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Bruce Hewlett (left), a case worker for foster care, shares a laugh with Anthony (center) and Ben Nagle at the Circuit Court in Fredericksburg. Nagle, 29, recently adopted 17-year-old Anthony.
Ben Nagle adopted Anthony Nagle, 17, after a year of Anthony living with him through foster care. Ben is the director of the Office on Youth in Fredericksburg, and Anthony is a senior at James Monroe High School. |
Hamburgers and hot dogs sizzled on the grill.
At a nearby picnic table in a Fredericksburg park, a different type of grilling was under way as six women asked 17-year-old Anthony Nagle about his college applications. As they reminded him of deadlines, Anthony just smiled and shrugged.
A year ago, he couldn't picture a future. Now, the James Monroe High School senior is trying to pick a college.
And the stakes are high for his half-dozen surrogate moms. Anthony is their success story, and these city social workers want to see him go even farther.
Earlier that morning, Anthony and Ben Nagle stood before a judge and officially became a family. They were an unlikely father-son duo: Anthony, a black teen athlete, and Ben, white and just 29.
But they share easygoing natures, a fondness for the TV show "House," and "Rock Band" skills.
When Ben adopted Anthony on Aug. 27, Fredericksburg Department of Social Services attorney Jay Vance said, "This is the rare success story."
City social workers pride themselves on finding homes for teens--a daunting task as most prospective foster parents want younger children--but this was the first time they could remember someone as old as Anthony getting adopted.
State social services workers hope to see success stories like Anthony's become less rare. Last year, they began using the Virginia Children's Services System Transformation to get more kids into families.
The effort incorporates best practices: putting fewer children in group homes, recruiting quality foster parents and reuniting more children with relatives.
"I think that a lot of agencies are already practicing this," said Fredericksburg Social Services Director Janine Sewell. Still, "it re-energizes what we're already doing."
Raymond Ratke, special adviser for children's services for Virginia Department of Social Services, spearheaded the initiative. And he agrees that it's not a radical plan. "We're not talking about new ideas. These ideas have been around for 20 to 30 years," he said.
Michael Muse, director of Stafford County Department of Social Services, hopes the effort will inspire agency workers.
"It challenges the way we do business, and the way we think of things," Muse said. "Over time, any system that goes unchallenged gets complacent."
A study released in 2007 showed Virginia has the dubious rank as No. 1 for children aging out of the foster care system--leaving the program without a family.
Changes were already under way. Virginia first lady Anne Holton saw the need to fix the system while serving as a juvenile court judge. In 2007, she launched the "For Keeps" initiative, aiming to find more homes for foster youth and to help those who wouldn't be adopted.
The 2007 Pew Charitable Trusts study found that teens who age out are more likely to wind up behind bars, on the streets and without an education.
The transformation efforts builds on the "For Keeps" initiative, said Paul McWhinney, family services director for Virginia. Last year, the effort started in 13 localities. Early data shows improvements in those areas: fewer kids went into group homes or facilities and fewer aged out of foster care.
This year, state officials hope to bring parts of the initiative to the entire state.
Locally, social services directors see the benefits of emphasizing best practices but wonder how practical the effort will be. They also wonder about money.
Those in charge of the effort say that efficient foster care will pay for itself.
Specifically, they think the money will come from a pot localities already dip into quite regularly: the Comprehensive Services Act funding.
In Virginia, local CSA teams pay about $135 each day to place a child in a group home, which includes meals and around-the-clock staffing. It costs just $19 per day to put a child in a foster family.
However, local social services directors said that when the CSA saves money, those savings don't show up in social services budgets.
In June, nearly 1,300 Virginia foster children lived in group homes or residential facilities. This is 19 percent of all foster children in the state. Nearly two years ago, that rate was 26 percent--well above the national average of 18 percent.
One of the best ways to get more kids into families is to recruit more foster families, Ratke said.
When researching the transformation, officials learned many prospective foster families were turned off by the initial process. Families called wanting to help and first had to answer questions about their income, criminal background and more.
Now, they get more information up front and the grillings come later--and more gently.
The effort also encourages agencies to get creative about finding homes. It sounds simple--and a bit obvious. But in the day-to-day obstacle course of social services work, sometimes creativity falls by the wayside.
A similar, nationwide Casey Family effort studied the effects of this approach. In Georgia, a series of roundtables looked at more than open foster care cases and brainstormed options for each child. In many cases, the solution was already right in the file.
In Fredericksburg, social workers used similar creativity to find Anthony a home. Ben Nagle isn't the typical foster parent recruit. But he's friends with Beth Girone, a supervisor for the city social services. Girone asked Ben to attend the first foster parent training she taught--mostly for support.
But Ben knew firsthand about the teens in foster care. When he led a program for suspended teens, he saw one foster youth sent to a group home simply because there wasn't a foster family available.
For four years, he has led the Rappahannock Area Office on Youth, where he sees many teens needing a strong role model. And many who need a parent.
"There are so many families that are falling apart, you can't go to sleep at night until you've done everything you know you could do," Ben said.
Last year, Anthony moved in with Ben. In 10 years of foster care, Anthony had lived with five families. Some were great. And some not.
But Anthony loved living with Ben. And one day, the teen casually mentioned adoption. Just as casually, Ben said, "OK."
Some wondered why even go through an adoption so late. But for Anthony, who hopes to be a lawyer one day, a family is something that doesn't end after he turns 18 this month or after high school graduation in the spring.
"It sounds weird, but we're building our own legacy," he said. "I'll have an actual place to come home to. It's not like, 'Where am I going now that I'm 18?'"
Amy Flowers Umble: 540/735-1973
Email: aumble@freelancestar.com
| The Comprehensive Services Act is a Virginia law that frustrates many local officials. It pulls together social services, education, juvenile justice, mental health and health departments to create a single place for troubled or disabled children to receive help.
For two groups of children--those in special education and those in foster care--any treatment the CSA deems necessary must be funded, no matter how expensive. Some localities spend more than $100,000 per year on a single child needing out-of-state residential care. National child welfare advocates praise the law, because it encourages collaboration. --Amy Flowers Umble |
