Petition
This document comes not as a complaint or criticism, but as a request for upholding a simple and basic human right which for too long has been denied to children simply because it isn’t being upheld by a system designed to protect them. Over 80% of children in foster care, who after already losing their parents and homes, are separated from their siblings.
The separation of siblings in foster care has a massive negative impact on a majority of the affected children and youth. Youth mental health providers report increased anxiety, stress, depression, negative behaviors and suicidal ideation when they are separated from their siblings in care. (1)
Which honestly makes sense, after being removed from a possibly traumatic environment or losing their parents or guardians, kids need someone familiar to lean on and support them during what’s obviously a very scary transition. Especially if they’re very young and can’t understand what’s happening. A sibling can provide much needed comfort and support during an experience that could affect a child for the rest of their lives. They could form attachment issues because they grow up afraid that they’ll be taken away from everything they love if anything goes wrong, or PTSD from watching something like, say body bags being loaded into the ambulance or the first parental figure they’ve ever known being taken away in a police car.
Not to mention, what if they end up adopted? I’m fairly certain that despite what the media says, siblings are not usually split up for this unless absolutely necessary. Don’t children have the right to know the whereabouts of their family? And if they’re adopted while too young to remember their biological parents, siblings can help them remember their identities and help the family embrace it.
As the most common reasons why this happens include lack of placements for larger groups, lack of bedroom space, financial reasons, or that a family may not be able to support the needs of all the children involved, extensive research via a list of qualifications provided by Childwelfare.gov has helped find some ways these problems could be fixed through a few reasonable amendments as shown by the following table. (Alterations and room for improvement highlighted for clarification).
Minimum Standards for Foster Homes
Citation: Code of Regs. Tit. 110, § 7.105
An applicant's home must meet the following requirements:
The home must be clean, safe, free of obvious fire and other hazards, and of sufficient size to accommodate comfortably and appropriately all members of the household and the approved number of foster children. Note: bunk beds and pull-out beds and trundle beds are not mentioned and can actually help provide more space if used. Neither are sleeper sofas, or other convertible furniture.
The home must have safe and adequate lighting, ventilation, hot and cold water, plumbing, electricity, and heat.
The home must be furnished with a refrigerator and cooking stove in safe, working condition.
No foster child over age 1 shall share a bedroom with an adult, except if the foster children had been sharing a bedroom in the foster home prior to their 18th birthday and one of the children turns age 18.
The home must have sufficient furniture to allow each child to sleep in a separate bed and to have adequate storage space for his or her personal belongings. Bunk beds and trundle/pull-out beds can provide this. In a bedroom with a set of bunk beds and a single or twin bed can sleep three and still have excess floor space. A daybed, trundle or convertible sofa can also help, since they can be converted as needed. It fits the requirement for sleeping and allows more storage space all while meeting the requirement of 50 square feet per child in bedrooms.
No foster child over age 4, except for siblings up to age 8, shall share a bedroom with a child of the opposite sex.
The home must have bedrooms that provide at least 50 square feet per child, except for kinship homes if the bedrooms provide at least 35 square feet per child, and shall accommodate no more than four children per bedroom. There could be a possible exception to fifty feet of space per child if convertible furniture is used. Many bed frame sets including trundles and pull-outs have built-in drawers. Thus, allowing for extra square footage per child and providing adequate beds.
Each floor of the home, including the basement, shall be equipped with smoke detectors in working order.
If the home uses well water, it shall be tested and determined safe, and a report of the test shall be furnished to the department.
No more than four foster children shall reside in the foster home at any one time, and at no time shall the total number of children residing in the home exceed six. Exceptions may be made to accommodate siblings. Foster parents should be given a fair chance to at least try to prove they can accommodate more than six if necessary, especially in the case of siblings.
Any firearm located in the home shall be licensed and registered in accordance with State law, shall be trigger locked or fully inoperable, and shall be stored without ammunition in a locked area. Ammunition shall be stored in a separate locked area.
As foster parenting orientation requires:
The characteristics, needs, and number of children available for foster care Sometimes siblings can help with special needs or requirements. Especially if said needs require something said child doesn’t particularly enjoy, such as injections or physical therapy exercises.
The role of the placement agency, the children served by the agency, and the services provided by the placement agency
The agency philosophy and policy regarding discipline of children
Separation and loss and the circumstances under which children require placement The familiar company of a sibling can also help with the separation from parents and familiar surroundings.
The legal rights and responsibilities of foster parents
Fostering children with special needs Differently-abled people, especially children, often benefit from having a familiar support system of people. And being separated from said support system can cause issues.
The annual budget of the Children’s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is approximately $9.8,000,000,000 while, and stop me, if I’m wrong, but the Foundation for Economic Education reports that in the last year, the government has spent $365,000 promoting circuses in city parks, $12,000,000 on a pickleball complex in Nevada, $10,000,000,000 on empty office space, which they only use about 25% of, $300,000 on the National Birdwatchers Society, just for a start. That’s $10,012,665,000. The estimated cost to foster a child is:
Children ages 0-5: $32.10 per day
Children ages 6-12: $36.38 per day
Children ages 13 and up: $38.00 per day
That much money could fund the yearly foster care stipends of 11,716.5 babies and toddlers, 13,278.7 kids and preteens, and 13,870 teenagers, with $10,012,664,990.2 leftover, and that’s not even half of what we’re wasting taxpayer money on.
Bibliography
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