Addressing racial inequities in foster care

County to focus on helping black kids in foster care
Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus Dispatch, Sept. 29, 2006, News pg. 1D.

Calling it a "beginning, not an ending," the Franklin County Children Services board unanimously approved a plan yesterday to reduce the number of black children in foster care.

The Columbus chapter of the NAACP had filed a grievance with the Department of Justice in October 2004, saying that black children bear the weight of the county's failed child-welfare system and Children Services doesn't respect cultural differences.

A federal mediator helped broker the agreement with Children Services through talks that included National Association for the Advancement of Colored People representatives, the Columbus Community Relations Commission and several clergy members.

"At times, (the process) was painful," Children Services Deputy Director Eric Fenner said, but it raised awareness and sensitivity on all sides.

Noel Williams, president of the Columbus NAACP, did not return several phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

And Hadiya AbdulSalaam, who sat in on the Children Services meeting on behalf of the NAACP, said the group would publicly discuss the agreement at a later date.

Under the plan, Children Services will:
* Expand its Family to Family program, which is built on the belief that families often can be helped to care for their children in their own homes. When children need to be removed, the program tries to place them with a relative, close friend or foster family in the neighborhood.

* Participate in a public forum with the NAACP and the Columbus Community Relations Commission to explain how the agency works and answer questions.

* Visit historically black universities to recruit case workers and other employees.

* Provide more training so workers learn to appreciate child-rearing values that are unique to different cultures.

* Distribute agency literature to immigrant- and minority-run businesses, clubs and religious centers. The material will be published in English, Somali, Spanish and other languages.

* Encourage more people to join the agency's Citizens Advisory Committee, a group of adoptive parents, foster parents, clients and others interested in child-welfare issues. The committee will study the effectiveness of programs and make suggestions for new services.

About 52 percent of the children served by Children Services are black, even though nearly 20 percent of the county's children are black.

Still, Franklin County's figure is lower than the average for Children Services agencies in Ohio's six major metropolitan counties, where black children make up 57 percent of those served.

Franklin is included as one of those six, said Franklin County Children Services Director John Saros.

"If you look at Cuyahoga County, the number is somewhere to 75 percent, so this is not a unique situation to Franklin," Saros said.

Patricia Glenn, of the Department of Justice's Community Relations Service office in Chicago, praised both sides for participating in the voluntary talks.

"Any time you can get any groups together and have them sit across the table and share their concerns is a success," Glenn said.

Also yesterday, the Children Services board approved an overall 3 percent increase in foster-care payment rates, a projected $125,773 increase through Aug. 31. Families serving babies to 9-year-olds received the largest increases because they were the lowest paid.

Gena Stone-Phillips, of the Franklin County Foster Parent Association, asked the board to delay any action because the agency hadn't talked to foster parents before making a decision.

"In the past, the agency and the Foster Parent Association worked closely; our input in policy and procedures were given fair consideration," Stone-Phillips said. "However, in recent years, we are finding that foster parents are completely left out of the loop."

The board, at trustee and foster parent Marilyn Gravely's urging, agreed to discuss the parents' concerns again next month, after agency representatives meet with the Foster Parent