Madison Co. DFCS wants more pictures of foster care kids

The local DFCS office, which was granted permission recently to buy a new digital camera, is making a push to take more pictures — whether of a first day of school, the beginning of tae kwon do lessons or the start of football or soccer practice — of children while in DFCS custody.

“Sometimes parents aren’t able to have those pictures,” Madison County DFCS director Lisa Plank said to the DFCS board last Friday.
It’s all part of a state DFCS effort to better know the family.

Under an old policy, the state previously required just one visit a quarter from the local DFCS office if a child was placed in a foster facility.
Now, there’s more face-to-face time involved.

“I think the state has come to the realization — and I agree with it — (that) we can’t make good decisions for these kids if we don’t know them,” Plank said. “If you only see them four times a year, you don’t know.”

Madison County workers actually spend many hours traveling to various events of foster care children, In fact, some Madison County foster care kids are in group homes as far away as west and south Georgia.

Plank acknowledged the added strain on staff but said better outcomes and faster results are already evident. In fact, a sibling group of three recently returned to their parents in less than 12 months, she noted.

“Previously, that’d be unheard of — unheard of,” Plank said.

Though a year is a long time in a child’s life, the previous average had been two to three years for Madison County foster children to return to their parents, Plank said.

“We’re getting to know our families more, we’re going to the parents’ house … It is a lot more work on the worker, but I think it’s better for the kids and the families in the long run,” she said.