Giving Foster Children a Fair Chance

Currently there are about 10,000 children in foster care in Massachusetts. Many of these children thrive in nurturing, safe and stable homes for years with dedicated, loving parents and guardians. But others face challenges no child should have to endure: inconsistent access to education, medical care and housing, uncertainty and frequent changes in placement, and sometimes even abuse and neglect. 

Though improvements have been made in recent years, the foster system remains complex, cases can take years to resolve, and court proceedings can be derailed by last minute claims made by distant relatives. When we consider that there are thousands of hearings taking place each year, the costs – emotional and economic – are too high. Perhaps worst of all, sometimes the foster child’s own voice is not heard in the process.

To help address these deficiencies, I have introduced An Act relative to foster child engagement. This bill does three things:

1. Amplifies voices of foster children. This bill would ensure judges hear testimony from foster children who are aged 10 and up, in an age-appropriate way, at all stages of the process. 
2. One judge, one case. Too often cases are bounced around from judge to judge, wasting time and effort and adding confusion and uncertainty for the child. This provision would require that each foster care proceeding be assigned to and followed by one judge, ensuring more trust, consistency and familiarity in the process. The judge who presides over the initial hearing would preside over all future hearings, and may receive testimony via video communication like Skype, until that child’s case is resolved or dismissed. A change in the judge could be made in the interests of justice. This model has been implemented in 22 other states, including New Hampshire and New York, with considerable success and cost savings. 
3. Keeping cases on track. Foster care and protection proceedings are often long, and with good reason: extreme care must be taken in any consideration of moving a child from his birth parents, placing a child with a foster family and, in some cases, moving that case to adoption. However, too many cases are continued indefinitely when distant relatives, with no true relationship with the child, enter (or are drawn into) the proceedings and delay placement. This bill would define in statute what a distant relative is and when and how those relatives could be considered in the process.

On April 9, foster care families and advocates will gather at the State House for an event, “Fostering Care,” to meet with legislators and staff and express their views on how to improve the system. I will be participating in that event. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about it, please contact my office at 617-722-1206.

Foster children deserve to have their voices heard, and they and their families deserve a timely judicial process. The straightforward statutory changes I have proposed have the potential to introduce more consistency, fairness and common sense into a very complicated system, all while improving efficiency and cost effectiveness. Most importantly, these changes will improve outcomes for children in the foster care system.