Integrity in Organizations Handling Foster Care

The organizations which handle the placement of children in foster homes must perform their duties with integrity. The responsibilities of any organization public or private must take their responsibilities seriously. The children of our society are vulnerable and it is the duty of society to protect them. Foster care programs must have the resources to adequately protect the children under their jurisdiction.

The procedures in place must have detailed requirements for monitoring with requirements for verification of the care they are receiving. This means that when employees visit foster care homes or organizations, they must physically see the children for which the care is being monitored. There should also be regularly scheduled and unscheduled visits. Having unscheduled visits allows workers responsible for monitoring foster care being provided allows verification of what is actually taking place. Regularly scheduled visits may not provide the true situation of the care being provided. Children can have a clean appearance on regular scheduled visit but unannounced visits would provide verification of the real environment that foster care children are receiving.

Some of the conditions that public and private organizations must consider in placing children in foster care facilities are:

Is there adequate supervision available for the number of children already in the care of the home or organization being considered in which to place children?

Has there been a background check on the home or organization to validate the acceptability of the persons to be involved with the children in their care? There should be conditions identified upfront that will not support placement of children in the care of those who may harm them or not provide adequate care.

Are the facilities being considered for placement of children in the foster care program adequate to provide quality care?

Are the employees or owners of any home or facility evaluated for acceptable character traits the capability of providing quality care for any foster children that may be placed within their control?

Government facilities or entities must validate organizations being used to aid in the placement of children in foster care. The items to consider are:

Are their adequate resources in place for monitoring the level of children being considered or already under their jurisdiction to properly monitor the care being provided to the children?

Are the employees adequately trained in the methods required for monitoring the care of foster children?

Are there requirements to physically see the children when visits are accomplished?

Are their adequate evaluation criteria in place to validate organizations for the quality of care and monitoring of children in the foster care program?

Have procedures in place been reviewed for acceptability for organizations being used by government entities responsible for foster?

The process of placing children in foster care can be a time consuming process. The decision should not be taken lightly. Care must be exercised to assure that children are not placed in an environment which has the potential of not providing adequate quality of life conditions.