Do you think Child Services is failing kids?

Do you think DHS is failing kids? Here's one caseworkers story of her day off last Saturday. She oversees an average of 107 children:

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I’m “working” on a Saturday, to spend time with two very sweet kids that are without a place to go. Home isn’t safe, mom is in jail, and despite the fact that I called just under two dozen family members, family friends, and even recent and past teachers that I was able to obtain contact information for, over the past 3 days, not one of those 19 people/households was able to make room for these sweet kiddos. For some it was because their mom “burned that bridge” a long time ago, others work or home situations prevented them, others had to think of their own children first.

My heart hurts for these kids. Their sister is in a foster home, separated from her younger siblings.

In addition to the 19 friends, family, and teachers I called, our certification unit called foster families from 8am to 11:30pm yesterday. They worked hard, and long to find placement for these kids, calling countless foster families. At 11:30pm, we had one family say yes.

But, the home was 30 minutes away and they needed to be picked up at 8:30 in the morning.

This was a stranger’s home to sleep in. Not even any waking hours to get familiar or comfortable with the surroundings.

When I got them settled onto the couches (after midnight) for the night in a strange woman’s living room, I told them I’d be back to get them first thing in the morning.

I barely made it to my car before I started to cry. I got a mile away and pulled over in the middle of nowhere to cry some more.

My heart aches for these kids. They don’t want to be labeled as “foster” kids. They are so aware of what’s going on, they know we called friends and family, and they feel unwanted by those people. They feel angry at their mom AND unwanted by friends and family. They also know when we don’t know where they are going and not being able to answer their completely fair and valid questions is even harder.

Where are we going?
Will I have to change schools?
Do we get to stay together?
Are you going to separate us?
Will I get to see my mom on my birthday? (It’s in just a few days)

I don’t know the answer to any of these questions.

Not everyone can be a foster parent and that’s okay.

But I ask you to be aware of what is happening. Our agency has so much stigma around us “failing” kids. We put in so much to keep kids safe, we don’t go home until we have a plan figured out. We get up early to come back (if we even went home at all), we call sometimes hundreds of people and reach out to multiple counties to find a safe place for kids to go when home isn’t safe.

I just want to share what happens behind the scenes, it’s important to have an idea of the the whole picture rather than believing the stigma of we “fail” kids.

If you are interested in helping, ask what you can do to help. There are more ways than just being a foster parent!

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I cannot be a foster parent. I admit I am not a fan of the DHS agency and believe there are many "failing" qualities of the DHS system. However, this is not the fault of any one caseworker; and the foster children desperately need and deserve our help. #ChangeaChildsStory