County to pilot program for foster kids

Local success in finding families for children serves as state model

At a time when the Texas foster care system has come under fire, with a federal judge ruling it broken to the point of unconstitutionality, a small glimmer of hope has shone on Montgomery County.

Texas CASA Court Appointed Special Advocates, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing volunteers to look out for the best interests of children in the care of the state, launched a pilot program, known as Collaborative Family Engagement, this year that is meant to help identify family members and committed adults early on in a child’s case. In its last session, the Texas Legislature designated more than $500,000 for the program.

When Texas CASA was deciding which local chapters would pilot the program, Montgomery County was quick to volunteer.

“We shot our hands up,” said Ann McAlpin, executive director of the local CASA chapter. “This is an innovative approach … it completely increases effectiveness.” The chapter’s experience and success with family finding as recipients of a Diligent Recruitment grant for the past several years primed it as a testing ground for the CFE program. Montgomery County CASA also achieved a milestone last year by providing an advocate for every child in the foster care

system in the county.

“CASA and (Child Protective Services) wanted to start with local programs that were showing success,” said Candice Dosman, the pilot program manager for Texas CASA. Building relationships

For children in the foster care system, instability can be a way of life. Many move from one home to the next and never establish a lasting relationship with an adult. This can lead to a number of problems, including mental health issues, homelessness and difficulty making attachments or holding down jobs, said Pat Creighton, the chapter’s program director.

“How you spent holidays, how you grew up — so many of our memories are wrapped around adults who had an impact on our lives,” Creighton said. “All of a sudden you’re removed from those connections. That’s a big chunk of who you are … none of us were meant to be alone.”

With the family finding practices that Montgomery County CASA has already implemented, more effort has been put into locating family members to place children with.

“Children who have caring adults in life have a better opportunity for success,” Creighton said.

The big difference between the new program and its previous approach is that it creates a collaboration between Child Protective Services and the CASA advocate and builds a team to focus on finding significant adults in a child’s life in the beginning of the case, rather than waiting until the child is older to make those connections, Creighton said.

When a new case comes in, CASA establishes a team consisting of the child’s CPS caseworker, the CPS supervisor, the CASA advocate and supervisor and a facilitator. These individuals then set to work to find as many significant adults in the child’s life as possible, from extended family members and friends to coaches and babysitters. When possible, they involve the children and their parents in the process. The ultimate goal is to engage someone who is safe and familiar to the child and will serve as a consistent presence for the rest of their lives.

“We want to give them someone to turn to for help making decisions,” said Barb Robertson, a case supervisor.

Montgomery County CASA has used this process with two new cases so far.

The pilot program will go for two years and be evaluated by researchers at the University of Austin to measure its success. Texas CASA plans to add several local chapters to the pilot program in the fall and, ultimately, to implement it statewide. Growing caseload

The program launch comes at a time when Montgomery County has seen a jump in child welfare cases. Since the beginning of this year, CASA has taken on 67 new cases, bringing the total number of children in its care to nearly 400.

In The Woodlands alone, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable Ryan Gable’s child crimes investigators worked 56 cases in the first quarter of the year.

But even as the workload piles up, Montgomery County CASA workers are hopeful that the new CFE approach is a step toward helping children find a lasting home.

“We believe every child should have a family,” McAlpin said.