Willie Brown: Wanted - Big-hearted San Franciscans

In May of 2001, the San Francisco Department of Human Resources joined with social services agencies throughout the state in observing May as Foster Care Month.

We celebrated the generosity and achievements of existing foster families who have opened their homes to San Francisco children and youth in need. However, Foster Care Month also drew attention to the need for foster homes for those children of San Francisco who need loving shelter and care.

Even with the best efforts of the Department of Human Service's Family and Children's Services programs - which seek to keep children united with their birth parents by providing domestic violence counseling, parenting classes, home visitation programs and other services that aim to remove danger from their homes - some children still must be placed in other homes, and at a rate that outpaces our efforts to recruit foster families.

In February 2001, there were 2,439 children within the foster care system of San Francisco. Through the DHS Division of Family and Children's Services, social workers respond to reports of child abuse and neglect, and assess the child's safety within the family environment, taking whatever action is necessary under the law to protect the child.

Foster care was the only recourse for these 2,439 young San Franciscans. Removal of an endangered child from his or her family home is a decision taken very seriously, as even a severely-flawed family environment is usually less traumatic for children than removal from the home, as long as the child is safe.

Social workers do everything possible to keep the child in the home. If the child must be removed, social workers attempt to place the child with relatives, or at least close to familiar neighborhoods and schools to reduce the impact on an already traumatized child.

The number of children in San Francisco removed from their homes has been declining over recent years. At the same time there has been a significant increase in interventions which do not bring the child into the foster care system, but supports them at home, strengthens their families and addresses the causes of abuse or neglect. Such cases have increased by 45 percent in the last year.

When children are removed, whenever possible, foster homes are found with family members through programs such as the Kinship Support Network. An innovative partnership between DHS and the non-profit Edgewood Center for Children and Families, the Kinship Support Network supports grandparents and others who care for the children of relatives as a result of parental abuse, neglect, illness or death.

Forty-four percent of the February caseload, or 1,085 children, were placed with family members.

While a child is in foster care, social workers work with the parents, tackling such issues as substance abuse, domestic violence and other problems - providing resources, counseling and treatment.

Family reunification and support of healthy families within the context of the larger community is the goal of the Department of Human Services.

There is a great need for additional foster homes in San Francisco, where our demographics (fewer families, more single adults than other cities) have made traditional recruitment difficult.

Increasingly, recruitment efforts target single adults, gay and lesbian homes, seniors and "empty nesters" who have the generosity of spirit - and the space - for a child in their home.

Frequent orientations for those interested in exploring foster parenting are offered in several locations and languages. Please call DHS at (415) 558-2200 for more information about foster parenting.

Willie Brown is the mayor of San Francisco.