The only hope we have to slow future regulation is to do our job and do it well.  Think about the things you do and how that might possibly effect the children or perception of others. If you know someone is doing things they shouldn’t, you need to report them.  It sucks to be a snitch, but it sucks more to have more regulations to live with as consequences for their actions.

(The article was written for foster parents, but it could just as easily been written for houseparents.  In fact, I have seen some similar things in my years as a houseparent.)

They Did What? Trends in Foster Care Incidents

In October of 2008, I attended a Southern California foster care conference featuring members of Community Care Licensing (CCL) division of the State Department of Social Services, the people who provide oversight for private foster and group home agencies operating throughout our state.

A keynote speaker from the CCL Legal Division informed the several hundred in attendance of recent incidents involving foster care agencies, including foster parents and agency staff, that ultimately wound up being reviewed for administrative action by a battery of CCL lawyers. When an unusual incident in private agency residential care is brought to the attention of the CCL legal staff it is due to the serious nature of the incident, and is investigated to help legal staff understand how issues are evolving.

There are some examples of recent trends in issues and incidents that bear mentioning. These include:

• A foster parent in Southern California posted pictures of herself on MySpace.com that included shots of the provider holding a foster child while dressed in gang attire and flashing gang hand signs. One picture had the foster mother holding a marijuana pipe and a handgun.
• A Central California-based foster family agency social worker didn’t check in on a provider who was bedridden from a debilitating illness. The foster mother turned her daycare and foster care child supervision duties over to two teen foster girls who gave grapes to a daycare child as a snack. The child nearly suffocated from a single grape that blocked his windpipe and he has permanent brain damage as a result.
• A Northern California-based foster father was arrested at an airport in Miami, Florida for possession of drugs. A routine search of the man’s laptop computer revealed a marijuana growing operation at his California foster home.
• A Southern California duallicensed care provider had combined daycare, foster care, biological, and adoptive children under the same roof, for a total of 27 children.
• A Northern California agency social worker was arrested for armed robbery.

While recognizing that unusual incidents involving foster children occur daily in California (the sheer number of kids in care guarantees this reality), those listed above revolve around two common themes: improper use of technology and poor oversight.

It’s not just immature adolescents who are using cell phones, laptops, and personal websites for inappropriate or illegal ends, it’s adult care providers! As a technology (see tool) is incorporated into our society, sadly, it’s oftentimes used to further both positive and illegal agendas. For every advance in communication technology, it seems there likely will be advances in bad human impulses finding their way online or onto portable hard drives.

Other incidents revolve around a familiar industry theme; poor agency oversight. This is why agency staff must inquire who is living in a foster home and determine if there are any changes in the family composition. That being said, no one can justify 27 children under one roof , that ’s a bit too many!  The CCL speaker speculated that the downward trend in the economy has resulted in many new foster care applicants who see an opportunity to house needy relatives or ensure income levels via taking foster or daycare children into their homes.

What will the recent incidents described lead the oversight agencies to recommend?

Regulations are in the works to prevent dual licensing of providers (daycare and foster care). So is a system for monitoring any changes in the criminal background status of care providers and agency staff members. Plus, more mandated paperwork is likely to ensure that agency social workers visit foster and daycare facilities as mandated by agency charters.

Finally, the incidents reaching the CCL Legal Division underscore that foster and residential group home care is a dynamic industry reflecting changes in our society in terms of technology and the struggle to use it responsibly.

As the former district attorney and CCL Legal Department representative summarized it, all those forces combined are what keep “CCL lawyers gainfully employed.”

Mr. Quinn has been a social worker and foster family agency supervisor for 25 years in residential foster care and group home settings. He has authored handbooks for foster parents, group home staff, and private agency caseworkers and is a contributor to the Foster Parent College online training catalog. He is currently a Supervising Social Worker for Nepenthean Homes FFA in Fair Oaks, California.

