I don’t think our agency is that unusual in that we require our social workers to make weekly visits to the foster home (the DCF requirement for vendor agencies), regardless of the bio-parent’s economic status. I oversee the program, so ultimately it’s my responsibility if something happens to a kid in our care & I take that responsibility seriously.

IMHO, success stories are the norm. There are about 10,000 children in foster care in Massachusetts, but you don’t hear about most of them because they’re in successful placements. And while the placements are successful, for some kids, you can’t undo what’s happened to them & their circumstances plague them for life (I’ve seen some stuff that makes me want to vomit when I think about it).

Despite what I’ve said here, I think you’re right ~ there is ALWAYS room for more diligence and more accountability. Sadly, more accountability won’t fix what happened to this young disabled man, but maybe it would lead to more thorough screening of foster care parents and increased/effective communication between DCF and the Department of Corrections.

Glad you’ve worked hard and had successes, you probably work in a medium to high income area
Like I’ve said many times, if DCF employees where supervised and administrators held accountable and did what they get paid to do we would have many more successes stories.
The success stories shouldn’t be marveled at they should be the norm. One of my main issues has to do with the deference in acceptance DCF has with issues involving tax paying well to do adults and no income food stamp children, the higher the tax bracket neighborhood you live in, the more involved and diligent DCF is. If you can afford a high end lawyer DCF will make sure they place your child properly and visits are made regularly while you fight their removal of the child you can bet all rules will be followed. If you’re low income and unable to create real problems for DCF, they ignore the standards no one seems to give much of a dam about that crack heads baby, just place it anywhere and never bother going back for the required visits, that crack head can’t create problems for DCF or employees anyhow. Unless somehow some reporter finds out the baby’s been dead for years and the foster parent is still collecting, than it’s a real tragedy and DCF is so overworked, but if the baby disappeared but the foster parent stopped collecting the checks, no one cares especially DCF

Foster families go through an extensive and lengthy screening process that includes a check of the criminal background of all family members over the age of 14. There is an interview process and references are checked. There is a home inspection to ensure that the home is suitable in terms of safety and upkeep. Potential foster parents are required to attend more than 30 hours of training before they are considered ready for placement.

As providers of support, we are required to make weekly visits to the home. These visits typically last at least an hour. The social workers are also intensely involved to ensure that the child gets the supports (medical, psychological, educational) he/she needs for a successful placement.

Reunification with the bio family IS the goal of all placements. In some cases, it’s clear that reunification probably won’t happen, but as service providers we are required to foster the parental relationship through all reasonable means even if those means are invasive to the bio family (supervised visits, etc.).

I can tell you that it’s a sad business. There are children out there who are horrifically abused in ways that would curl your hair if you read the case files. There are also cases where the custodial parent has a mental health issue that is so pervasive that they simply don’t have the ability to care for themselves and their children. In this regard, it’s not a case of the parent not wanting the child(ren). It’s usually quite the opposite.

My understanding in the case is that the Department of Corrections has some role in okaying the man to be in a home with children as long as he stayed away from the children he originally assaulted (information from the rumor mill in the human services industry in Massachusetts, so this is not confirmed). Agencies such as the one I work for have a small amount of latitude to ask for a waiver to allow people with old criminal histories or prior DCF involvement to become foster parents (i.e., a potential foster parent had a DUI 20 years ago and has had no other criminal activity since then may be considered for service). These waivers must be approved by DCF.

When thinking about this situation, I am torn. While sexual abuse is clearly reprehensible, being aware of sexual abuse and not reporting may be even more unforgivable.

There are thousands of foster care placements in Massachusetts. I am not excusing what happened here because it’s inexcusable. However, I think you have to consider that most of those other thousands of placements are successful and the children are not subject to any type of abuse.

