LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that Arkansas is one of the participating states in a program to expand foster care homes.
Officials said the A Home for Every Child program is a bipartisan initiative. Arkansas joins 13 other states and the District of Columbia in the program: Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Rhode Island.
Longest-waiting child in Arkansas foster care system adopted after 15 years
Nationally, officials say 57 licensed foster homes exist for every 100 children in care, a gap the initiative aims to close.
The A Home for Every Child program changes federal foster care oversight by shifting how states set and meet goals, officials said. They added that DOH’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will work with each state to develop specific metrics, a move away from lengthy, complex administrative overhead that will allow caseworkers to spend more time with families…