KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — We've heard from parents, lawyers, and even a juvenile court judge worried the foster care system in Tennessee is on the "verge of collapse." Numbers from the 2022 State of the Child report on the health and welfare of children in the state researchers call the foster care system "the most unstable in the country."
"She really wanted a mom and a dad in a family where there wasn't any domestic violence going on, that's something she really really hoped for," foster mother Erin King said.
King has been a mother to several foster children for several years. She thinks foster parents should have more say in what happens to a foster child.
"The hardest part about foster care is once a foster child leaves your home. You don't know where they end up and you're left worrying," she said.
The state centralized placement years ago. Placements could no longer be done locally -- instead, all decisions come out of Nashville.
"So when they centralize placement, that caused the backlog, they didn't have the relationships, they don't allow the locals to do it at all," Speaker of the House of Representatives Cameron Sexton said. "We got to put the decision back into the locals and allow them to place those kids with those organizations and associations that they have the relationship."
The Adoption Project announced its 2023 legislative priorities Monday. The organization recommends public policy changes that will help make Tennessee the "best state in the country" to build strong families through adoption and foster care.
Project organizers said these recommendations are the result of nearly a year of extensive research and conversations with stakeholders from across the adoption and foster care systems in Tennessee and around the country.
"Our priorities focus on the best interest of children and helping them reach permanency faster while respecting the dignity of all parties involved, including birth parents," said Jeremy Harrell, founder, president and CEO. "We are encouraged by the leadership and vision of Governor Lee, Commissioner Quin, Senator Haile, Representative Littleton, and so many others who have made child welfare a priority in Tennessee, and look forward to working with them to advance our shared goals this session.”
The Adoption Project's legislative priorities include the following recommendations:
PRIVATE/AGENCY ADOPTION
- Streamline the process for voluntary surrender and placement of a child being adopted.
- Reduce the time to finalize an adoption and expand the venue options for finalization.
- Reduce the cost of adoption by streamlining and unifying the home study process for both foster care and adoptive homes.
- Strengthen enforcement against unlicensed adoption facilitators who take advantage of birth and adoptive families.
- Extend the length of time post-birth during which birth-parent expenses can be paid by an adoptive family.
FOSTER CARE
- Encourage and expedite the adoption of older children.
- Complete faster and more efficient searches for close family and social contacts.
- Where possible, create statutory timelines that reduce the current time to permanency for children in foster care.
- Make it easier for foster families to effectively care for the children in foster care placed in their homes by improving support systems available to them.
- Give foster parents a larger role in the process, including the right to be present, participate and speak at all court proceedings, and elevate their status in decisions regarding permanency.
"Our ultimate goal is to ensure that every child has a safe, loving and permanent family. Tennessee is making progress, and we believe that, if enacted, these proposals will help children and families across the state," Harrell said.
Adoption Project COO Jennifer Donnals says that includes the right to be present at and participate in court proceedings.
"It's only natural that they're going to talk to their foster parents, a lot like any child, a parent would speak. So just to give them a bigger voice, I think it will just help them the overall process," Donnals said.
"It's the perfect storm of all of this coming together, the policy work, the resources that they are asking for, and the public's help as well. If all three of those work together, I think we could get through this get through this issue."
Lawmakers introduced almost 20 bills targeting adoption and foster care on Monday. Those included:
- Senate Bill 528: Adoption and Foster Care Omnibus Bill – comprehensive legislation that would make various changes to adoption and foster care by "eliminating red tape." If passed, the legislation would allow non-foster care parents to adopt from DCS, allow more time for adoptive parents to pay for birth-related expenses, allow foster parents to be involved in court proceedings, prohibit the overturning of adoptions after 6 months and increase options for pre-birth and post-birth surrenders.
- Senate Bill 529: Mother’s Tax Cut – would eliminate sales tax on baby formula, diapers and wet wipes.
- Senate Bill 530: First Lady’s Children’s Trust Fund – would create a long-term funding strategy for organizations in Tennessee providing services to children instead of funding on a one-time, as needed basis.
- Senate Bill 531: Caseload cap for DCS workers – based on recommendations from an audit by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office, this legislation would change the way caseload caps per DCS caseworkers are calculated from an “average” to “actual” cap of 20 cases per case worker.
- Senate Bill 532: "Best interest of the child" – legislation would require DCS to amend their mission statement to include “best interest of the child” as the department’s main goal.
- Senate Bill 533: Sick Leave Bank. State employees – a proposal would allow state employees with children who have prolonged illnesses to use the state sick leave bank to care for their sick child after they have depleted their personal time.
- Senate Bill 534: Safe Haven Law – legislation would require DCS to transfer guardianship of an infant to a certified adoption agency if left at a Safe Haven location. It would also allow a court to waive the six-month waiting period to finalize an adoption of a baby who was surrendered under the safe haven law.
- Senate Bill 535: Abandonment – a measure would revise the definition of abandonment for purposes of terminating parental rights to include circumstances where the parent or guardian fails to visit or support the child for a period of three consecutive months if the child is less than four years of age.
- Senate Bill 536: Severe Child Abuse – legislation would add offenses that constitute severe child abuse for the purpose of juvenile court and termination of parental rights proceedings.
- Senate Bill 537: Incarcerated individuals – legislation would lower from 10 to 6 years the amount of time a parent or guardian must be incarcerated as grounds for termination of parental or guardianship rights.
- Senate Bill 538: Paid FMLA for adoptive parents – a bill would provide 6 weeks paid family medical leave to state employees who are first-time adoptive or foster parents.
- Senate Bill 537: Neighborhood childcare – legislation would increase the number of non-biological children a person can watch in their home without having to register as a childcare facility. The goal is to start conversations about innovative solutions to the childcare desert in Tennessee.
- Senate Bill 534: DHS Childcare Improvement Fund – legislation would create a state fund to assist entities seeking to improve or create child care facilities.
- Senate Bill 542: Unlicensed child placement agencies – legislation seeks to crackdown on unlicensed, out-of-state placement agencies operating in Tennessee that offer quick adoptions for high fees.
- Senate Bill 544: Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) – to ease the workload for DCS caseworkers, legislation would require DCS to hire GALs to review cases that might need parental rights terminated.
- Senate Joint Resolution 129: Adoption and Foster Care Resolution – a resolution calls on the governor and state agencies to contemplate various issues and ideas to improve adoption and foster care in Tennessee.
Some of those were inspired by the work of the Adoption Project. The organization said it was able to get several of its ideas in front of lawmakers they are looking forward to Governor Bill lee's state of the state address Monday.
The adoption project is expecting to hear more plans about adoption and foster care.