Surge of children into foster care overwhelms child-welfare officials

It’s an unusual development since the state has reduced the number of children it places in foster care and cut the average time to place a child to nine hours from a high-water mark of 40 hours. The days of children sleeping in state offices ended years ago, the Department of Child Safety says.

But 40 children, many of them groups of siblings, stayed at DCS’ placement center because of a lack of other housing. By Tuesday, all of the children had been placed in foster homes, said Darren DaRonco, a DCS spokesman.

The agency didn’t provide a clear explanation for the backup, although DaRonco noted it can be difficult to find foster families willing to take in multiple children at once. In other cases, foster parents may limit their license to certain age ranges, or a certain number, he said. DCS has been granting emergency amendments to foster licenses to allow for the larger sibling groups.

No home for a baby?

At AASK, an agency that licenses foster homes, the call for help came over the weekend. The previous week, there was a similar appeal, although it involved fewer than 20 children, said Russ Funk, the agency’s community-engagement director.

What struck him as unusual is one of the children in the first wave of requests was a 1-year-old. Babies and toddlers are usually placed very quickly, Funk said.

He speculated the backlog might have been due to foster parents being out of town for spring-break vacations and unavailable to answer a quick call. But, Funk added, he couldn’t recall similar appeals during previous school-related holidays. 

Lacking: Homes for sibling groups

Funk said one message is clear: More foster homes are needed.

“It’s a sign that the crisis is not over,” Funk said. If a child doesn’t have a bed in a home, more work needs to be done on Arizona’s child-welfare system.

“We’re continually recruiting, and we continue to need folks to step up,” he said.

DaRonco said it’s a constant challenge for DCS to find foster homes that would allow multiple siblings to stay together. The agency tries to keep brothers and sisters together, but there’s never enough homes open to groups that can number three, five or more children.

No more bunking at state offices

It’s been three years since DCS closed a temporary placement center in central Phoenix.

The center opened in 2015 to handle large numbers of children being removed from their homes, often with no immediate foster placement. Children would sleep in state offices while the search for a foster bed continued.

RELATED: Why more Arizona kids will be sleeping in state offices

Today, DCS runs a different placement center, where the average stay, DaRonco said, is nine hours.

“There’s bedrooms for the children, there’s games, there’s televisions,” he said. He described it as similar to a day-care center, a sharp contrast from an office cubicle.

Fewer kids removed, fewer foster homes

DCS boasts that it has reduced the number of children entering the foster-care system. Agency reports show a 25 percent decline in the last four years, to 13,116, as of late January.

Foster-home licenses have declined as well, but at a slower rate: 13.2 percent over the same period. As of late January, Arizona had 9,398 foster beds, but approximately 2,000 of them had “holds,” which restricted their use, DaRonco said.

READ MORE: Relatives get $600 less than foster parents. Should that change?

Reasons for holds are myriad, from a family stipulating they will only take children of a certain age to families that want to keep their license, but need a breather before bringing in new children.

“It’s important for families to have the ability to do that,” Funk said. “They didn’t sign up for this as a job.”

In addition, some of the holds may be due to a kinship placement, where a family member gets licensed as a foster parent so they can take in a grandchild or niece or nephew, Funk said. Those beds would not be available for children who aren’t part of an extended family.

Republic series explores Arizona child-welfare system

Reporter Mary Jo Pitzl outlines The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com’s series examining child-welfare. David Wallace/The Republic

About this report

A three-year grant from the Arizona Community Foundation supports in-depth research from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com on child welfare in Arizona.

Are you part of the child-welfare system? We want to understand your story. Go to childwelfare.azcentral.com.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter @maryjpitzl. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.