This Article is reprinted with permission from “Foster Parent College Connections” and directly from the author.  You can find out more about foster parent college by visiting their website www.fosterparentcollege.com.  They have some great resources for foster parents and houseparents 

Measuring outcomes, keeping records and managing the piles of information that has to be reported to social workers, licensing agencies and even board members is becoming more and more important in modern residential care.  Many agencies are discovering the flat paper file is not the best way to manage information and are turning to computer based systems.

I have been helping my agency look at different systems and have looked at some very good ones.  However, the problem with most of them was that they are so far out of our agencies budget we will never be able to implement any of them.  I am pretty sure there are other agencies out there like ours that can’t afford many of those systems.  The good thing for us and for them is that there may be an alternative. 

Back in 2005 I posted about an Open Source Case Management System called Freemed-YiRC, yesterday the developer of that package released a new updated version.

Freemed-YiRC is a software project which provides a fully-integrated, web-based, secure, modular, and customizable web-based product capable of providing Child Caring/Residential Care/Foster Care agencies with a fully functional internal case management/information management system.

Freemed-YiRC is FREE/OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE.

• The software/source code is freely available for download from the FMYiRC site.
• Freemed-YiRC is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL)
  • In short, the GPL states that you are allowed to freely download, use, copy, and modify this software.

I am still fairly early in my research of this system and there is a lot I still don’t know so there isn’t a lot of information I can give.  However, there is a great deal of documentation as well as a live demo available on their website.  For those facilities that don’t have the technical expertise to implement it themselves or need modifications done the publisher is available for consultation and programing.  He can be contacted through the website.

ComputerTime™ is parental-control software for Microsoft Windows that lets parents set limits on the amount of time and the time of day when their children can use the computer. SoftwareTime believes that the computer is an amazing tool for children, both for educational and social purposes. However, children need to have reasonable limits set for them, and that’s what ComputerTime allows you to do, quickly and easily. Parents no longer have to keep track of the time their children spend on the computer, ComputerTime does that for them. It takes just a few minutes to set limits for each child. ComputerTime gives back to parents the control they need over computer use.

I have used ComputerTime in my cottage as well as personally in my home for over 5 years.  It has been the best program I have found to control the amount of time our children spend on the computer.  Most other parental controls control the times your children can be on the computer, this program does that but also controls the AMOUNT of time your children can spend on the computer. 

Features Include:

• Limit the amount of time in a day, week, or month (or combinations of these limits)
• Set specific times during the day when the computer may be used
• Allow only a certain amount of time on the computer at one sitting
• Disable the use of the computer entirely
• Alternate Limits – Set different limits for things like vacation week, or as a punishment
• Time Tokens – Provide additional time, without changing settings, as incentive or reward. The token can be provided from anywhere, even over the phone
• Can be use by any number of children in the household on the computer
• Automatic updates over the Web
• Password protected
• Different time limits for weekdays and weekends, or even individual days

We have started using version 3 at our facility and the fact that it works on networked computers is a great feature.  Set one time limit and it doesn’t matter what computer your children log into, their time is deducted from that one limit.  No need for separate time limits on separate computers. 

For families, you can purchase a single license for $39.95, or get a family pack to cover all the computers in your home (up to 5) for $49.95.  For those that would be purchasing it for their facility, I recommend contacting the publisher at info@softwaretime.com for site pricing, otherwise the cost is $39.95 per license.

Get more information about ComputerTime by visiting their website @ www.softwaretime.com.

From what I can tell from their website, they are a therapeutic facility that uses shift workers, so this may be a good option for singles and individuals.  The Sioux Falls area is nice and offers a great deal of outdoor opportunities.  However, from my experience from living in that part of the country the winters can be very brutal.  You can visit their website at: www.mccrossan.org.

This is their ranch sign with a sizable herd of horses in the background.

I believe this to be a barn or indoor arena.

Because of time restrictions, I only had time to take pictures from the interstate so I don't know what this building is.

Because of time restrictions, I only had time to take pictures from the interstate so I don't know what this building is.

 Unfortunately I will have to make another trip out west here in the very near future because my mom is dying from brain and lung cancer.  I will be passing some more facilities during that trip and will post pictures when I get back.

