Social workers highlight foster care crisis in North Carolina's DSS system

Concerns over the crumbling foster care system in Alexander County took center stage at the recent Board of Commissioners meeting, as former social workers and long-time foster parents voiced urgent calls for reform. The meeting highlighted a critical shortage of licensed foster homes, with numbers plummeting to alarming lows.

A former social worker, who spent years at the Alexander County Department of Social Services (DSS), painted a grim picture of the current state of foster care. She revealed that the county has seen a significant drop in licensed foster homes, from 32 when she left in 2016 to just 16, with even fewer reported recently. This decline has forced many children to be placed outside the county, disrupting their lives and education. "More and more of our kids are being placed outside of our county," she stated, emphasizing the strain this puts on social workers who must travel further to visit these children.

The former worker criticized the lack of support for social workers and the overwhelming caseloads they face. "The social workers and supervisors are not getting the support and guidance they need to do their jobs," she lamented. This sentiment was echoed by Brenda Price, a foster parent with over 40 years of experience, who described the system as "broken" and highlighted the frustration among foster parents regarding the turnover and lack of reliable support from DSS.

Price shared alarming anecdotes, including a child who had nine different social workers in less than two years, illustrating the chaos within the system. She urged the commissioners to consider the impact of these failures on children in DSS custody, asking, "If this was your child in DSS custody, would you accept these conditions?"

The meeting underscored a pressing need for the county to prioritize foster home licensing and provide adequate support for social workers. As the community grapples with these challenges, the voices of those directly affected—social workers and foster parents—serve as a clarion call for immediate action to restore stability and support within the foster care system.