The future of foster care: new state efforts aim to reduce the length of time children spend in care.

• Author: Williams-Mbengue, Nina

Stacey had been in foster care in Austin, Texas, for three years. The 11-year-old hadn't seen her mother in two years and her father, who still had legal rights to her, was on his way to prison. Stacey, not her real name, wanted to be adopted by her foster parents, but was in long-term foster care where she normally would have stayed until she was 18.

A new initiative in Austin in 2007, however, started looking at cases like Stacey's. Child protective officials wanted to find permanent homes for kids who had been in care for long periods of time because they had no home to return to, no relative to live with or almost no chance at adoption. Stacey was finally adopted by her foster parents, saving the state of Texas thousands of dollars and giving Stacey a chance at a better life.

Stacey's situation is hardly unique. States and localities nationwide want to reduce the number of children in foster care. There also is a push from the federal government to find safe, permanent homes for these kids. States spend $25.7 billion a year in federal, state and local funds on child welfare, including foster care, adoption and keeping biological families together and safe. With nearly 500,000 children in care on any given day, it's no easy task. The good news is that foster care caseloads have dropped nationally from 523,000 in 2002 to 496,000 in 2007. The average length of time that children stay in care has also been declining, from 20 months in 1998 to 15 months in 2006.

Large numbers of children still enter care each year, however, and many children remain far too long. Close to 25 percent of children in foster care in 2006 had been in care for more than three years.

The longer children remain in care and the more moves they make from one foster placement to another, the higher the risk for emotional and behavioral problems, poor academic performance, pregnancy, homelessness, unemployment and incarceration, according to research.

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Caselaods have dropped in a number of states in recent years, and several including California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas--are seeing significant declines. Some states took advantage of federal government "waiver programs" that allowed them to use some foster care maintenance program funds on demonstration projects to test ways to safely lower caseloads.

Other states have tried to address some of the problems facing children who have spent the longest amount of time in foster care. Michigan, Texas and Washington have looked at why minority children are over-represented and stay longer in foster care than white children. Many states have teamed with private foundations, universities and others to devise new ways to prevent children's entry into care, shorten the time spent, and help children be adopted or move to other permanent living situations.

FLORIDA'S EXPERIMENT

Since 2006, Florida has used a federal waiver to redesign its system to focus on reducing the number of children who enter care. Federal money traditionally had been restricted to children in foster care, but under the state's plan, child welfare dollars follow the child, rather than the placement of the child. Money can be spent to keep children with their...