Working to find families and hope for Texas children in need of both

By BOB RAY SANDERS

bobray@star-telegram.com

I can’t begin to imagine what it would have been like had I been forcibly taken from my parents at a young age and placed in a home with strangers.

Just the thought of being separated from my brothers and sisters is shockingly painful.

I realized long ago that my siblings and I were blessed to have been raised in a loving family and to have had our parents for as long as we did.

It’s sad that too many children are not that fortunate, often becoming wards of the state and ending up in a system that, although improving, is far less than perfect.

That message was brought home last week at a World for Children conference in Plano that focused on teaching adult professionals and foster parents better ways of caring for teenagers — the hardest people to place — who are in foster care.

I dropped by to offer praise and encouragement for those who are working and providing homes for these youths, many of whom come into the system more troubled than you could imagine.

While there, I heard Anne Heiligenstein, commissioner of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, present some disturbing yet hopeful facts.

In fiscal 2008, there were 165,010 completed child abuse/neglect investigations in Texas, she said. The number of confirmed victims was 70,589.

Last year, 27,232 children were in DFPS substitute care.

Heiligenstein said the department has listened to the adolescent youngsters through an annual teen conference and is taking steps to address their serious concerns.

At this year’s conference, the teens credited the foster care system with a better environment to live in, a chance to go to college and a means to keep off the streets and off drugs.

But, Heiligenstein said, the youths pointed out that the system fails them with the frequent moves that affect the establishment of trust with their caregivers; the constant changes of schools, affecting sports participation, class credits and the ability to "fit in"; and the infrequency of visits with their siblings.

The commissioner cited the case of one child who had been placed 50 times. Obviously that’s an extreme example, but think if you had been sent to just a quarter of those homes during your younger years.

Part of the difficulty in allowing kids the opportunity to see their siblings is that so many placements (17 percent statewide) are outside of their home regions, and 60 percent of children and youths in foster care are placed outside of their home counties.

Some of the youngsters complained that there were too many rules; so many that they are not allowed the freedoms enjoyed by other youths living with their families. They don’t want to be judged or stereotyped, they said, and they want a chance to see some of their old friends.

They spoke of a lack of hands-on experience, such as paying bills, while in care, Heiligenstein said. And they worry about what will happen with their younger siblings who are still in foster care once they themselves leave the system.

The teenagers said there was a lack of preparation for the responsibility they will have as adults.

Heiligenstein said the department takes these issues seriously and has begun to address them, including coming up with plans to help pay for college for qualifying young people even after they have "aged out" of foster care.

As a society we must continue to work to improve the foster care system for the benefit of the children placed there.

Children will continue to come into the system and an increasing number of them, professionals say, will come with serious mental and emotional disorders caused by abuse.

We must do everything in our power not to add to that pain but instead to relieve as much of it as possible.

One way to do that is to support the system that is supporting the kids in it. Many of these children are in our communities and in our schools.

And, of course, more foster parents are needed.

It’s a tall order, but Heiligenstein convinced me that the staff of DFPS is seriously trying to do its part.

Bob Ray Sanders’ column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. 817-390-7775

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