Surrogate Host Families
Safe Families programs have spread to twenty-seven cities in the US. We reported a similar program from Pennsylvania Bethany Christian Services during our Family Preservation week several months ago in a special Facepalm.
Now a new article out of Wisconsin has been published about Safe Families for Children, an effort run by Lydia Home Association. It is very important to note that Bethany and Lydia Home Association are both part of Christian Alliance for Orphans, an influential group of organizations run by politically-connected Jedd Medefind, the former Special Assistant to the President and Acting Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush . Their Safe Families programs not only have the same name, but are very similar in nature and many of their descriptions and statistics are IDENTICAL (6 weeks to 1 year placement; 85% reunification.)
Church members open homes to children in need
[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 7/4/11 by Annysa Johnson]
With the issues that our government-run foster care have, it sounds good that a private group would be assisting until you look at the details and see that it is even less robust than the government-run system with even fewer checks and balances.
Here is the article followed by a discussion:
“Twenty-four families from Elmbrook Church in Brookfield are poised to open their homes to children in crisis.
The families have been certified through a Chicago-based nonprofit that recruits volunteers to take in children temporarily while their parents or guardians work through personal problems.
Distressed parents are already calling the newly formed Safe Families for Children Milwaukee seeking help, said director Traci Weldie of Watertown. But no child has been placed.
The program has been stalled by a Wisconsin law that makes it illegal for parents to leave their children with non-relatives for more than 30 days without seeking formal guardianship through the courts. Now, new legislation – approved by the Assembly and headed for a Senate vote – would change that.
“I feel there’s a sense of urgency here,” said Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-Brookfield) who sponsored Assembly Bill 30.
“Children and families are already waiting for help.”
Under the bill, parents would be allowed to transfer most of their parental rights to a non-relative for up to a year without going before a judge. (Judicial review would be required for placement of Native American children under an amendment sought by tribal authorities.)
Critics had raised concerns about the potential for abuse and the encroachment on judicial authority. But a number of amendments – requiring background checks, barring caregivers with abuse histories, and clarifying when courts and other agencies may intervene – appear to have resolved the bulk of those.
“It sounds like they’ve addressed most of my concerns,” said Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee), who had objected to the Assembly bill’s lack of language regarding who can assume the parental right.
“You can’t just arbitrarily give a child away without some review of who’s getting them,” he said.
Under the bill, the temporary guardians would be exempt from the licensing required of foster homes and from the mandatory reporting of abuse to authorities. And the state Department of Children and Families would have authority to set standards for training and screening of families.
Weldie said Safe Families has no intention of encroaching on state child welfare agencies or the courts, which generally intervene in only the most serious cases.
“There are lots of families that need help but don’t qualify for foster care,” she said. “We want to catch those kids before there’s abuse.”
Safe Families, founded by David Anderson of the nonprofit Lydia Home Association in Chicago, is now operating in 27 cities across the country, supported often by churches as part of their faith ministry, he said. Last year, 575 families took in 1,532 children, most of them in Chicago, according to statistics provided by the organization.
In addition to welcoming the children, host families are asked to serve as mentors to the parents or guardians, with the ultimate goal of reuniting the family.
“We’re asking people to practice Biblical hospitality,” said Weldie, the mother of six, including two children adopted from Ethiopia and Ghana. “Hospitality isn’t having people over for coffee and doughnuts. It’s about welcoming the stranger into your home.”
Elmbrook Church has endorsed the ministry and dozens of people from at least three other suburban churches have expressed interest. In addition, organizers are working to recruit urban churches.
“Families are under enormous stress – from medical issues, alcoholism, job losses – and the price is paid often by the children,” said the Rev. Scott Arbeiter, lead pastor at Elmbrook.
“Churches can’t stand by and watch that. We want to involve ourselves in that. It’s not just that we have to,” he said. “We want to.”
Minimal requirements of/Marketing to the “Host Family”
The Safe Families website outlines the steps to becoming the volunteer.
“Volunteer Criteria
All Safe Families volunteers must:
Able to support child during stay.
Be over the age of 25 and be emotionally stable, mature and law abiding.
Not abuse drugs and alcohol.
Refrain from profanity and other potentially damaging behavior.
Be sufficiently healthy and active in order to keep up with the demands of caring for a Safe Families child.
Be involved or willing to work with a Safe Family host church.
Volunteer Duties
At Safe Families, the safety and well-being of children entrusted to our care is the highest priority. We ask that all Safe Families volunteers make a commitment to fulfill the following duties.
Maintain a safe, clean home.
Be able to meet the child’s health and safety needs and provide adequate supervision.
Provide a bed and personal care items, such as diapers, toiletries, etc.
Nurture the child and promote acceptance within the family, treating each child in the household
with fairness.
Provide clothing items as needed (child will come with some clothing).
