Foster parents say many children in state welfare system too long

INDIANAPOLIS — Braelynn Yerington, of Zionsville, is a former foster mom who adopted children out of the state’s child welfare system.

She said her daughter suffered because she was in the system for years.

“It was very needless,” said Yerington. “She had seven years total of child welfare experience when it was all said and done. Five of those she was actually a ward of the state."

Yerington was one of more than a dozen people who testified Thursday in front of the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary.

The committee was tasked with improving the length of time children spend in foster care.

Children typically get into the system because their parents are accused of abusing or neglecting them, and they often need help with drug addiction or mental health issues.

Getting kids out of the system and into a permanent home can mean:

• Reunification with the birth/biological parents
• Legal guardianship
• Adoption

Indiana Department of Child Services data shows the average time to permanency is 537 days or 1.5 years.

Adoptions take the longest.

Just last month, the average time to adoption was more than 1,000 days, or nearly three years.

DCS director Eric Miller testified they’ve made numerous changes to address time to permanency including programs to improve caseworker turnover and adding adoption subsidies .

“We’ve seen some progress in those efforts, seeing the median time to permanency decrease by 8%, or 1.5 months, from State Fiscal Year '23 to '24,” said Miller. “I’m personally not satisfied with that level of improvement. I know we can still reduce it more and we should.”

WRTV

Miller said DCS is required to make “reasonable attempts” to reunify a child with their biological parents, but he says that needs to be better defined, including the time frame.

"You shouldn't still be trying to reunify after five years,” said Miller. “To me, that's not right. There needs to be some guardrails. Without those guardrails, it makes our job harder."

Yerington gave lawmakers a laundry list of potential solutions.

“For one, placing limits on taxpayer-funded services for parents who are not fully compliant with court-ordered services,” said Yerington.

The committee did not issue specific recommendations but lawmakers can use the information to file bills in the upcoming session.

Throughout the 2022 calendar year, DCS investigated 308 child deaths. Of those deaths, 61 were found to be a result of abuse or neglect.