(1) What is foster care?

Foster families provide a temporary home for children, who for a variety of reasons including abuse, neglect or dependency, have entered DSS custody.  Relatives who are providing a home for a child in DSS custody can become licensed as foster parents for that child – provided they meet all of the licensing rules- however, most of the time foster parents are people from the community willing to open their heart and home to a child they don’t know who needs a safe and loving home. Although designed to be temporary, there are times when a child is unable to return to his or her birth family and foster parents often adopt the children they’ve grown to love.

(2) Who are the children in foster care?

Children can enter DSS custody from birth until 18. Children who are already in foster care when they turn 18 can chose to remain in custody until they are 21. The advantage of this is that they can continue to have a safe home while they finish high school or go on to college or a trade school. Nationwide, over half the children in foster care are over the age of 10 years. Children in foster care are from all racial and socio-economic backgrounds. They have been abused, neglected or are without an appropriate adult to care for them. Many children in foster care have special needs, including health issues, behavioral issues, special educational needs, and mental health diagnosis.

When a home in New Hanover is not available, the child must be placed in another county. What that means is a child who has already experienced the trauma of abuse or neglect and then separation from his or her family, must also separate from his/her neighborhood, school, friends, doctors and community. The further a child is from his/her family, the greater difficulty we have in arranging visits and keeping the family connected.

Social Services has the responsibility to reunite families whenever we can safely do so. We usually work with birth parents toward getting their children back for about a year, so there is plenty of opportunity for the family. However, there are times when children cannot return to their parents because of on-going safety issues and there are no other appropriate extended family members to care for the child. It is then that we turn to our foster parents to provide a permanent home for the child. The foster family who has provided care for the child during the time we are working with the birth family has often formed a strong bond with the child and wishes to make the child a permanent part of the family. We strongly consider that family as the adoptive family, however, we may also consider other interested families. The agency has a formal Adoption Committee where each interested family’s adoptive home study is presented and the Committee makes the final decision about the most appropriate adoptive home for the child.

Foster families are provided assistance to help offset the cost of caring for a child in foster care, however, most families find that they spend more than the assistance provided. After an adoption is final, children may qualify for monthly financial assistance, Medicaid, post adoption social work services and an additional $2400 a year for educational and psychological services.