The Foster System - Reuniting a goal when bonuses are given for adoption

We all hear of the stories of children missing where the parents are suspects. We also hear of the horrible stories of children dying at the hands of their (un)parents. But, we hardly ever hear of the families who have lost their children for "small" reasons or even no reasons at all, who struggle to get their children back after being placed in the care of the state.
This relates to cases as well where the state has more rights than parents, even in custody battles. If one parent makes an accusation, what happens? The other parent must prove their innocence (isn't this backward from what is actually supposed to happen in courts?) I recently red the book, "The Elite Idolaters" by David Bloch. While for most people I think it would be seen as far-fetched, but the facts remain the same, in family court, you are not innocent until proven guilty. When we see the cases of children being hurt, we don't see the children who are being hurt by a system so easily manipulated. I do recommend this book for families who are splitting and for families who may be doing something "someone" may not like, even if it is completely legal (ie, extended breastfeeding, home birthing, etc). It only takes an accusation to get a referral to family courts.



Going back to the situation of children being removed (kidnapped some would say) from loving parents we have to see how the system is not only unfairly judging and punishing parents before proven guilty, but also I want to show awareness to just how biased the "family" systems are.
I know there is controversy around the family I am writing about now, but wanted to post for those unaware of the plight of their situation. Also, this is not the first "large" family I know (the other in Michigan) whose children were removed for a lengthy period for not-so-good reasons (no neglect, no violence, etc) and their being people out there who are either just against parental rights or people who are mandatory reporters who may hold a  "belief" that some decisions you make, including, homeschooling (especially unschooling), selective or no vaxing and child led weaning are child abuse and warrant of CPS visits, I wanted to at least make a post on this sensitive topic.

Are all parents good parents? No.

I do believe that there are cases where parents aren't parents. But, with the incentives the US government gives incentives to states to get families in foster care, then transition them to "new homes" does nothing to help promote family preservation. There are no incentives for an agency to reunite. Then we must ask, what are the goals of the CPS workers? According to Education Portal, "CPS social workers are responsible for accessing, identifying and documenting cases of abuse or neglect among children and finding the appropriate services to enhance child welfare."

Perhaps some CPS workers are in the dark to this and do not actively try to 'retain' their job in budget cuts through getting parental rights severed so that the kids can be adopted. We can only hope there is that naivete, but the fact remains, there is someone in the "know" in these agencies and if you are a tax payer, you are paying for kids to not be reunited with their families. HHS actually brags that they "awarded" 39 MILLION in one year to states for "increasing adoptions." I'm all for forever families, but I'm sure these two cases aren't the only ones where decent homes were already had by the families. I know these two are just anecdotal to the data we see, but we just don't have the coverage on the news stations of the situations where there's nothing truly barring the children's return (or even visits), but the families aren't being reunited.

What do we know about the financial incentives for adopting 

This PBS article gives more information on the history of Child Policy and Foster Care and just how crazy the situation is for social workers who have two goals, reunite and find adoptive families (at the same time). Here are a few excerpts:

"ASFA also offers financial incentives to states to get more children adopted. The federal government pays states a bonus for foster child adoptions during the fiscal year that exceed a baseline of the average annual number of children adopted in the state between 1995 and 1997. States receive $4,000 for each child adopted above the baseline. The bonus goes up to $6,000 for each adoption of a special needs child" (Note: Currently HHS indicates the bonuses are different (mostly the same), but $8,000 for a child over age 9)

and

"The incentives appear to be working. There were 46,000 adoptions of foster children in 1999, a 28 percent increase from the previous year. The number of adoptions doubled in Illinois, and they went up 75 percent in Texas and 57 percent in Florida. Forty-two states earned $20 million in federal adoption bonuses."


And the "kicker" still remains. If the goal is family preservation, why " ...law doesn't provide comparable financial incentives or technical help to states to improve their family preservation programs."


A large family whose rights are severed not only allows for a budget to "care" for the children from taxes, but once they are adopted, bonuses are earned. No bonuses or stars for the CPS worker who reunites the most families. I'm not saying that all adults are good parents or even that all families are safe, but clearly our current system does nothing to encourage families to reunite, especially a large family... So a family of 6 with 2 older children would mean $32,000 in bonuses for an agency. What's the average salary for a new social worker? Less than that.... She got the kids into adoptive families and she paid her salary.

In the end, I can't believe the rights we don't actually have. Some are even rights we DO have, but one person's opinion one day can make it difficult for a family to stay together, even with a court order.


