New law will help clear foster home hurdles

Social service departments across the state will be better able to recruit foster parents, thanks to a bill propelled by the Alleghany Department of Social Services.

State Senate Bill 541, enacted earlier this month, removes the restriction preventing households which use spring water from becoming foster homes.

"The rule was just plain wasteful, in addition to the fact that it was unfair," said State Sen. Virginia Foxx, who introduced the bill. "It's so ironic that you go out and buy (bottled) spring water, yet they won't let these people be foster parents."

Jane Wyatt, social work supervisor at Alleghany County DSS, also called the rule unfair. "It's a shame that our county was basically penalized because it doesn't have a county-wide water-sewer system," she said.

"This has affected us for several years....We were eliminating quality people out there."

She said that within the last year, the department has turned down two prospective foster families because of the rule. "That's a lot to us," Wyatt added, as there are currently seven licensed foster homes in the county. She said Ashe County has turned down several as well. "It's hard enough to recruit foster families without being nitpicky."

According to a press release from Foxx's office, some of the bill's supporters argued that the regulation was discriminatory against rural counties. Because of the rule, willing families have not been able to serve as foster parents to children in need, creating a shortage of local foster homes, the release said. It also noted that foster children were uprooted, and county costs were increased by the extra travel time and out-of-town placement fees.

It was local social workers who started the effort for the bill and who generated support for it. "The people in Alleghany County deserve a lot of credit for their leadership," said Foxx. "They're helping kids all over the state of North Carolina now."

Wyatt said the department got resolutions from the DSS board and the Alleghany County Board of Commissioners supporting the bill.
 
 

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