The Idaho foster care system and its challenges

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) —Monday, Feb. 26, marked Foster Care Awareness Day at the Idaho State Capitol.

Children can be put into a foster home anytime of their lives depending on the circumstances; as of 2020, there were 1500 children placed in foster care in the State of Idaho.

Dr. Kylie Billingsley, a psychologist and foster parent, talks about her experience taking in foster children, “So, I was expecting a situation of going in and supporting kids and families and I was under the assumption that the highest calling of DHW is to take care of the children and unfortunately, we had a different experience.”

Several years ago she took in three children and two of them were previously placed in a group home.

She instantly noticed the toddler’s behavior, “Had to sleep on top of me the entire night and if I moved even slightly, she would scream ‘don’t leave me, don’t leave me,’ and it would happen over and over that night.”

The reason that the toddler was having a hard time letting go was because at the group home, caregivers were constantly changing.

“The kids go from home to home and what we’re doing is we’re setting them up unfortunately for a lifetime of failed relationships, so you see these attachment disorders that they are unable to have functioning relationships as an adult,” Billingsley said.

Children who are brought into foster care are usually appointed a court appointed special advocate, or CASA.

The main goal for these foster kids is to be unified with either their biological parents or a biological family member.

“The courts often give us discretion to have input into whether a child goes home a reunifies with the family. Typically what we’re look at is as the reunification process starts is have they made the changes they need to make in order to provide a safe and stable home for their children,” Executive Director of the Fifth Judicial District CASA Program, Tahna Barton said.

When a child is put in foster care, each family has a case plan, which is a roadmap to follow in order to get their kids back, but there are times they will never be eligible to reunify, which ends in termination of parental rights.

“Maybe long term incarceration, it maybe that they are still actively using drugs or an unable to provide a home that is safe for their children,” Barton explains.

Senate Minority Leader of District 19, Melissa Wintrow, talks about what was recently heard in the committee for the foster care system, “We heard commitment from everyone on the committee. We heard commitment from the interim director of the Department of Health and Welfare that things will change and some changes will be made. And so, who I really invite is anyone who has been a foster parent, who is a foster parent, who wnats to be one is this legislature is committed to finding supports for you.”

According to the Department of Idaho Health and Welfare, many people can qualify to be a foster parent.

You need to be at least 21 years old.

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