational Excellence (SOE).  This tool allows staff to give anonymous feedback on different categories of their work and their work environment.  These results are tabulated by an outside entity and provided to the Division.  Enhancements to our programs and environment are made as those results are reviewed.

Lori -- I again want to thank you for your time in addressing staff retention.  As with Resource Family retention, this is an important issue and  I am truly grateful to have community partners willing to help us in this endeavor. 

Sincerely,

Virginia Lewis-Brunk, MSW
Regional Director
Jackson County Children's Division
816/889-2815

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Social Worker Retention

Dear Friends;

March is Social Worker Appreciation Month.  This month I’ve decided to delve into a topic that we spend a whole lot of time thinking about here at MFCAA as it concerns foster parents, but that we’ve never talked much about as it concerns child welfare workers.  That issue is retention.

I can only speak from my own experiences, but I have frequently been thrilled to find that I have accepted a placement of children who have a wonderful, active, concerned and responsive worker.  Almost as soon as I take note of my luck, the worker announces that he/she is leaving the position to move on to something else. 

When you consider the idea of children’s best interest it is abundantly clear that stability is a critical component of all aspects of a child’s life.  Just as in foster placement, stability in the role of the child welfare worker is imperative in the effort to achieve the best outcome possible for the child concerned.  How many times have you all felt a dramatic shift in the dynamics of a case because of the change from one worker to another?  How many times have critical pieces of information been missing from the team’s ‘big picture’ because the information was in the mind of the last worker, and never made it to the paperwork that was transferred to the next worker when she left for another job? 

Like many of you, I can’t imagine any job or calling more important than serving to protect and nurture abused and neglected children.  People who choose to devote their time and resources to obtaining college degrees which qualify them to do the work of child welfare, and who take the jobs offered by the Children’s Division and its contracted agencies, are people who share the that same sense of calling to the mission of these kids that we have as foster and adoptive parents.  They know what they are hired to do is overwhelmingly important and valuable, and they are willing to tackle that responsibility for very minimal pay.

So, why then do they leave in numbers that are substantially higher than the number of foster parents who quit fostering each year?  Why do they subject the children on their caseload to yet another transition time and time again?

Researchers have found that there are seven issues, beyond the issue of inadequate compensation (which child welfare workers definitely have in common with foster parents), that cause them to decide to quit this work and pursue other opportunities.  My hope is that by discussing these issues, we can bring light to the problems within our system and take on the challenge of working with the Children’s Division and its contracted agencies to fix these problems in any way that we can.

(1). High Caseloads

Stress and frustration at what is an inherent inability to do a good job comes from carrying caseloads which are too high. State budgets rarely include enough money to adequately fund the positions necessary to maintain a caseload size that is in compliance with recommended standards.  Missouri is in better shape in this category than other states because of the addition of the performance based contracting agencies and the expansion of the number of children served by those agencies in recent years.  Additionally, and probably more importantly, Missouri adopted a goal more than five years ago to seek and obtain child welfare accreditation by the Council on Accreditation.  This accrediting body insists on manageable caseload standards.  As a result, with the help of advocates statewide, the legislature in Missouri has appropriated enough funds to provide the positions necessary to accomplish that accreditation.   It’s happening circuit by circuit statewide, and as we speak, Jackson County is being assessed by national reviewers for their own local accreditation.  While workers still don’t get paid enough, there are, according to Children’s Division administrators, enough jobs to cover the cases of children and families they serve.

(2) Administrative Burdens

According to the General Accounting Office, child welfare workers and their supervisors are often frustrated by administrative burdens such as mountains of paperwork and court and meeting requirements that take up 50 to 80 percent of their time.  These burdens, created by the bureaucratization of child welfare social work practice, were ultimately designed to ensure the uniformity of service to all families served.  Rules, regulations, paperwork and administration designed to ensure a base line of good practice actually resulted in a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the work of child welfare. The environment created by this type of approach is stifling and dissatisfying to good workers, who want to do ‘real’ social work. It is frequently cited as a reason for leaving the job.

