The opinions expressed in this piece are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carolina Journal or its publisher.
Call me a “traditionalist,” but I propose that children flourish best in families. However, I’m not naive enough to believe that family can only be defined in a narrow sense. Children need at least one caring, stable adult to provide nurturing and safety during the precarious time of early childhood, the tumultuous stage of adolescence, and even beyond their launch into a volatile world. But for many children in Mecklenburg County foster care, and in North Carolina more widely, even this expanded definition of “family” eludes their grasp.
Foster family recruitment and retention in North Carolina is down 22% in the past five years. More than 50% of foster homes close after the first year. For the 400 to 500 Mecklenburg children in foster care at any given time, this means they are not guaranteed a safe place to lay their heads, even when removed from their family of origin for safety concerns. On average for the past three years, a Mecklenburg County foster child moves every 10 months. And the median time to receiving permanency through reunification, guardianship, or adoption in our county is more than two years…