Support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, The Arkansas Times and KUARFM 89.

Hello and welcome to Arkansas week.

I'm your host, dawn Scott.

Good to be here with all of you today, a topic tonight very close to my heart.

On February 28th, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced an initiative aimed at increasing the number of foster care parents in the state of Arkansas every child.

Arkansas is a collaboration that includes public and private organizations.

And it's designed to streamline the process for foster care and adoption.

We will be talking with those leading this very ambitious effort.

But first, here are some thoughts from state foster parents.

They started calling me Mom.

I never made them, but they just started calling me mom right away.

And it was just like, okay, I'm a mom now, little like I'm a mom now.

And and I would be like.

It it really is fun.

It's fun to play house, it's fun to babysit.

But you're not calling to babysit.

Foster care is you're calling to be the parents of children who do not want to you to be the mom.

And we had a placement that was at the boys and Girls Club and the Chick Lake cow came to visit the the club and for whatever reason, my child punched the chick Fila cow.

Some of my kids are throwing me through a loop.

It's their second time in care and they've been through this before and that's part of our biggest issues is we were home by now.

What do you mean we're still in foster care?

I'm just here to help and love and heal and be a soft place and a really hard spot for this child.

Foster care is not a permanent solution every the goal of every situation, unless you're adopting, is reunification with the family.

You're not there to fix them.

You're there to help them survive what is arguably the most traumatic experience of their life.

That's your job, is to help them survive that with minimal damage.

And, you know, if you can help them blossom along the way, then that's a bonus.

Real talk there.

They, being children in foster care, do not want you to be their parent.

Yet that's what they're tasked with doing.

So joining me now to talk about every child, Arkansas Christy Putnam, who is the secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

Also Mission Martin, the deputy secretary for youth and Family Services.

And we also have in studio with me here a very dear friend in this fight, Christy Irwin, the executive director of the Project 0.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Joining all of us in the state in this fight.

And as one of the parents said, they're the foster parents were here to help love and to help heal in this very, very difficult time.

And Christy, I'd like to start with you, the secretary of the Arkansas Department.

Of Human Services.

I want to know the origins of every child.

Arkansas, where was this born?

How did we organize this, this collaboration?

Don, I appreciate the question, but as you know, I saw them here in January and every time, Arkansas had its origins way before January.

And there's a lot of work that's gone into this effort.

Misha and Christy Irwin have been leading the charge for a very long time.

We did some similar work in Kentucky when I was at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

But to give credit where credit is due and to really give you a great idea of what works been going on with every child in Arkansas before it launched, I'd like to ask Deputy Martin, Michigan, go ahead and talk about the background of this initiative.

Sure.

Thank you so much, secretary.

So this, this initiative really was born out of our partners and big holders and communities.

So our partners that are in this work, whether it's connected, foster Care, Project 0, the call, so many, I can't even begin to name them all.

They came to us and knew that we needed to work together to ensure that we had enough foster parents as well as additional resources and their first, their first focus was how do we get enough foster parents for the children who do come into care.

And so thankfully, it was our community and our partners that worked with children and Family Services.

To start brainstorming me, what does it look like for us to work together to recruit foster parents and ensure there's enough support for the children and families that are served across our state?

So good to see so many come together.

What a followup question to you, Misha.

What is changing from the existing model and what wasn't working there?

Well, for one thing, what what hasn't been working is a consistent message and targeted recruitment.

We have so many great partners across the state who've been trying to help recruit foster families for us, but we needed to come together and put out that message in a unified way and also make it easy, if people are interested in foster care, to know how to become a foster parent.

So prior to every child Arkansas, you might have heard of several organizations that worked in the foster care space that.

That open foster homes, but you didn't even know where to start.

Do I go to children and Family Services?

Do I do I go to find a website for a nonprofit with every child, Arkansas and the initiative to recruit foster parents.

You go to one website, you can put in your ZIP code and you can look at who is working in your community to open you as a foster home.

And you have a selection like you can pick do you want to work with children and Family Services.

Or would you rather work with one of our nonprofit faith-based partners to become an open and licensed foster home?

Well and Christy runs one of the the nonprofit partners, the Project 0 and you are targeting primarily adoptive families to help children find permanency, but you also help.

Identify foster families and guide them through the process as well.

What does that look like today?

Well, you know, we, we do on through our website, we get lots of questions from I think our logistics coordinator said we answered 10,000 inquiries last year about waiting kids and about, you know, the process and so since we don't officially open homes, we are filtering.

Folks to those organizations that do open foster homes and adoptive homes.