(3) Quality of Supervision

Supervisory support can motivate any worker to remain in any job, even when other conditions are less than ideal.  In child welfare work, where the job is stressful, and the outcomes of the efforts put forth by workers significantly impact people’s very real lives, the importance of good supervision is paramount.  Good supervisors guide and consult with workers, they educate workers, they support workers through personal and client related issues.  However, even good supervisors can become ineffective when they are stretched with so many other responsibilities that they don’t have enough time to be available to their staff.  This is one of the situations that exists here in Missouri.  Because funding has been diverted to the management of caseload size, even though supervisors appear to be overseeing manageable numbers of workers, they are also handling a plethora of other responsibilities within the agencies they work for. 

Additionally, from the outside, it appears that frequently good supervisory staff turnover is as bad as frontline staff turnover.  Supervisors who seem to do well are frequently promoted as other positions open up within the agency.  Because recruitment for low paying/high stress jobs is not an easy task, replacing those good employees who leave the agency is easier said than done.  As a result of a poor pool from which to choose, frequently supervisors who do only a mediocre job are retained because at least someone is filling that seat.  Bureaucracy does not reward effective performance in any way other than promotion.  That is unfortunate for kids and families.

(4) Training Issues

Initial training for new workers is inadequate to prepare them for the challenges of the job they’ve just taken on.  Frequently supervisors and experienced workers are not readily available to assist new workers with on the job training.  In many agencies half or more newly hired workers quit within the first year because of lack of training and support.  Additionally, because of time constraints, training that is required and training that might be beneficial but is optional simply takes the worker away from the job they are already overwhelmed in doing. When they return from required training they find their workload has become unmanageable.  They begin to resent required training as it makes their job ‘harder’.  As a result, the worker’s batteries are never recharged, as they resist the infusion of new information and ideas.

(5) Evening or Weekend Hours

Many workers report that they simply cannot continue to do the work of child welfare because the work spills over into their evening and weekend time.  They have families and lives outside of the agency, but those things which are most important to them end up taking a back seat to the needs of a crisis situation or a workload that is unmanageable without the extra time beyond normal work hours.   This is an area in which we can certainly relate as foster parents.  Frequently the work of caring for children in foster care intercepts our time at the office or derails previously made plans or takes our attention away from our other children.  That is a very difficult part of choosing to work within the child welfare system.  However, I believe that it is an issue that would present less of a problem if other areas of concern were in order.

(6) Lack of Resources for Children and Families

Many workers become frustrated with what they believe is an inability to provide appropriate resources to the children and families that they are trying to help.  In many cases, this is an appropriate frustration.  Treatment for substance abuse that includes a living component for Mom and kids together is rare.  Options for placements that are stable for children with multiple and complex behavioral issues are slim.  Resource issues are a problem. On the same page, it is extremely frustrating to work very hard toward a hoped for outcome and not be able to achieve it.  One of the harsh realities of child welfare work is that sometimes families don’t improve their circumstances, no matter what you offer them.  Sometimes kids don’t heal from their combination of mental illness, trauma and instability.  In the real world, there are not always, and sometimes are not often happy endings.  It’s hard to keep doing a job this hard without seeing many positive outcomes.  Again, this is an area where we, as foster parents, can relate.

(7) Morale

Within agencies, frequently workers report feeling undervalued.  Feeling undervalued can be the result of some combination of many of the factors previously discussed. Low pay, heavy workloads, lack of resources, policies that tie workers’ hands can add up to a general feeling that one is not appreciated and the job being done doesn’t really matter.  Morale is another issue that is strongly tied to the ability of the supervisor to effectively guide and respond to the worker.  We have found here at MFCAA, that often improving morale among foster parents is as simple as being able to listen and truly hear what they are saying when they need to be heard.  Morale is an area, where we as foster parents, can definitely contribute positively or negatively to the worker’s feelings.  We need to remember to notice the positive actions we see, and comment on those to the worker and to those who supervise the worker.  We need to appreciate extra efforts on behalf of our kids and we need to use not only professionalism, but also kindness, in our interactions with workers even when we disagree.

