In an effort to streamline the evaluation of a household’s fitness to take in a foster or adoptive child, California implemented a pilot project called Resource Family Approval (RFA) as a pillar of its reforms. On the surface this is a good thing, since it means that rather than putting a candidate through multiple processes of varying thoroughness for potential caregivers, the new process would offer a single, comprehensive standard that includes mandated foster parent training, psychosocial assessments, and multiple in-person interviews, all to be completed within 90 days.
“We want kids to get connected to people that they know as quickly as possible [after removal from their homes], because we know that’s the best thing for the kid, psychologically,” said Angie Schwartz, policy program director at the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles. A relative or family friend “is likely to be the most stable placement for that young person. We know that from research.
“The reforms, at their core, are making sure that the system itself is child-centered and family-friendly, which is a fantastic goal,” Schwartz continued. “But then pieces of the reform, like Resource Family Approval, have been anything but child-centered and family-friendly.”
LA County’s temporary solution was to use a source of state funding designed to “enhance caregiver recruitment” as part of CCR, to be used at counties’ discretion. That allowed DCFS to offer $400 per month per child for the first three months to families awaiting resource family approval.
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