And so this gives us the ability to just say go to the every child Arkansas website, enter your ZIP code, and you'll have your choices for how you want to get to become an open and approved adoptive or foster family.

Well, so for anyone watching this Christy Irwin.

And and and they're, they're sitting there thinking, could I, could I do this?

What does it mean to be a foster parent?

What does it look like?

You've been a foster parent.

What is it, what does it look like?

Well I think for me you know my husband and I were foster parents for 19 years and we started in the private sector with an adoption agency and then eventually moved to Arkansas DCFS.

And so for us first and foremost it was a calling and.

I believe that the children that come into foster care often get a bad rap, but the the bottom line is they are precious.

They have come into foster care through no fault of their own, and so we looked at it as our job to welcome them in, love them as if they're our own children while we are working through the process to get them back home.

And so it was, it was, I often say it was the most beautiful and most difficult thing we've ever done.

Well, we heard from one of the parents just a moment ago.

They punched the chickfila cow, and I'm sure you've seen that.

And I think part of this initiative is to also provide some mental health counseling to not only foster parents but also the children in this as well.

Dcfs does a really good job of ensuring that there are therapeutic options for kiddos.

And so I think part of every child Arkansas is just the the the post support the pre and post support training getting folks to understand that you you can't parent a child that comes into foster care like you parent a biological child.

There are things you need to know about trauma and about kiddos that come from hard places and.

You know, they deserve for us to learn those things so that we can help them heal and grow and bloom and become all they were created to be.

Yeah, I want to move to Christy Putnam.

When we're talking about this sort of mental health and these very, very personal challenges, things that that a lot of times our children may not share or they're very personal to them.

How does the state?

In more of a macro role really get in there and help.

Do we have the the ability to do that, do we have the resources really to do that.

So we have resources available and but there are always opportunities to provide more and one of the priorities that I've come in with.

You know, after meeting with staff and after working with folks here on the ground for about 3 months now is we really want to focus on 4 priorities.

One of them is the continuum of behavioral health services available from birth all the way through end of life.

And, you know, really zeroing in on our vulnerable, vulnerable populations and our areas where we need the most help.

One of those areas is in our out of home care realm, where we can maybe provide some additional supports and resources both to the possible families who need the mental health support and services, but also to the children who come into care.

So we so the answer is yes, we do have some resources and we have some very good resources.

We need to build out more supports and we also need to focus on we're seeing children with really higher behavioral health needs more complex cases is what we call them.

But they're children who really need additional supports both while they're in school and when they're in with their foster families and mission.

Martin, I want to talk to you about what what is called the contingent.

So this is something that is a component of this every child Arkansas that is new.

To the state of Arkansas, but the the aim is to recruit more qualified foster families.

Can you explain what the contingent is?

There were some this was done in Oregon, the state of Oregon and I'd like to know more about the results that we're seeing there.

Also with the contingent specifically, well we are so excited about our partnership with the contingent.

It is a company out of Oregon and they worked.

Closely with Oregon's children and Family Services to start recruiting foster families in a different way.

And so they have what they call an air game and a ground game.

And I'm going to talk a little bit about the air game first because the air game is what's new to Arkansas and what we're partnering with.

Well in Oregon in a in a year they had less than 200 increase into foster families.

When they partnered with the contingent they saw an increase of over 2000 increase from families to become foster family.

And what the contingent is partnering with us to do is put out specific messaging.

And again, I'll talk about the air game using social media and other platforms to target people.

And it's a diverse group of people, but it's people that are also like our current foster parents to really do targeted messaging and get the word out into our community about becoming a foster family.

And what that looks like, which we've never done before is.

We're sharing stories of all of our different agencies, success stories.

We're also more importantly sharing some of our kids where they're at kids stories through Project zero.

Of course, we're always want to make sure that our kids stories are confidential, but we're doing it in a way to protect them.

But we're sharing with the community what is happening in their local area and what the need is so that hopefully the word really gets out about what is the foster care system, what is the need.

And doing it in a more targeted way and making sure that we're recruiting the right people.

So, you know, we need a diverse population, but we also need families who are interested in taking our older kids.

And when I say older, I mean like pen and up sibling groups and kids with developmental disabilities.

Those are the kids that really need a family and thrive with the food.

I do want to ask, it's phenomenal of from 200 to 2000 and I hope that happens here.

But I do have to wonder are we able to handle that influx not only financially but also just in terms of training?

Yeah, so I mean we have been preparing with our partners.

Let me also say what I didn't talk about was the grounding though in Arkansas we have had a.

