Lawmakers aim to reform NC’s foster care system in new proposal

Brianna Kraemer

Carolina Journal

Abipartisan proposal to better North Carolina’s foster care system was introduced in the General Assembly this week aiming to resolve ongoing struggles that cause innocent children to get hung up in the state’s foster care system.

House officials introduced the Fostering Care in NC Act (HB 612) during a press conference on Wednesday, which would reduce delays and secure permanency to move children out of DSS custody as safely and quickly as possible, which results in better outcomes for children.

The challenge is that permanency depends on multiple systems seamlessly working together, including the courts, child welfare services, behavioral health services, and more.

“Delays in one system create barriers in another,” said Lisa Cauley, Senior Director for Child, Family and Adult Services at NC DHHS. “This bill brings these systems together around the shared goal of reducing delays and securing permanency to move children out of DSS custody as safely and quickly as possible.”

All 100 counties in North Carolina operate their foster care systems individually through the Division of Social Services (DSS), headed by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Servies (DHHS). The different operations make it difficult to have a standardization of services and care, something the new proposal aims to repair through procedural reforms.

“This bill’s focus is streamlining the process and trying to get the courts out of the way and the system out of the way, and for being a burden to foster parents, if you will, in some way, this is more focused on process, this particular piece of legislation.”

Key provisions of the bill include:

• Giving the state more power to watch over county social services through a rule called “Christal’s Law.”

• Updating rules for courts handling custody, guardianship, and adoption; including letting parents and adoptive families agree on contact after adoption.

• Setting rules for where kids in care can stay, needing court approval for places without a license.

• Scheduling regular check-ins with the court to see how kids in care are doing.

• Stops parents from owing child support to the state while their kid is in foster care.

• Adding kids affected by human trafficking or certain sexual crimes to the “abused juveniles” list for better protection.

• Making social services check abuse reports within 24 hours and reports of neglect within 72 hours, and processes to address issues when there’s a conflict of interest.

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“This bill gives North Carolina a really great opportunity to move closer to having an efficient, predictable, and consistent process centered around safety and permanancy for all of our children who make some sort of impact with foster care system,” said co-sponsor Rep. Vernetta Alston, D-Durham.

Leaders have been working on the 28 pages of legislation for 16-months, going to great lengths to craft policy to effectively move the needle for the children who need it the most. Chesser said they brought everyone to the table to participate in the conversation around bettering foster care outcomes, including DHHS and DSS, in addition to gaining approval from dozens of other foster care and health groups.

Many of the supportive groups have their own initiatives to enhance the state foster care system, such as Your Case Plan, a company that aims to streamline communication among foster parents, biological parents, case workers, and attorneys through a new communication tool.

Ryan O’Donnell, CEO of Your Case Plan, created an communication tool designed for all parties involved in the foster care process so prevent communication issues that end up causing delays between the many personnel involved in the foster care system. O’Donnell built the app originally to help his foster son, who was in the system for seven years, get reunified with his family.

“His case probably could have lasted a few weeks if they had simply gotten all on the same page and knew who to reach out to,” O’Donnell said. “And it’s just crazy how many kids just fall through the cracks because we don’t have systems and everything to do what’s best for the kids.”

He explained that if everyone shows up to court, but not everyone’s not on the same page, the case might get kicked down the road another three to six months. Similar to My Chart, Your Case Plan gives everyone involved one place to stay on the same page so kids don’t get stuck in the care because staff turnover and communication gaps.

“Technology can play a really big part in improving transparency and accountability in social services,” O’Donnell added. “I think everyone kind of feels the frustration when you’ve got a new person who gets assigned to a case, they don’t know the backstory. A lot gets lost in translation so we just try to make it really easy for organizations to get started.”

The app is currently statewide in Oklahoma, and launched just weeks ago in North Carolia. It’s currently available in four counties — Mecklenburg, Buncombe, New Hanover, and Durham — and they aim to be statewide by the end of the year.

You can follow the progress of the Fostering Care in NC Act here.