Foster parents have access to many resources, some of which are required to be provided by the state and others are resources that case workers provide above and beyond what is
required. Some examples of resources that are required by the state to be given are training to meet the state’s requirements, respite care (roughly two days per month), monthly financial stipend for each child, yearly clothing stipends, Medicaid coverage, and most times day care is provided. Daycare can sometimes create tension because the state does not always reimburse the daycare in a timely manner and then causes problems for the foster parent trying to mediate the relationship between the daycare provider and the case manager submitting for reimbursement. Some examples of resources that would not be required for case manager to provide, include assistance in accessing WIC if the child meets age requirements, accessing Head Start, informing foster parents about support groups, clothing closets, and back to school supply giveaways. Some of these extra resources may be location specific options, however most communities have some extra programs that foster families qualify for that case managers can educate foster families about.
A resource that all foster parents had accessed prior to becoming licensed foster parents was pre-service training. This training involved roughly 30 hours of classroom curriculum to
prepare and educate families prior to receiving their licenses. This training provides a significant platform for foster families to begin their fostering journey. During this training families are given an overview of their responsibilities with the children, including who plays a role in the foster child’s life while they are in state care. Foster families are also continuously reminded throughout the classes that the goal of fostering is to reunify children with their biological families, and only when that is not possible is adoption considered. This helps to emotionally prepare foster families for the probability of the children not being in their homes forever. Families are taught briefly about loss and trauma and how to be as warm and understanding as possible when a child is moved into their home. This training is significant to begin a foster family’s journey because the classes are framed for the family to receive more information and after 30 hours families are asked to decide if they still feel like being foster parents is the right choice for them. Many foster parents discussed this training as helping to prepare them to
navigate the system and understand their responsibilities. Although, many people mentioned that nothing can truly prepare you to foster, the foster families expressed how helpful pre-service training was. When discussing pre-service training Debbie said, “There is no way they could have prepared us in classes for everything we’ve dealt with.”
When participants were asked about their experiences with case managers assisting the families in accessing resources for the child (or children), there were two extremes with their responses. Some participants discussed how great the resources they were able to access with the assistance of their case manager were, and the other families said they had never been offered any resources. For example, one participant said, “I have never had a social worker offer me assistance.” As previously mentioned, it is not possible for families to not receive any resources and this alludes to the importance of perception in understanding the relationship between foster
parents and case workers. If foster families are perceiving that they are not being offered any resources, then it would be logical for the family to be less satisfied with their relationship with the case manager. Whereas, if the family feels like they are able to access an abundance of resources like the participant below, the participants felt more supported by their case managers.
Jenny, a mother of seven children, explained her positive experiences with assistance accessing resources:
I didn't know that you could do this but I know that you can geta voucher when you first time have a placement, for clothing. Idon't know if youcan do it every year but I know that every sooften you can get another voucher and so the case workershave gotten us vouchers for clothes even though we've had thegirls for so long. They just sent out something saying that theyhad these vouchers that were available. We had to get a new washer/dryer and one of the case workers was seeing if that canbe approved for
reimbursement as well. Anytime, any of thekids like [child’s name] broke our TV with a Nerf sword and so, wewere able to get reimbursed for that. Then, anytime there's any kind of back to school backpack event or anytime, like Christmasthey always help us with that type of thing. Anytime there's anevent like [baseball games with special rates for foster children] or any of that kind of thing, then theyalways let us know about those kinds of things.
The last resource discussed by roughly half of the participants was working with a fostering/adoptive agency. A foster/adoptive agency works directly with the families to help them through the process of being licensed and conduct home studies for prospective families. These agencies can also work alongside the family once a child is placed in their home and help them with parenting strategies, accessing resources, and keeping up-to-date on their licensing requirements. Working with an agency typically requires the family to pay for the agency to conduct a home-study and advocate on the family’s behalf with the state. There were pros and cons mentioned by foster families for accessing this resource. Foster families stated how kind, helpful, and responsive their agency case managers were when working with the families.
Agency staff also had access to contact DSHS and help push paperwork through or get in contact with, otherwise difficult to get ahold of, DSHS case workers. The barrier foster families faced
when working with an agency was the children that were available through the agency were mostly children that DSHS had a difficult time placing. Additionally, adoption placements were few and far between because the easy placements were already placed. Difficulty placing a child can be for a variety of reasons, some of which are the age of the child, typically if a child is over the age of eight years old the chances of a home being willing to take them go down
significantly. Other reasons DSHS might have a difficult time placing a child are physical or behavioral disabilities or if the children belong to a sibling group that the worker is trying to keep together, this is typically hardest when there are three or more siblings in a group that need to stay together. Agencies are also able to assist families in accessing continued post-adoption resources such as monthly stipends until the child is 18 years old. These resources are only available to some adoptive children and vary by state, but these are usually provided for children who may have a difficult time being placed without assistance. For example, sibling groups or children with high physical or behavioral needs are most likely to receive these extended stipends.