Pretty strong ground game with our partners, meaning boots on the ground grass through recruiting foster family.

So that is a difference between us and Oregon.

So we've had a strong ground game with our nonprofits, but we have been preparing.

So something that we are doing differently that we haven't done in the past is we are partnering with organizations that are what we call private license placement agencies.

Open foster homes and license in.

So for months in preparation of this launch, they've been making sure that they're ready for more increase in trainings and we have as well who ultimately will be responsible for the parents and also the welfare of the children once they start fostering.

I'm assuming it is the state, but we're involving so many people now that I feel like we have to ask.

Well, at the end of the day children and Family Services is responsible, irresponsible for every child in foster care.

But we are through contracts contracting with private license placement agencies to open and license those foster homes.

So they do answer to the child Welfare Licensing Board, but also answer to our contracted children and Human Services, but at the end of the day DHS children and Family Services.

Is responsible for the care and custody of almost 4200 children in foster care and will remain so.

That's right.

And 4200 seems like such a large number of kids in care.

But when you break it down by the community, by community, it really is possible to find families in each community to support those kids in their communities.

Oh, I agree wholeheartedly.

I do want to ask.

I know part of the this initiative is is aimed to speed up the process to.

I believe I read around two months from the time of interest at the time that they'd be available to accept in children in in Arkansas foster care.

Is there any concern with that timeline?

Are you able to truly vet someone and make sure that these homes and these people are safe for these children?

Well Don, to clarify that timeline, I think the timeline that you saw around the two months is specifically around relatives.

And so in Arkansas, we've been doing a great job of the first placement be with a relative or pictive Ken.

And those homes are initially vetted and then have an ongoing process with specific training.

We do want to make sure that foster homes are open in a time frame that's appropriate for them.

So by the way, some foster parents are not going to want an expeditious process.

They want to kind of soak in and do the training, figure out what's best for their family and their kids.

And we're not going to push them or rush them.

So, but we want to make sure that we have a process that is less bureaucratic red plate and more about focusing on what's needed to make sure that we have safe appropriate homes.

And financially, our state can do this.

Yes, I know there's federal money involved and and do we have state money for this.

So absolutely, we have the money that's needed to make sure that we have foster home first children.

And frankly, it costs the state less money to place kids where they need to be.

So we spend less money when kids are in foster family versus when they're residential.

But we also know it's not about the money, it's about having kids in the right place and kids belong with families.

Any final thoughts from either of you, Misha or Christie Putnam?

So I would just like to invite everybody to go to the every child Arkansas Facebook page and follow it, share it.

You know, this is all about we want to have a family, as Misha said, we want to have a family for every child in care that's appropriate to to go into a family home.

And so with that, Misha, do you have any other thoughts you want to share?

Yeah.

And I just want to play real quickly, even if you've never thought about being a foster parent before.

But everybody always asks me, well, what can I do if I don't want to be a foster parent?

It would be a huge help to us if you like us, follow us and share on Facebook because that that helps more people see the word and see our posting that you might be the one that makes a big difference just by liking our page on social, the every child Arkansas page on social media.

All right.

Christy Putnam, the secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, and Misha Martin, the deputy secretary for Youth and Families.

Thank you both for sharing with us.

We'll be back with more thoughts in just a moment.

If I could have any birthday wish, I would want to forever that, or maybe like maybe two more bubbly dolls.

Just having a family that's going to be there and actually spend time with me and just let me have a family instead of pushing me away would be absolutely amazing.

I want a family who has a.

Sister, about my age, we can like go shopping and stuff a lot, get our hair done in nails and do a lot of fun stuff.

And we are back to continue this conversation on the state of Arkansas, foster care and all of the changes being proposed and being made and.

Christy Irwin is with me in the studio and she's the executive director of the Project 0 and you came to get this name the Project 0 meaning 1 + 1 = 0.

To explain it would be 1 adoptive family with one or a sibling group of children adopted equals zero, meaning one less waiting in the system.

So you you have primarily worked to place children permanently.

But the goal really is always to try to get them back home and and provide a safe space for them in the process where they're figuring out if they can go back home or not.

Absolutely.

I think, you know, just understanding that, you know, foster care and adoption are not how it should be.

I mean, honestly, every child deserves to have the opportunity to grow up in their family of origin, healthy, happy whole.

But we know that that is not always the case.

And you know, it's just gut wrenching to know.

You know on a personal level what our children have been through.

And so when that is not an option, when parental rights are ultimately terminated after every reasonable effort has been made to get kiddos back home, Plan B, which ends up being plan A, is adoption.