Provide transportation as needed to school, doctor appointments, etc.
Notify the Case Coach of any pending changes in status, such as a new address or phone number, a change in employment, or a change in the number of people living in your home.
Notify the Case Coach immediately of any medical, behavioral or other emergencies.”
According to Milwaukee foster care FAQs on CHW website, foster providers must ongoing training beyond the initial training;Financial checks; and mandatory reporter training–none of which this program has.
Service Comparison
The children entering foster care receive medical screening within 24 to 48 hours and automatically have medical insurance. The children are seen by their normal providers and receive dental and pediatric checks as well as yearly eye exams. NONE of these important items are guaranteed in the Safe Children Program.
Instead, the client has to rely on whatever the local church participant has available. Competency, timing and breadth of services, safety or religious aspects that may not be welcome are not monitored. Any church-based nonlicensed volunteer in these programs is not a mandatory reporter either. Safe Family Church Adminstrators ” may have resources that would be especially beneficial to Safe Families and Biological Families.
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Screening Criteria
The four screening criteria sound like a typical homestudy except that the training appears to be less for the host family and those running the program (no training specified for them.). Supposedly, Wisconsin will be able to make rules on that if the guardianship law is passed.
“Home Visit: As soon as we receive your completed application, we will contact you to set up a time for a home visit. This visit gives us an opportunity to get acquainted and also allow our staff to visually confirm that your home is a safe place.
Training: Training provides opportunities for personal growth that can help make your experience with Safe Families more rewarding both for you, your family and for children who may come into your home. Safe Families training is available online and takes about four hours to complete (volunteers without internet access can request a DVD version). Online training
Background Check/Fingerprinting: This varies from state-to-state. After submitting your application, someone from your local Safe Families office will contact you regarding background checks and fingerprinting instructions.
Letters of Recommendation.”
No Mandatory Abuse Reporting
Additionally, the article states “Under the bill, the temporary guardians would be exempt from the licensing required of foster homes and from the mandatory reporting of abuse to authorities.” Having no reporting of abuse,no provision for monitoring in the home, yet gaining temporary guardianship is a dangerous recipe.
Safe children programs have a “six-week average length of stay (ranging from two days to a year).”
Recruitment Through Churches
Like the Bethany program, recruitment is in churches and this program states that volunteers MUST work with the “Church”, which does not specify what that means. “Elmbrook Church has endorsed the ministry and dozens of people from at least three other suburban churches have expressed interest. In addition, organizers are working to recruit urban churches.”
Self-Report
Changes in employment or adding others to the home require notification, but there are no provisions to whether new checks are required or monitored. It appears to be a self-reporting trust system.
No Guidelines for Communicating or Visiting with Biological Families
This plan has no guidelines or guarantees of communicating with biological family. The duties do NOT include maintaining communication between child and biological family. They are to be “mentors”, but there is no definition of what that means.
No Guidelines for Monitoring
There is questionable oversight just like the Bethany program.
Goal of Reunification
The goal is reunification “In addition to welcoming the children, host families are asked to serve as mentors to the parents or guardians, with the ultimate goal of reuniting the family.”
Who would decide that they don’t reunify? If these are really minor cases of nonabuse, why in the world would they NOT reunify?The Safe Families website uses the same 85% reunification quote that Bethany uses. Where would the kids go if not reunified? Would they be put into state-run care or would the Christian Alliance for Orphans adoption agencies place the children with their adoptive family clients? What about clients that don’t have the same religion as the host family-how would that be handled or are they forced to give up their religious freedoms for these services?
It sounds like there is a potential for money to be saved at the state level but even that is not clear. Does this really increase child protection or preserve families, though?
Some finals questions: Why do the children need to be removed from their family home/transfer guardianship to get help if these are really minor cases caught “before abuse occurs”? Removal = “biblical hospitality”? Why not just provide daycare or transportation services or support to these families that need help? Who assists the child with the psychological burden of being removed from their home? If the child is in danger, then volunteer groups should not be in charge.
In foster care, homeschooling is not allowed. Are there guidelines on schooling?
How do objections by clients to host family’s schooling, nutrition,clothing, extracurricular activity or religious choices for their child get resolved?Who represents the client in this situation?
Lastly, as this program is not a court-decided, involuntary relinquishment and instead is a voluntary relinquishment/ “temporary” guardianship supposedly for only up to one year, what legal safety-net is in place for these clients to re-gain their parental rights (the law says that “most” of their parental rights would be transferred)? These are at-risk families that likely cannot pay for private services–a vulnerable population. “Foster”-parent entitlement is not unheard of and with these programs being run by groups with strong connections to the adoption industry (or in the case of Bethany, they ARE the biggest in the adoption industry), this is worrisome. The “bonding” to the host family argument is one that needs to be safeguarded against.
REFORM Puzzle Piece
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