Assistance Animals in Foster Care.

• Author: Dietz, Matthew W.
• Position: Animal Law

Currently, no greater area of controversy exists than the use of animals as a therapeutic treatment for mental illness or psychiatric disabilities. Photos of turkeys on airplanes, Chihuahuas in purses, and a large box turtle seated next to you at the bar proliferate on social media. While we have been sharing our lives, land, and food with domesticated animals for more than 10,000 years, the mental health benefits of having an animal for a companion has not been fully recognized as treatment for mental illness or psychiatric disabilities. Animal-assisted therapies, animal-assisted education, and animal-assisted enrichment activities are used to reduce stress or anxiety, increase motivation to participate or adhere to a program, and facilitate social interactions.

Any adult who was a child with a pet, or has a child with a pet, understands the deep bond a child builds with the pet as a friend that can keep secrets and as a warm companion to hold when scared. However, when a child is removed from his or her parents and placed into foster care, the situation is dire, and the focus is on the immediate health and welfare of the child. During this process, the child's pet is often not considered as a part of the interests or welfare of the child. No consideration is provided as to whether reunification of the pet with the child is a possibility or whether an animal can be a valuable support for the child.

Primer on Assistance Animals

There are three categories of assistance animals: service animals, emotional support animals, and therapy or facility animals. Service animals are dogs or miniature horses that are individually trained to work or perform tasks for a person with a disability. (1) The task could be anything from guiding a person who is blind to preventing a child with autism from running away. There needs only to be a nexus between the trained task and the individual's disability. Service animals are typically (2) permitted in all public accommodations, state and local governmental facilities under federal law, and all places where the public is invited under Florida law. (3)

Emotional support animals can be any animal that provides emotional support that alleviates one or more identified symptoms or effects of a person's disability. (4) An emotional support animal is permitted as a reasonable accommodation for a person with a disability in housing under the Fair Housing Act. Further, both service animals and emotional support animals are permitted in the airplane's cabin under the Air Carrier Access Act. (5)

There is no official or standard license for assistance animals, as each animal's training is different and tailored to their partner's disability. (6) So, the licenses or vests worn are not mandated by law and can be purchased online without proof of adequate training. For service animals, if the disability or the need for the animal is not obvious, staff of a public accommodation can only ask: "(1) [I]s the dog a service animal required because of a disability? and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform? Staff are not allowed to request any documentation for the dog, require that the dog demonstrate its task, or inquire about the nature of the person's disability." (7) For emotional support animals, a housing provider can ask for a letter from the person's health care or mental health provider for verification of the person's disability and the need for the animal. (8)

A therapy dog is an animal that goes to a facility and interacts with persons with disabilities, but is not partnered with a particular person with a disability. There is specific training for therapy dogs (9) to be good canine citizens, which is an American Kennel Club's indication of the gold standard for a well-trained dog. (10) Courtroom dogs have additional training and are chosen for court work through a program from Assistance Dogs Inter national. (11)

The Epidemic of Mental Illness in the Foster Care System

In the state of Florida, there are approximately 12,500 children in foster homes and another 13,000 children who are foster children placed with relatives. (12) While it should be undisputed that removing a child from his or her birth family is a traumatic event that can lead to a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), statistics have demonstrated three out of five children suffer from diagnosed mental illness. (13) Most of these diagnoses are PTSD and depression, with girls suffering from mental health issues at twice the rates of boys. (14)

Once a child is placed in the custody of the state, a dependent child has the right to be "referred to and receive services, including necessary medical, emotional, psychological, psychiatric, and educational evaluations and treatment, as soon as practicable after identification of the need for such services by the screening and assessment process." Once a child is placed in out-of-home care, the child is provided with a comprehensive behavioral health assessment to determine the child's mental health and...