Foster Kids Need a Lot of Support... But this Really?
Host Scott Lee shares a story about a former student who entered foster care and was adopted by his foster parents. The story has a happy ending because of supportive adults and none of them needed a computer dating app…yeah if you listen it will make sense.
Links of Interest
AP news story mentioned in episode
AP news story on the same topic from the Edwardsville Intelligencer
Transcript
Greetings friends and colleagues, welcome to The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast-the professional educator’s thought partner. A service of Oncourse Education Solutions, I am Scott Lee. Today I would like to share a story with you. As some of you know, for several years I was the school Director within an adolescent mental health treatment facility. Our services included placement for children and adolescents in state custody for foster care and adoption. One day I was walking into the building I saw a former student, Caleb, and we spoke briefly as I was in a hurry. Several months earlier, Caleb had left our residential program for foster care. Later that day I ran into his former therapist, Chelle, and mentioned that I had seen him. It turns out Caleb and his foster parents had been on campus for a meeting with our state department of children’s services that Chelle had also attended. We chatted about Caleb who neither of us had recognized at first because he had grown taller and he had colored his hair purple. Chelle went on to share that Caleb had made several friends and was doing well in school; most importantly his his foster parents were going to adopt him.
Caleb originally came to our residential program after he was placed in state custody when he was 13 or 14. He was a true orphan who had been raised by his grandmother living in an urban housing project. As we got to know Caleb and his history we learned that his grandmother had been so concerned about safety that he never went outside except to catch the bus going to and from school. No visits to a neighborhood park or a playground; he had never even been allowed to sit on the front porch outside. I don't remember the exact reason why Caleb had been placed in state custody, except that his grandmother had health issues that made it impossible for her to continue as his guardian.
Almost immediately when Caleb came to our residential program Chelle and his caseworker were trying to identify a potential foster family. After a few months, one of our new foster parent couples was identified as a home for Caleb. They were a married female/male couple that had recently retired and their own children were grown and not living with them. Chelle immediately thought this was a good match, but I was not so sure. I remember meeting the foster family and I enjoyed talking with the dad. I knew all of our foster parents because I conducted training for them on school issues, IEP’s and generally how to work in partnership with schools. I have found that foster parents, particularly those who have children of their own, often find working with school personnel difficult because typically foster children have many more educational needs than their own children have had in school. I talked with the potential foster father about fishing and hiking in the rural area where they lived. I know this area myself because I spend a lot of time outdoors nearby. He talked about how how if the weather was good he hiked to and from all the good fishing holes in their rural county. While I personally always want to spend more time outside, I was not sure that Caleb would share many common interests with these potential foster parents, I mean this was a child whose entire knowledge of being in a rural area came from watching television, but Chelle was convinced they would become a family… and over time she was proven correct.
So why a story about foster care and adoption on a podcast about education? Well I believe that often as educators we don’t consider the needs of kids in state custody enough. All though these students represent a small group, they are almost all economically disadvantaged, very probably have experienced trauma, are more likely to be identified as a student with a disability and they frequently have difficulty relating to adults because of the transient nature of adults in their lives. Sooner or later as educators we all will work students who have been in state custody, foster care, and/or who have been adopted. And we can expect that these students will frequently require more of time, attention, and relational effort from us to be successful. It occurs to me that we as educators often don’t reflect enough about this group and recently when I read an Associated Press story about an organization that had created a software program that used algorithms developed for computer dating sites to connect children available for adoption with potential adoptive parents I thought about Caleb and his story. As I read the AP article, I was kind of befuddled because I would have never thought of using AI to match a child with a foster home, but it turns out that several states have made varying attempts to utilize this program to match children in state custody with potential foster and adoptive families. I do get it that underfunded state agencies for children desperately need every possible tool as they seek to permanently place children in healthy families. But even though many state legislators refuse to adequately fund state children’s services agencies-it is still surprising that that this type of tool ever became mainstream. Romantic partner relationships and adoptive family relationships are, of course, fundamentally different. While it is important to take risks and try new initiatives, it is best practice to attempt small pilot studies to assess effectiveness rather than diving in the deep end as some states have reportedly done with this untested program. There’s a link in the episode notes to the AP story if you wish to read it first hand.
Here's the thing that I find concerning about using any algorithm, even one that may have matched lifetime partners. As I mentioned, there are many issues associated with trauma and the life of transience for children in state care that no algorithm can take into account. This was the case with Caleb- he had come from a gloomy, relationship deficient and economically disadvantaged background. You see what happened is that Chelle and Caleb’s case manager worked together to make sure that connecting, trusting relationships were developed between Caleb and his foster parents. This foster and eventually adoptive family worked because the foster parents were persistent, engaging and nonjudgmental. I’m not sure that any algorithm could have found that connection because it was this couple’s internal traits that made this adoption work-not the types of traits that a computer can quantify. An urban kid who is taken from his grandmother and taken to live with a rural couple where every day they would go fishing or hiking, and spend time doing chores on a mini farm sounds more like the beginning of a dark, scary fairy tale-not a successful adoption. Instead Chelle knew that this couple could and would take the time not only to keep Caleb, safe, active and engaged-but also to use these internal assets to develop a familial relationship.
The AP story indicates that at least, so far, this algorithm and software has been generally unsuccessful. This does not surprise me because as Caleb’s story illustrates in foster care and adoption, just like in teaching, it is the quality of relationships that matter. Nothing can replace a mentoring relationship developed by persistent, trustworthy, and caring adults no matter the context.
This story is true, although pseudonyms were used in place of real names.
The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast is brought to you as a service of Oncourse Education Solutions. If you would like to learn more about how we partner with schools and youth organizations strengthening learning cultures and developing more resilient youth, please visit our website at w w w dot oncoursesolutions dot net.
This has been episode 12 of the 2023 season. If you enjoy this podcast, please tell your friends and colleagues about us, in person and on social media. We also greatly appreciate positive reviews on your favorite podcast app. The Thoughtful Teacher Podcast is a production of Oncourse Education Solutions LLC, Scott Lee executive producer, in partnership with Chattanooga Podcast Studios. We encourage diverse opinions, however, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of producer, partners or underwriters. Episode notes, links and transcripts are available at our website w w w dot thoughtfulteacherpodcast dot com. Theme music is composed and performed by Audio Coffee. Please follow me on social media, my handle on Instagram and Twitter is @drrscottlee and on Mastodon @drrscottlee@universedon.com