The Museum was very nice, though I wish I could have taken pictures (photography is not allowed in the museum).  The displays are very informational and well prepared, and the admissions price can’t be beat because it is free.  The gift shop has some nice stuff, some of which we brought home with us.

We were in a hurry to get home so we couldn’t spend a lot of time visiting but I did take some time to take pictures of some of the facilities, which appear to be top notch.  You can find out more information about the school by checking out the job listings section of the website or visiting their website @ www.stjo.org.

The School main building.

A statue outside the front gate

The Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center

The St. Joseph Indian School Chapel

One of the Dormitories on Campus

The Freimann Health Care Center

Mike’s Response

The requirements to be a houseparent vary greatly by facility.   All that I know of require at least a High School Diploma or GED however, some facilities require a college degree. All require that you be at least 21 years old, many require that you be 23 or 25 because of insurance issues.  Most require that you be able to drive, so that you can take children to their appointments.  Some require that you pass extensive training before you start working others will turn you loose with no training.  It just depends on the facility and the State the facility is located in.

As a general rule, in most live in facilities, singles work as assistants and relief staff, however that is not always the case.  Some facilities will pair up singles into teams that serve as primary houseparents.  I know of a facility in Florida where most of the staff is single males.  Another option for singles is to work in facilities that do shift work.  All the staff work as one team and it doesn’t matter if you are single or not.

And yes being a houseparent is one of the most demanding jobs I have ever had, but it also has been one of the most rewarding.  I have had the opportunity to travel around the country and work in different facilities as I explored our country.  I have also made some outstanding friends with the various staff members I have worked with.  But most importantly, I was able to make a difference in the lives of many children, some that I continue a relationship with today, years after they or I have left the facility. 

If you really want to be a houseparent or residential childcare work, chances are pretty good that there is a facility out there that could use you.

Mike’s Response

It all boils down to two things:  Consistency and Time.  Let me answer your question with a story.

Several years ago we had a young lady that came to live with us.  She had just had her first birthday and was completely hand spoiled.  She never had a bed time and was just allowed to go to sleep when she chose.  Our fist night with her was horrible and after about two hours of screaming, my wife got her out of bed and spent the next two hours rocking her to sleep.  The next night was a repeat of the first. 

I convinced my wife that we needed to let her stay in bed until she finally went to sleep and get her in a routine of having a bedtime.  She wasn’t very good at listening to her cry and wasn’t looking forward to it at all.  Fortunately for us we were on relief when she arrived and came to stay with us in the relief apartment.  We had four days until we had to go back to the cottage so I had four days to work through this.  (Side note it didn’t happen in four days, but)  The next evening I sent my wife and birth children to the movie and stayed home with our young lady to put her to bed.

Before my wife left she gave her a bath, and got her ready for bed.  I then spent some time rocking and snuggling with her.  Then we went back to the room where her bed was set up.  I spent a few more minutes holding her and then laid her in bed.  She immediately started crying and throwing a fit.  It continued for over four hours.  I would come back and check on her and find her standing up in her crib screaming.  I would then lay her back down, say good night and walk back out of the room.  I tried not to go into the room too often, but if she saw me checking on her I didn’t want her to think I was going to get her up.  She finally went to sleep, but it turned out that the movie wasn’t near long enough, my wife still had to listen to her scream for an hour or so.

For the next few nights it was almost a repeat of the previous night.  When we went back to the cottage it would still go on for over two hours every night.  After a couple of weeks we had it down to about an hour and after about a month it was down to ten or fifteen minutes.  She was only with us for about 5 months, but even on the night before she left, we would go through our normal routine with bath, pajamas, snuggling and rocking, and finally our final snuggle in her room before I laid her down for bed.  In which case she would cry for two or three minutes and then go to sleep.

That whole time we, mostly me, remained patient and just remained consistent.  We did bed time the same every night and it eventually got easier.  Through the process that young lady stole my heart and I still find it hard to describe my love for her without chocking up, but getting her into a bedtime routine was extremely difficult and time consuming.

You just have to stay patient and consistent.

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