PROJECT DETAILS
Project selection - Introduction and History:
When police officers take children into protective custody it usually involves unique dynamics that can impact them greatly. Often the children have been physically or sexually abused, abandoned, exposed to dangerous chemicals near illegal drug labs or they are the innocent victims of custodial disputes that can leave them scared and far from home. These children are often traumatized and they need and deserve care, love and respect.
The State of Washington’s Child Protective Services, a division of Children and Family Services, has the responsibility for placement of those children taken into protective custody by law enforcement. Due to a great demand for foster homes and a shortage of willing foster parents in the state, there are very few, and at times no, readily available emergency foster homes. For many years, it has been very common for officers of the Bellingham Police Department to wait with children for several hours until acceptable placement options through Child Protective Services have been identified. The epitome of this problem occurred late one evening in November of 2002 when three young siblings were taken into protective custody regarding an out-of-state custody dispute. Four hours after first notifying Child Protective Services, no placement could be found for the children. The patrol sergeant who supervised the case decided to provide shelter for the children at his residence for the remainder of the night. The children needed to return to a court hearing early the next morning, which they did, and everything worked out well.
These circumstances led to the identification of a problem: Something needs to be done in our community to better serve those innocent and vulnerable children placed into protective custody. They deserve more!
Analysis Techniques – How We Got Started
In January of 2003, after several discussions, a meeting was convened with administrative staff from both the Bellingham Police Department and Children and Family Services Division of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services to discuss possible solutions to the problem. The following are the goals that were determined to be necessary for the Bellingham Police Department and the Division of Children and Family Services to better serve the children of our community:
¨ Have quality foster homes immediately available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week;
¨ Have homes that can be accessed only by the Bellingham Police Department, and;
¨ Hopefully, have the foster parents recruited from employees within the Bellingham Police Department to help ensure immediate access to local, safe, and quality homes.
Solutions - Determining Program Structure
The committee began to meet on a bi-monthly basis in February of 2003. While first discussing why there was such a long wait for a Child Protective Services response once officers established protective custody of children, it became very apparent that the lack of foster homes was the problem. Child Protective Services caseworkers would not be assigned and respond until homes were located by Central Intake (a part of Division of Children and Family Services that takes requests for service from law enforcement). So, having a number of homes always available to the department would probably resolve the time delay problem.
Many issues of concern were discussed with the predominant issue being that of “conflict of interest”. The State Department of Social and Health Services had previously dealt with another incident in the state where the actions of a police detective, who was also a foster parent, resulted in a large judgment against them. Additionally, that case also resulted in changes to state law that greatly influenced where children could be placed and who could place them. In other words, the Bellingham Police Department could not simply place children in homes of their choice. To effectively deal with this issue, the following two parts were included in our plan to ensure that no conflicts of interest would occur:
¨ The Bellingham Police Department Family Crimes Unit Supervisor would be consulted to ensure that any placement in our program’s homes would not involve any personnel associated with any subsequent child abuse investigation or chain of command therein;
¨ An advisory committee would be established and meet regularly to review and provide oversight of the program.
It was also decided that our program would best apply to children 11 years of age and younger. For those 12 years and older, state law already allows placement at a nearby Crisis Residential Center and access has not been a problem for that facility.
The length of stay in temporary foster care is also covered under licensing rules. It was decided that limiting the length of stay to less than fifteen days would best fit our needs. Most of the emergency temporary placements researched showed that children usually stayed for only two to three days. Homes in this licensing category also receive a small monthly retainer fee paid for by the State. The necessary number of available beds was also discussed. A check of Bellingham Police records for the last three years showed that this program would have been accessed from a minimum of six times up to a maximum of thirty times during those years. Based upon the experience of Child Protective Services, it was felt that maintaining five beds for our department’s access would likely be sufficient to meet most any of our needs.