Ultimately the goal of improving retention of child welfare workers is essential to achieving the outcomes our kids and families need.  Human service work is about human relationships.  Child welfare workers are not interchangeable any more than foster parents are.  Workers who remain on the job have the opportunity to learn the skills necessary to provide effective case management to the same kids and families we serve.  As foster parents, we need to recognize that we can and should play a part in the retention of good child welfare workers.  Take the opportunity this month to begin to show the workers in your lives how valuable they are to you.

Sincerely,

Lori Ross, MFCAA    Back to Top

MFCAA Legislative Update

With the assistance of Patek and Associates, MFCAA’s lobbying firm, and a host of concerned and amenable legislators from both parties, we were able to accomplish some pretty substantial legislative results for foster and adoptive children and their families this year.

Items on MFCAA’s Legislative Agenda for 2007 included:

Extending Medicaid Coverage for children aging out of foster care from18-21. 

Status:   DONE

Parent Led Post Adoptive Resource Centers- funding supportive services to families adopting children from the foster care system.

Status:   DONE  (The legislature has agreed to provide $200,000 in start up funding to begin to provide post adoptive services and supports to Missouri Adoptive Families. This funding is a great starting point!)

Accreditation for the Children’s Division

Status:  DONE  (The approved appropriation for accreditation is less than we’d hoped for, but will allow the CD to continue in the process of pursuing circuit by circuit accreditation.)

Protection of Citizen Review Boards for reviews of substantiated child abuse and neglect investigations.

Status:  DONE (The Supreme Court found that Citizen Review Boards are constitutional, and the Division/Legislature withdrew the pending bill.)

Legal Status and representation for foster parents.

Status:  Not Done  (This issue will be on the agenda for MFCAA next year.  While it was explored this session, it wasn’t able to go anywhere due to the complexity of the issue.  We’ll get a head start next year and see what we can accomplish.)

Use the State Foster Care and Advisory Board as a review and advisory body for the Children’s Division in its policy development.

Status:  Not Done (While this is not yet instituted in statute, it is something that is informally progressing with the Children’s Division.  We will look at this again next session.)

Improve the language in the Foster Parent’s Bill of Rights

Status:  DONE (Significantly more specific and substantial language has been added to the Foster Parent’s Bill of Rights, via Senate Bill 25.  These rights will now be provided to all foster parents upon their initial licensure and at every renewal of licensure following.)

Improve Educational Outcomes for children who have been abused and neglected.

Status:  Not Done (Efforts to legislate improvements to the handling of educational issues for abused children were stalled this year, because of cost concerns expressed by school districts.  This effort will be pursued again next session.)

Improve the Missouri foster care reimbursement rate

Status:  DONE  (The Missouri Legislature agreed to a 2.5 Million dollar General Revenue item to fund an increase for foster parents.  With the federal match, this should provide an increase of more than 10% in the foster care reimbursement rate in Missouri.  This is the first substantial increase in more than a decade.)

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Presidential Candidates

Dear Friends:

With Presidential Election Politics taking center stage in Media everywhere, we at MFCAA felt like it might help you all with your decision making if we did some research on the Candidate’s stances on the issues of Foster Care, Adoption, and Child Welfare in general. We encourage you to take the time to research this and other important issues to you and to your family, so that you can make your voice heard, and your vote count.

Below we’ve listed Candidates general positions and provided links to websites in which you can search to find more information.  We’ve listed them by party and in alphabetical order.  Some candidates have strong and well defined positions on child welfare issues. Other candidates positions are less defined, and many do not address the specific issues of child welfare at all.

DEMOCRATS:

Hillary Clinton:  http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view/?id=4891

Mrs. Clinton takes a very proactive stance on issues facing foster and adoptive children. Her position paper was the most comprehensive that we found in our research. Her Senate record includes co-sponsorship of several bills related to child welfare issues.  Additionally, she’s served as a legislative sponsor of the Congressional Coalition of Adoption Institute’s foster youth mentoring program, in which foster youth serve as congressional interns during their college years.  The link above is the position paper in which Mrs. Clinton spells out her plans related to foster care and adoption.

