CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Bill seeks to increase foster care, mental health funding

Charlotte Sun - 2/7/2017

SARASOTA — Experts say the sweeping opioid epidemic is having an effect on a younger generation, increasing mental health issues and forcing many into foster care.

Kathryn Shea, president and CEO of the Florida Center for Early Childhood, said funding “hasn’t been a priority.”

“We have never seen such an influx in mental health cases. We have to address this early in life and we have to invest and invest early,” said Shea, who’s headed the Sarasota-based organization for eight years.

“Every year I see big tax cuts, but that doesn’t help address the needs of the people,” she said.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Sarasota, is hoping to address this concern.

In one of his first orders of business this year, Buchanan introduced the Family First Prevention Services Act (H.R. 253), to invest in funding to help children stay with families rather than being placed in foster care or a group home.

Not only is the nation’s drug problem forcing more kids into foster programs, but increasing the propensity they will turn to substance abuse once in the system, a U.S. National Library of Medicine study suggests. The number of infants is on the rise and those children end up staying in care longer, Pew Research concludes.

The measure, which is supported nationally by more than 500 child welfare organizations, was introduced a year ago, unanimously passing the House. The Senate, however, failed to act on a companion bill.

A bipartisan effort cosponsored by Reps. Sander Levin, D-Michigan, Karen Bass, D-California, and Patrick Meechan, R-Pennsylvania, the ?100-page bill addresses flaws in the foster care system and attempts to correct it by updating outdated placement systems and creating a new foster program.

If passed in both chambers, the Family First bill will fund a program that addresses child abuse and neglect due to substance abuse, as well as reduce wait times for kids in vulnerable transition stages by helping states update child placement systems.

While hoping to enhance funding to foster care, Buchanan’s bill would also offer aid to grandparents who are asked to care for grandchildren and provide family therapy to keep kids at home and not in the child welfare system.

Similar to the 2016 version, the measure, potentially, will create better access to Title IV-E entitlement funding for tested and approved mental health, substance use and in-home services, according to the document.

Rather than base eligibility just on income, officials would have to consider whether the child is at risk of foster care placement.

Of the scores of entities that back the measure, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children’s Defense Fund, Child Welfare League of America and the North American Council on Adoptable Children have been the most vocal.

From infants to age 18, more than 250,000 children are removed from their homes by state child welfare officials and placed in either foster care or group homes each year, according to data provided by Buchanan. That figure was nearly 16,000 in 2014 in Florida.

Nationwide, Florida is 49th overall in terms of mental health funding at $37.28 a person, placing it less than one-third the United States average of $125 per person, according to Florida Policy Institute. Only Idaho ranked lower.

“You can’t be the seventh friendly tax state but be 49th overall in terms of mental health,” Shea said. Her not-for-profit organization works in Sarasota, Charlotte, DeSoto and Hardee counties.

Shea said it’s a tough pill to swallow when the funding isn’t there to help someone in need.

“Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, you can’t criticize them. We are teaching them to be advocates for themselves,” said Shea, who advised Buchanan when drafting the bill.

The bill, introduced a month ago, has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. Buchanan was unavailable for comment.

Email: jscholles@sun-herald.com