A link to 2010 bonus awards are listed here. Yep, your tax dollars hard at work - confusing CPS workers as to what their actual goals mean.

WIN Elite Idolators by David E Bloch and read more for yourself on the topic of family courts and FOIA act

 (I was given a free copy of this book to review. The opinions are completely mine) a Rafflecopter giveaway

At what point is CIO abuse?

Now I'll start with, yes, this will be offensive to some. I'm sorry but I can't be quiet on this topic when I heard that there's this thing called "cry it out bootcamp." On a message board I'm on, someone posted that they thought they were going to have to resort to CIO. As you know I am not in favor of CIO or any other form of child "care" that means you're not responding to that individual child as an individual who has needs, desires and rights.
Anyway, apparently in this "bootcamp" a mother chronicled that they cried it out for FIVE HOURS. I went to some "baby wise" blogs and browsed through some usergroups and hardly ever do they follow some of the "responsible" decision making when someone determines that CIO would be best.

From babywisemom on blogspot (sorry I am not linking it because then more of you may end up there than otherwise and I'm whole-heardedly against CIO),
" I feel like to do CIO responsibly, the we need to do several things. Some of these are a given, but when you’re a first-time mom, they might not seem intuitive. And yes, the we should do ALL of these things, not some of them:
Make sure baby is well fed. Monitor your supply closely if you are BF’ing. Make sure your pediatrician is monitoring your baby’s growth.
Make sure baby is not sick in any way (reflux, ear infections, food sensitivities, etc.).
Stick to the eat/awake/sleep routine.
Stick to the schedule consistently.
Be sure to put baby down at the optimal wake time (which includes feeding time).
Have a routine before you put baby down to transition him to sleep, whether that’s rocking, singing, dancing, closing the curtains, whatever. But always put baby down awake (a little drowsy is OK).
Have a reason for CIO. It should only be necessary for initial sleep training or when going through phases like rolling over, standing up, weaning from swaddle, etc. If crying happens out of the blue for a baby who has always slept well, CIO cannot be the first course of action. You need to consider the context and characterization of the child. You need to investigate all possible causes including a visit to the doctor. Offer Tylenol 20 minutes before the nap if you suspect teething. Evaluate the baby’s behavior during awake time. If you are still stumped, I would comfort the baby until you can figure out the reason.
Don’t start CIO while other changes are going on. If you are weaning, changing formulas, visiting family or experiencing any other disruption to your routine, wait until that disruption is over before you start CIO.
Keep track of how long the baby is crying. It’s best to distract yourself during CIO, but you need to monitor it. Write it down if that helps. When done effectively and responsibly, the CIO shouldn’t take more than 3-5 days and the crying should be less and less each nap/bed time. Initially, baby might cry for an hour. The next time it should be closer to 45 minutes, then 30 minutes and so on. When I have done CIO with Lucas, my youngest, it realistically never took more than 3-4 naps before we were over the problem. The first time was always the hardest but then it got better very fast. With a baby on a 3-hour routine with an awake time of one hour, the most the baby would cry is 2 hours. Even that is a little long in my book, so consider doing a 2.5-hour schedule (which BW condones), meaning the longest CIO would be 1.5 hours.
Above all, be consistent. Being wishy washy about it will only drag it on, confuse the baby and make matters worse. If you can’t handle the CIO, don’t do it at all. Don’t set time limits. Don’t get them up some times and not others. Don’t rock/nurse the baby to sleep some times and not others. You need to decide what you want your baby to learn. Set the rules and stick to them. It’s OK if you can’t handle doing CIO consistently. It’s not for everyone. If it’s not for you, don’t do it at all. Read other books, like Secrets of the Baby Whisperer, and find another method."

So those are good recommendations, but how often do you hear people talking about CIO as not being the option for an over-tired parent and a kid who just learned they can stand up? I also read a comment regarding how long you should let a baby cry that said "No limit. Unless you want it to grow up spoiled. ... " WAIT>>> WHAT? So I guess this 5 hour mom isn't the only one who believes a child should learn that it is a cruel, cruel world and your parents can't be trusted to help you out.

