Very Troubling Revelations About State’s Administration of Child Foster Care as It Transitions to Adult Foster Care
In the wake of the terrible deaths of three children in or related to Rhode Island foster care, we learn from a report by outgoing state Child Advocate Regina M. Costa that
The state Department of Children, Youth and Families is allowing children in its care to live in more than 320 unlicensed foster homes. In more than 100 cases, those homes have been unlicensed for more than six months in violation of state law.
This is only the latest troubling revelation about DCYF. An audit last year revealed that the agency had squandered millions of tax dollars due to very poor oversight and accounting practices.
We await answers, accountability and solutions to both these completely unacceptable financial irregularities and, much more importantly, the issue of the safety of children placed in foster care by the State of Rhode Island. It is all the more important that the state get this right in light of the fact that it is in the process of transitioning the care of developmentally disabled adults from group homes to adult foster homes. To state the obvious, we CANNOT see the terrible events involving DCYF repeated down the road with adult foster homes.
Monique is a political gadfly, data junkie and contributor to the Ocean State Current and Anchor Rising. Please consider supporting the terrific work of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity here:
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/7rkChZKP/RI-Center-for-Freedom-and-Prosperity/
