Kids In Care: Teachers Can Make Ideal Foster Parents
Written by FrameWorks Program Director, Rachel Kinder
Originally posted in Charleston Gazette. To view that article, click here.
My agency, Mission West Virginia, recruits families to foster and adopt throughout the state of West Virginia. We assist over 1,000 families a year in their pursuit of becoming foster or adoptive parents and one profession we love to hear from is teachers. Teachers have potential to make great foster parents because they already have lots of lived experience in working with a variety of kids. Their summers off give them a potential time to be trained and certified. And during the school year their work schedules are sometimes more compatible with kids who are in school or daycare.
What might be surprising to learn is that teachers often foster students that they already know. This could be current or former students in their classroom or students that they are aware of at their school. At least a few times a month my office receives an inquiry from a teacher or school personnel asking how to go about fostering a student in their school who has entered the foster care system.
It would be rare for teachers, even those with healthy and appropriate boundaries, not to deeply care for their students and their well-being, outside of academics. In a society where schools function as social safety nets, teachers can’t help but be aware of students’ needs and have a desire to try to meet them. They know when a student lacks an adequate coat or shoes. They can recognize a student who doesn’t have enough food at home. Students share more details of their home lives than we as parents probably have any idea of. Schools are aware of custody arrangements and which students are being raised by grandparents and other relatives. Teachers are also likely to be aware when there is Child Protective Services intervention and/or removal from the home. And some teachers and school personnel are willing to foster a student if they are aware that removal from the home is necessary.
In West Virginia, as in many other states, teachers are eligible for placement of children (pre-certification) because they fall under the category of fictive kin. Fictive kin is defined in DHHR Foster Care Policy as “An adult of at least 21 years of age, who is not a relative of the child but who has an established, substantial relationship with the child, including but not limited to, teachers, coaches, ministers, and parents or family members of the child’s friend.”
West Virginia state Code Chapter 49 gives specific directions for locating and placing with relatives and fictive kin upon removal, stating: “When a child is removed from his or her home, placement preference is to be given to relatives or fictive kin of the child. If a child requires out-of-home care, placement of a child with a relative is the least restrictive alternative living arrangement. The department must diligently search for relatives of the child and fictive kin within the first days of a child’s removal and must identify and provide notice of the child’s need for a placement to relatives and fictive kin who are willing to act as a foster or kinship parent.”
A fictive kin relationship can be identified in many ways. The parents can name this person or family at the time of removal. The child can identify them to their DHHR worker. Or a teacher or other fictive kin may contact the DHHR worker themselves, making them aware of their desire and availability to foster the particular child if a placement is being sought. Like with relatives, the fictive kin placement is eligible to have the child placed in their home prior to their certification as foster parents. Prior to placement the worker will run background checks, check the home safety environment and evaluate the individual’s ability to care for the child.
As with all placements, there are advantages and disadvantages to placing a child with a teacher or school personnel and the placement should only be made if the advantages are more numerous. Placement with a teacher allows the child to be with a familiar person, to likely stay within their same community and school and to maintain familiar peer and other relationships. These placements even benefit reunification as there is less disruption when the child hopefully transitions back to the care of their parents.
The school, teacher and DHHR must work together to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest and that all parties are able to maintain positive relationships and healthy boundaries moving forward. Luckily, schools and the DHHR have become so accustomed to this issue that they often have solutions and protocols already in place. An example might be placing a child with a former teacher but not the one in whose class the student currently is placed.
Some disadvantages, which primarily affect the caregiver, are that the placement can be more work and have less support than a traditional foster placement. As with relative placements, there is little to no time to prepare. The caregiver must go through the certification process, including training, while simultaneously caring for the child. And, while they are eligible for a monthly payment equal to that of relatives, it is a more complex process as a non-relative. Once they are certified they would receive a monthly boarding care payment just like all foster parents.
Fictive kin and teachers may also be considered as placements for children already in the foster care system. Through programming at my agency we work with older youth who are adoption eligible without identified families, who have often been in care for many years. We help the child or teen look for relative and fictive kin relationships. It is not unusual for a youth to identify a teacher or other school staff that they have developed relationships with.
West Virginia’s public data doesn’t differentiate between relative and fictive kin placements, but with almost 55% of our children in state custody placed with relative/kin it stands to reason that there are a fair amount. Supporting these placements should be a priority as they are often one of the more positive placement options for children in care.
To learn more about kinship and relative placements visit https://www.missionwv.org/kinship-page. To learn more foster care or adoption, visit www.missionwv.org/request-information, email fosteradopt@missionwv.org or call 1-866-CALL-MWV (1-866-225-5698).