Children in the for-profit foster care system are dying at alarming rates, but the deaths are not being investigated, and autopsies are not even being attached to the now-closed case files, a two-year investigation has found.
The investigation, conducted and released in rare bipartisan fashion by the Senate Finance Committee, looked closely at one of the largest private providers of foster care services, the MENTOR Network.
The companies and agencies charged with keeping foster children safe often failed to provide the most basic protections or take steps to prevent tragedies, the investigation found.
In the wake of the report, shares of the MENTOR Network’s parent company, Civitas Solutions, traded sharply downward, but quickly rebounded amid a lack of press coverage.
By pushing the report to colleagues, Sen. Ron Wyden, the committee’s top-ranking Democratic member, said he and panel chair Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, are trying to “light a big fire around” how important it is to fix the child welfare system’s flaws.
The report was prompted in part by a BuzzFeed investigation into the company two years ago. The committee found that 86 children had died in the company’s care over a 10-year […]
I worked in mental health providing case management for children in foster care. There are good foster families. They are unfortunately the exception. I do not believe most foster parents have the bond with children in their care to be vigilant as they would with their own children. They babysit in a detached way. Even if these families adopt, many just dont embrace the children as would be ideal. Sometimes they are not more than borders in the home.
Having children put in state boarding schools with other children in like circumstances. With caretakers who understand the children’s needs might be a good experiment.