SPRINGDALE -- Gov. Asa Hutchinson asked county officials throughout the state for help in finding more foster parents, speaking to the Association of Arkansas Counties annual convention on Thursday in Springdale.
"This is one of those problems money cannot solve," Hutchinson said. The governor was keynote speaker at the convention at the Springdale Holiday Inn and Convention Center that morning, asking the assembled county officers and quorum court members to go back to their communities and stress the need for more foster care to their home communities. The state suffers a severe shortage of safe havens for foster children, according to a recent study requested by the governor. The state has only two beds for every three foster children, the study found.
"I encourage you to go back to your communities and tell them of the need," Hutchinson said. The topic will also be a major theme faith-based conference Aug. 25 and 26. Hutchison invited leaders from 5,000 houses of worship to the event at the Marriott Hotel in Little Rock. Another theme of the summit will be increasing opportunities for inmates paroled or released from prison, but "they're looking for a second chance. These foster children are looking for their first chance," Hutchison said.
After the speech, the governor said the state is looking at reimbursement rates to foster families to see if more can be to be done to encourage people to become foster parents. The the most urgent financial need for children dependent upon the state is, however, is 200 more caseworkers for the state's Division of Child and Family Services, he said. That will cost an estimated $8 million.
The state has an average of 29 foster children per caseworker, the study by the the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group of Montgomery, Ala. found.
The state also must do more to get children who need foster care settled with relatives, Hutchinson said. The study found the state's percentage of assigning children to relatives is low. The governor said he believes that's because of the lack of available training for willing relatives and that changing the low placement with relatives is a priority. Relatives should be the first and best option for most children in need as long as they are safe there, he said.
Arkansas has 14 percent of its foster children staying with relatives, the study found. No surrounding state has fewer than 21 percent, study figures show. The figure is 29 percent in Texas and Oklahoma.
Arkansas was one of seven states awarded a "diligent recruitment grant" by the federal government to help attract foster parents, but the effort has been "slow to get off the ground," said Laura Kellams, Northwest Arkansas director for Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a non-profit group. The state received the $400,000 grant in 2013.
The state also needs to do more to place foster children with "fictive kin," Kellams said. These are adults who have formed a close relationship with a child but aren't related to them by blood or marriage.
"We agree with him," Kellams said of the governor's emphasis on hiring more caseworkers and placing more children with relatives.
"Its so traumatic for a child to be taken out of the home, placing them with relatives really helps with the transition, especially the transition back home," Kellams said. According to state figures, 45 percent of the children taken into foster care get to return home sooner or later.
NW News on 08/07/2015