John Edwards: http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/

Mr. Edwards legislative agenda items include positions on providing health care to all children.  His work in the Senate includes several items related to the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  Additionally, he discussed his position that Lesbian and Gay Couples should not face barriers to adoption.  There are no specific position papers related to a foster care or adoption agenda on his website.

Dennis Kucinich: http://www.dennis4president.com/home/

Mr. Kucinich supports universal health care for all and has several specific positions affecting foster care/adoption:  Providing greater resources for Promoting Safe and Stable Families,  Expanding federal funding for treatment substance abuse for parents involved in child welfare,  Supporting kinship alternatives.

Barack Obama: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/10/15/obama_campaign_announces_child.php

Mr. Obama’s legislative agenda items include a position paper on strengthening families in which he talks largely about the importance of fatherhood, supporting low income families, and helping low income workers to improve their job possibilities. There are no specific position papers related to a foster care or adoption agenda on his website.  We were able to find the link above. This link is to a child welfare task force which appears to be specific to New Hampshire, but may indicate some awareness of the needs of foster/adoptive children.

REPUBLICANS:

Rudy Giuliani:  http://www.joinrudy2008.com/issues/view/19

Mr. Giuliani has developed a position paper on which he lists his 12 commitments to the American people.  Number 8 on that list of commitments is “I will increase adoptions, decrease abortions, and protect the quality of life for our children.”  More specifically he states that he will direct the Office of Faith-based Initiatives to find new ways to support organizations that promote adoption as an alternative to abortion, and he will make the $10,000 adoption tax credit permanent. 

Mike Huckabee:  http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.Home

Mr. Huckabee does not address foster care or adoption issues within the issue briefs located on his campaign site.  However he has made the news for stances on foster care and adoption issues while he was governor of Arkansas.  Mr. Huckabee has expressed an opposition to gay foster parents.  Mr. Huckabee opposed cuts to the title XX/Social Services block grant proposed in FY2000 which are used to provide foster care assistance among other things.

John McCain:  http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95B18512-D5B6-456E-90A2-12028D71DF58.htm

Mr. McCain is the international adoptive parent of a daughter adopted from Mother Theresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh.  Mr. McCain’s issue statements include his desire to seek ways to promote adoption as a first option for women struggling with crisis pregnancies.  In the past he has co-sponsored legislation to prohibit discrimination against families with adopted children, to provide adoption education, to permit tax deductions for qualified adoption expenses, and to remove barriers to interracial and interethnic adoptions.

Ron Paul:   http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/

Dr. Paul does not address foster care or adoption issues within the issue briefs located on his campaign site.  The link above is his issue page.  Dr. Paul was an OB/GYN doctor, and his site reflects a strong pro-life stance.  There is no corresponding discussion about adoption.  Other information on the internet indicates that Dr. Paul opposes gay adoption.

Mitt Romney:  http://www.mittromney.com/Issues/american-culture

Mr. Romney does not address foster care or adoption issues within the issue briefs located on his campaign site.  The link above is his discussion of American culture and values where he talks about general ways he hopes to protect children.  Mr. Romney was the Governor of Massachusetts during a time in which there was a controversy over a private adoption agency refusing to provide services to gay couples hoping to adopt.  Mr. Romney supported the position of that agency, and opposed the right of gay couples to adopt.

Fred Thompson: http://www.fred08.com/Principles/PrinciplesSummary.aspx

Mr. Thompson does not address foster care or adoption issues within the issue briefs located on his campaign site.  The link above is his issue page.  Mr. Thompson has no outside record concerning his positions on foster care, adoption or child welfare.

Our goal here at MFCAA is not to push any one candidate over another.  Our goal at MFCAA is, as always, to keep you informed about the issues related to foster care and adoption.  We hope that you find this a useful starting point for your own research into the candidates as we approach the 2008 Presidential Election.

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