Improving foster care must be priority

On July 18, 2014 Ashley Harris wrote an article for the San Antonio Express News entitled Improving Foster Care Must be a Priority. Ms. Harris is a child welfare policy associate for Texans Care for Children. She was also a caseworker for Child Protective Services. Both positions lend greatly to her credibility. Her intended audience is all Texans, but, more specifically, I feel as if she is making an appeal directly to the Texas Legislature to increase funding for Child Protective Services This article is of particular importance to me due to recent life changing events in my family. My father and stepmother just started fostering three two and a half year old triplets by the names of Aiden, Kason and Leah. Ms. Harris begins her article with the story of the tragic drowning deaths of two Texas foster children in Lake Georgetown earlier this month. She then wonders whether the deaths could have been prevented if the state of Texas had more rigorous standards for the screening and training of foster parents. Ultimately, however, she states that the most effective way to improve the safety of foster children is to increase funding for Child Protective Services caseworkers. High caseloads mean that caseworkers do not get to spend as much time with each foster family. This can cause caseworkers to miss the signs of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Ms. Harris defends her claim by stating that last year the average caseload for a Texas foster care caseworker was 32 children while best practices dictate no more than seventeen children per caseworker. Conversely, lower caseloads would allow caseworkers to spend more time with each foster family resulting in better care for the foster children. Before my father and stepmother volunteered to be foster parents, I never gave the foster care system much thought. However, after reading about the drowning deaths of the two foster children and helping my parents raise three foster children, I agree with Ms. Harris that Child Protective Services funding should be increased. Fortunately, she ends her article by stating that the Texas Legislature has recently made funding for Child Protective Services a priority.