And so project Zero's goal is very simple, and that's to have zero children.

Waiting to be adopted in our state.

And so our staff is fighting for that 24/7 because we believe that our kiddos belong in homes and they belong with a family.

And it doesn't take very long, as you well know, because you've met many waiting kids over the course of your career.

It doesn't take long to meet them and to understand how desperately they want a family desperately.

Desperately.

You know, one of the things, it's interesting speaking about this family of origin and wishing for them to be a part of their family origin.

But there's often so much trauma there.

How do we stop that?

That generational trauma that we know now is passed from generation to generation, even if you escape it, right.

Well, it, you know it, it is definitely cyclical and it is, it is, it is profound.

I, you know, one of our foster sons that was in our home 17 years ago.

Went back home to a family of 12 children and to watch to have been a part all these years of his family and the dynamic and the help needed and to watch as as catastrophic things happen because there was no intervention made.

And then on the other hand, you know, we are blessed to have two children that came to our family through adoption.

And to see the difference in their lives, not because we're anything special by any means, but because the cycle was broken and their lives have taken a different trajectory.

And so you know, it's going to take the masses stepping in and what and whether that's foster care, adoption or whether that's just supporting someone that is loving on kids, they they deserve that.

But one of the things that sticks out most to me about this initiative that I actually like the most about this is the idea that truly we're making this available so much easier and for so many people.

Because for so long people would say, oh, I just can't do that or it's just too much or it's too much red tape, or I just don't want to get involved.

But it appears, and I don't know if this is this is true or not.

It appears that this is an effort to truly.

Make it more seamless and easier for all of us in some way to get involved.

I noticed you could even if you just wanted to volunteer and you have volunteers, your organization to help with prom or to give prom dresses or to help with Christmas or just basic things that children don't get.

Absolutely.

And, and I think, you know, on the one side, you know, I've always felt like.

The paperwork was just a very small price for any of us to pay to love on the kids, you know, and.

And so I've kind of had a little bit different thought about that.

But I do believe that getting the word out as you said to the masses so many times people don't help because they don't know what help is needed.

And so to be able to put it out there, yes, we need foster parents, yes we need people to to bake casseroles and stocks and fridges.

And yes we need adoptive parents and we need people to come and play games at events.

Kids and and you know that all of those kinds of things give people options.

Yeah.

Of how they can be involved and how they can help.

Yep.

And everyone has a different gift to give.

And so this kind of opens it to that.

What do you like most about this?

Clearly you support this every child.

Arkansas.

Well, I feel like we're kind a little bit on the periphery because we are, you know, we're not recruiting foster parents, per se.

And so, you know, we can kind of look at it as a whole and I think my friends who are running organizations that are training and supporting Foster and adoptive families, it's really cool to see them all to all of us come together.

It's really cool to see casting visions for what could be, you know, how could we, you know, in our case it's what better post adoptive support can we offer, you know, in other cases it's how can we support foster families in creative ways.

To allow them to stay put and to stay helping and to stay in, in the fight for our kids.

Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's needed and necessary and it does appear to streamline this process in so many ways.

Yes.

And you're partnered with these people already, the DCFS, right, the call and all of the organizations and and I think we're all needed.

Yes, absolutely it is and we have.

You know, we've just had a, a, a, a powerful partnership with Arkansas, DCFS and have worked with adoption staff across the state.

Obviously we're working with every waiting child in the state.

And so to see them, you know, sending messages during the night, you know that, you know, they're heartbroken over something or they're joyful over a child being adopted, it's just really neat to to kind of be a team and this has just made our team bigger.

So to speak.

But who should not apply to foster, in your opinion?

Oh, well, I, you know, I think a lot of people, it's what you said a minute ago that really, really kind of peaked my mind is people saying, well, I'd get too attached, you know.

Well, the bottom line is if you get too attached, you're the perfect person because, you know, these kiddos don't need somebody to just babysit them.

They need someone to just wrap their arms around them and go all in.

With that and so you know I people obviously with a criminal record do not need to apply single people can can Foster and adopt and I think sometimes that's a big question can singles you know anyone.

I believe the age is 21 and over can Foster and adopt.

I think anyone with a big heart absolutely and it's just willing.

You don't have to be wealthy.

You don't have to you know just be willing and and ready to step into it.

Christy, thank you.

This concludes our program tonight and if you're interested in learning more about the collaboration you can go online to every child Arkansas dot ORG.

Thanks for being with us support for Arkansas Week provided by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, The Arkansas Times and KUARFM 89.