Law professor works for 'kinship care' legislation

by Ann Marie Deer Owens

" Our experience in meeting and
serving more than 130 kinship families
in Davidson County convinces us
that the child welfare system in Tennessee
needs to do a much better job of involving
extended family members in planning and providing for the needs of abused and neglected children."

--Susan Brooks
Director, Vanderbilt Juvenile Practice Clinic

Even though single mother Joyce Keltner was forced to sell her home to pay the bills, she has no regrets about her decision 12 years ago to raise her grandson. There were allegations of parental neglect, according to Keltner, and her three-year-old grandson would end up in foster care in California if she didn't take him immediately.

"It didn't take me but a second to know that he needed to be with me," Keltner said.

At the time she was making $14,000 a year as a secretary, and the additional expenses of raising her grandson overwhelmed her.

Keltner struggled to find resources, eventually locating a support group through Family and Children's Service, a Nashville-based, nonprofit counseling agency. She also became active in a collaborative effort involving the Vanderbilt Legal Clinic, the Court Appointed Special Advocate Program (CASA) and Family and Children's Service to expand resources for kinship care. This effort was happening at the same time as the enactment in 1997 of state legislation known as the Kinship Foster Care bill, according to Susan Brooks, associate professor of the practice of law and director of the Juvenile Practice Clinic at the Vanderbilt Law School.

"The most critical and controversial aspect of the Kinship Foster Care Program is that the children must be in the state's custody in order for the relatives to receive any assistance under that program," Brooks said. The foster care board rate, she said, is approximately $300 monthly for each child, regardless of the foster parent's income. However, the main assistance relative caregivers have been able to receive is a monthly supplement ranging from $140 to a maximum of $291, regardless of the number of children.

Another challenge is that recent welfare-to-work legislation has shifted the emphasis from supporting dependent children to moving participants from welfare to jobs. Under Tennessee's version of welfare reform, which is known as Families First, relatives caring for children have been exempt from the work requirements. However, they also are not eligible to receive services made available to the other participants, such as subsidized childcare and case management services.

CASA, Family and Children's Service and the Vanderbilt Legal Clinic began a pilot program in 1997 to provide help to kinship families in accessing existing public benefits and private resources; case management services; individual and family counseling; support groups; legal consultation and representation; and emergency financial assistance. Brooks said that the high level of interest in the Davidson County program led them to believe that if substantial services are made available to relative caregivers on a statewide basis, a significant number of children will be able to avoid ente ring state custody.

"Our experience in meeting and serving more than 130 kinship families in Davidson County convinces us that the child welfare system in Tennessee needs to do a much better job of involving extended family members in planning and providing for the needs of abused and neglected children," Brooks said.

The three collaborating agencies began meeting with relative caregivers and other interested individuals to craft state legislation to expand their Davidson County program to other counties.

"I think I've written to almost every Tennessee lawmaker," Keltner said, "telling them how important it is for a child to be able to stay with a relative, rather than be placed in foster care." The efforts of Keltner, Brooks and others paid off in the final days of the last session. The bill, which received final approval from state lawmakers June 9, provides increased funding for the Davidson County program and also makes possible pilot programs in Shelby County and some rural counties.

While the cost of the legislation is pegged at $2 million, Brooks emphasizes that it's purely federal money expanding the program. "It's actually welfare money that is available to the states," Brooks said. "The reality is that if we don't spend it on appropriate uses such as this program, it will probably go back to the federal government."

Keltner just wishes the program had been available earlier. "It would have been a lifesaver," she said. "That's what I want to work for now -- these other relative caregivers with very little income. I will not benefit from the bill personally because I presently exceed the income guidelines. However, we have some people in our support group whose homes are being foreclosed on, and yet they don't want to relinquish custody of their grandchildren to the state."