New DCFS initiative aims to improve foster care
LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services launched a new initiative to strengthen the role of foster parents.
The Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI) was launched Wednesday, and will focus on not only giving caretakers a voice in the issues impacting the children, but also on a more team-oriented approach.
Foster parents in the state currently do not have any right to information on their foster children, like why they are in the system or who their parents are.
"Sometimes I don't have answers, and when I don't have answers, it's hard on them because there trying to figure out, 'where am I going to go from here,'" said foster mother, Heidi Flick.
Brandi Perkins has the same struggle explaining to her two foster boys that she does not know when they will be able to go home.
"Whenever you foster older children, that's the thing that they're always asking, 'when can I go home?' And so it's hard to explain to them that I don't know - I am not sure when you would be able to go home."
The Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services aims to bring foster parents back into the picture.
This will also give caregivers the support and training they need to succeed with foster children, as well as their biological families.
QPI is a major success around the nation which has improved relationships among child welfare staff, stakeholders and caregivers.
States that have adopted QPI reported improvements in outcomes such as:
- Fewer unplanned placement changes
- Less use of group care
- Less of sibling separation: and
- More successful family reunifications.
Each month, Louisiana serves more than 4,700 foster children. More than 50 percent of these children are under the age of 5.
Learn more about becoming a foster or adoptive parent by visiting www.dcfs.la.gov/foster.
Copyright 2016 KPLC. All rights reserved.
