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Public records show Cabarrus County has few licensed foster families, resident urges county action
Summary
A public commenter said county records returned 37 licensed foster families and 171 children in foster care, and urged the county to use its platform to recruit more foster parents.
A resident told the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday that a county public records request showed only 37 licensed foster families in the county and 171 children in foster care as of May 22.
West Honeycutt, a resident who said he had filed a public records request, told commissioners the data was about two months old and urged elected officials to use county communication channels to encourage recruitment of foster families. He contrasted Cabarrus County with a smaller neighboring county that had proportionally more foster families, saying: "It's crazy to me that we're 4 times the size and we barely have 1 and a half times size of foster family."
Honeycutt said he had observed children sleeping on floors at the Department of Social Services when placements were unavailable and urged "sound the alarm" advocacy to find foster homes. He encouraged churches and volunteers to step forward and said the county's Department of Social Services (DSS) is the avenue through which prospective foster parents must proceed.
Commissioners did not take action at the meeting; the comments were entered into the public record for potential follow-up by DSS or related county staff.