PS ~ To answer someone’s question: In Massachusetts, intensive foster care parents are paid $50 per day, which covers feeding and housing the child. Each child also gets a quarterly clothing allowance. I believe that typical foster care pays approximately $20 per day.

http://www.flcourier.com/news/2009-07-17/Florida_News/Florida_caseworkers_lied_about_efforts_to_protect_.html

NO! because DCF or by any other name, is a teflon agency, that investigates itself and never finds itself culpable of any wrong doing, no reprimands, no firing, just on to the next “NO fault” disaster. it’s amazing how dysfunctional CPS or whatever name, no accountability, no responsibility, unsupervised chaos, Never learns from their mistakes because they don’t have to, they’re untouchable. Administrators collect their paycheck your taxes and answer to no one. Caseworkers claim to monthly visit people that’ve been dead for years and when found out they’ve been falsifying paperwork are they fired NO! Some actually got promoted. Their self investigation didn’t find any wrong doing!
LOL! What a sick joke CPS is. When an agency investigates itself there is no accountability.

This shit is ridiculous.

Touche’ Sometimes choice was all I had. I chose to mend my ways, dad chose to mend his,and we chose to love each other. Happy ending.

That’s excellent! And a lot better than the alternative.

Peace,
NW

V and NW: really, I am very happy you to have become happy adults. It truly makes my day. It is stories like yours that become therapy for me. Success stories = one scar healed.

I can’t speak for V, of course, but she seems to be of the same mind set.

I just simply decided early on that this (the way I was raised) was not normal. I also never really felt like a victim. Oh maybe as a young child I wondered why this all was happening. As an adult? I’d be damned if I was going to let what these people did to me, dictate what I did with my life.
Why would I destroy my life just to show them?? Seemed silly to me. Made no sense.

I get so sick of people saying “well, my dad was a drunk, so I am, too:..or “I was raised in filth, so I don’t know any different.” “My dad beat me, so I beat my own kids.” The list goes on and on. I hate, hate, hate these kinds of excuses for bad behaviour.

Anyone CAN rise above adversity. Is it hard? Yes it is. But anything worth having is worth working hard for.

I always like the story of the man and his twin sons. The father was a long time loser; always in and out of prison. One son was a successful accountant, with a home, a wife, children, 2 cars in the driveway, etc.

The other son was a criminal and always in and out of prison.

The son in prison was asked:”Why are you constantly in trouble and in prison?” He responded, “Well, with a father like I had – what do you expect?”

The other son was asked:”How is it that you earned a degree, own a beautiful home, have a wife and children, etc.?” He responded, “Well, with a father like I had – what do you expect?”

It’s all about choice.

I also ran away several times until I was 14 and finally then I was gone until I was 16. I found good people and good friends who took me in, each for a period of time. I only decided to go home when street life started threaten my life. I was very lucky in that I was able to come to terms with my dad. It took a long time but when he died we had forgiven each other and loved each other very much. So rare. Doesn’t mean I don’t have scars, they never heal. But I got past them enough to have a great relationship with my dad. (he quit hitting me, but he could still make me cringe)

SickenEd;
.. Secondly, I think it’s fair to throw things like this in at times.. Kinda helps the rest of us understand where the other person is coming from when discussing certain topics

I couldn’t agree more.

V and NW: really, I am very happy you to have become happy adults. It truly makes my day. It is stories like yours that become therapy for me. Success stories = one scar healed.

Veronica.. First off, let me start by saying how terribly sorry I am that you had to go through this. NOBODY deserves that kind of childhood.. Secondly, I think it’s fair to throw things like this in at times.. Kinda helps the rest of us understand where the other person is coming from when discussing certain topics. I’m glad you are well now, and must say you are a far more forgiving person than me, and I truly admire that. Hope all the rest of your life treats you well

V – Good for you for seeing through all the bs for what it is. Sometimes you just have to let people alone to wallow in their own crap rather than let them bring you down. These people thrive to pull others down – whether they gave birth to us or not!

Thanks guys. I too like to hear people’s personal stories as it lends a different perspective.

And I agree with you, NoWhining, sometimes you just have to let toxic people go. I’m not saying I’ll never speak to my mom again, but the ball is definitely in HER court, and even if I do let her back in, she’ll be on thin ice indefinitely, I’m afraid. She is one of those people who thinks the fact that I popped out of her womb gives her the right to treat me however she sees fit, and she is also under the mistaken impression that she is OWED respect simply for giving birth to me. I don’t think so.