Anyway, this baby-unwise mom started the expectation that the baby should CIO at 5 days. Yep, 5 days. Fresh from the hospital and already left on his own in the world. I'm sorry but if you CHOOSE to become a parent, then you have to realize your life will not fit in a perfect little package anymore. Your schedule will be disrupted. The more you're with your child, the more you hold your child, the better you'll get to know your child and his/her needs. If your child is tired but is having difficulties falling asleep, put your baby in a sling, nurse her and get some exercise... V loved taking walks in the sling. I got out of the house (even if it was just around the apartment complex). On these message boards I hardly ever see anyone recommend they are sure that CIO is "right" for them and at the "right" time and that they know their baby's schedule like the aforementioned blog (and presumably the book) does.

So back to this 5 hour marathon CIO session. Imagine yourself, as the adult you are, shut into a dark room, alone. You're not sure why you're there so you start calling out "hello, hey... anyone? anyone there?" After a few minutes you get no response. So you call again "hey is anyone out there..." then a bit later, you get louder. You're calling out because you hear someone out there, but you can't get out because you're in some sort of cage (or, you find, the door is locked). After a while, I'm sure it would get a bit stressful. Since you know someone's out there, you continue to try to get their attention. After some time, you may give up, but your stress level is bound to be still high.

Now think of a child, alone in a crib, put down to sleep by (loving) parents. Not ready or able to soothe themselves to sleep (because the parent doesn't feel it is in their job description or because they fear they are spoiling their child?), the child is left alone to make their way to bed. If they aren't at the point where they are ready to go to sleep, they may start crying. Good night little bug, says mommy and the door shuts. Perhaps there is a nightlight for comfort, or maybe some nursery music, I'm not sure of the exact rules. The baby then may start the same as you would as an adult, but since they may not have words yet, or just know how to say (scream/cry) mamamamam... they start calling for you... and calling for you... but, the books and the websites (and doctors??) say to let them cry it out. Let them learn to self soothe. Let the baby be... After a few hours, like you, the baby will get pooped out. The baby may fall asleep, but it doesn't mean damage hasn't been done. It doesn't mean the baby isn't stressed. It doesn't mean that there isn't some type of psychological damage. Of course I'm not saying every child who is let to cry is damaged, but what I am saying is that there are alternatives and that cry it out shouldn't be the first answer, nor is it the answer to your child's sleep question.

Now, if you are having an emotional breakdown, it may be better to let your baby cry for five minutes while you de-steam, than going in and getting upset or screaming at your baby... but that should be your warning that something has to change and that you may need help. Stop thinking you can't let anyone know that you need help and ask a friend, relative, or neighbor to help you a few hours a week so that you can face your child appropriately. It is NOT the baby's fault that you're going through what you are.

My recommendations are these
1) (and foremost) give up your belief that there are good sleepers/bad sleepers
2) give up the idea that a baby should 'sleep through the night by X weeks/months/years"
3) realize that for young infants a five hour period of sleeping non stop is considered great
4) realize that every child is an individual so you can't compare one child to the next as to what they need
5) consider a co-sleeper or a family bed (if you are non-smokers, not over weight, not heavy sleepers, not on drugs or alcohol and both (or the single parent) agrees to it so that you're next to baby and don't have to get up because they do... plus when you're breastfeeding, even less waking time when they need to eat at
night
6) engage in night time parenting. Parenting is a 24x7 job after all!
7) You (your family) and your baby should decide what is positive and not some book (or blog haha).
8) Have balance. If your baby is waking often and you need more sleep. Have someone come help you for two hours in the afternoon so you can nap. Alternate who wakes with the baby at night if you're not breastfeeding
9) Listen to this Harvard study (I hate name dropping but sometimes it works!) "
parents should keep their babies close, console them when they cry, and bring them to bed with them, where they'll feel safe" and ... " 'Parents should recognize that having their babies cry unnecessarily harms the baby permanently," Commons said. "It changes the nervous system so they're overly sensitive to future trauma.' "
So, do you think it is ethical to sleep train? Do you think it is fine to leave a young child alone when they aren't comfortable but not an adult? If you let a baby cry it out, apparently it is okay, but if you do the same to an adult (vulnerable or not) it is considered false imprisonment and is punishable by law.

Oh yeah... and Ferber recanted. I love saying that!
Some links for your pleasure:
http://naturalparentingcenter.wordpress.com/2008/12/17/never-ever-ever-let-baby-cry-it-out/
http://www.phdinparenting.com/2008/08/11/cry-it-out-cio-is-it-harmful-or-helpful/
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/handout2.asp
http://www.awareparenting.com/comfort.htm
http://pedsinreview.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/10/1/17
http://www.naturalchild.com/guest/linda_folden_palmer2.html
http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1998/04.09/ChildrenNeedTou.html