Recruitment, training and support issues around the foster parents were also part of the committee actions. These issues were addressed and developed throughout the remainder of the year while the final protocol was being refined. See the next section for further information about the foster homes. The committee met and addressed all the issues for almost a year before an acceptable protocol was agreed upon. This concept was new to the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services and the Division of Children and Family Services so many of the ideas and suggestions about procedures took time to decide upon since they needed to be reviewed and meet with the approval of people as far away as the state capitol.
More Solutions - Foster Parent Recruitment, Training and Support
Since the hope was to recruit employees of the Bellingham Police Department, recruitment efforts began by having a representative from Families For Kids make several presentations about foster care to groups within the police department. The response was overwhelming. After the first five families came forth, which met our predetermined goal of five beds, one per home (although sibling groups may stay together), we declined many additional offers of assistance. One point was made clear, the pool of law enforcement officers that might be interested in becoming foster parents was large and untapped!
The five families that were accepted all applied for their foster parent licenses from the Division of Licensing Resources. Their training began in May of 2003 and was lengthy. The criteria for home safety preparations were extensive. By the end of 2003, they had all met the qualifications and all received their foster parent licenses. In an attempt to keep all costs of the program separate from the department’s budget, all the foster parents sacrificed their own time and expenses to achieve the goal of licensing.
These foster families and the Family Crimes Unit Supervisor as a group began to prepare for the start of the program. They determined what supplies would be good to have on hand for the first late night or weekend placement they received. The Division of Licensing Resources provides on-going support for foster families and Child Protective Services provides for needs such as clothing vouchers and medical coupons but these often come days after the placement and are not available immediately.
Community support for the program was also overwhelming. Private citizens and businesses were quick to donate clothes, supplies and even money to the program. As an example, Wal-Mart donated car seats so that all of the families would be properly equipped to handle child transport. Local dentists contributed personal hygiene items such as toothpaste and toothbrushes. Many citizens donated a large amount of clothing. Others, along with the Bellingham Police Association, donated cash that bought diapers, formula and a variety of misc. supplies.
Results
On March 15, 2004, the official beginning of the program was introduced at the Bellingham City Council meeting. Foster parents, staff and dignitaries from the Division of Children and Family Services, Child Protective Services, Division of Licensing Resources, Families For Kids and the Bellingham Police Department all joined together to share the results of over a years worth of planning and organization.
Attached you will find a copy of our final protocol signed by representatives of our department and the DCFS agencies. As listed at the beginning of that protocol, the purpose of the project was “To develop and implement an emergency placement option for children (ages 0-11) who are taken into protective custody by the Bellingham Police Department.”
The program is new but the initial results appear very positive. The very first participating child in the program was a missing child from Hawaii that was the victim of a custody issue. The procedure worked seamlessly with the processing timeframe greatly reduced and the child was well cared for. According to those in contact with her, the child really enjoyed her temporary stay with the foster family. Results such as these can’t be measured. What we do know is that we met our goals of providing her with a safe, caring and quality home that was readily and easily accessible by the police officers after she was placed in protective custody.
One of the most significant and unforeseen results of the program has been its positive impact across the nation. After the national exposure previously referred to, several law enforcement agencies and child protective service type agencies have contacted our department and the Division of Children and Family Services to request information on how they might also start a similar program. Our program has been referred to by some as a “model” program that could easily be adapted by many agencies across the nation. Another significant and unforeseen result was the realization by many that there appears to be a very large, untapped, highly qualified resource of potential foster parents in the law enforcement community nationwide.
Conclusion
In Washington state , tremendous liability and legal limitations, as well as a limited number of available foster homes, has greatly hampered our community’s ability to efficiently and appropriately deal with those children in need of emergency placement.
Our department has worked with others in our community to develop what we believe is a well planned, thought out program where all agencies involved with the protective custody/child placing problem commit themselves to finding a better way to treat and respect those children in need. It is a program that entices great community interest and support, and it is a program that uses an already existing base of caring professionals who see on a daily basis the results of child abuse and neglect –those professionals are law enforcement personnel.
We feel this program shows that when caring individuals and agencies work together, they can make a difference in the life of a child.
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