By Sarah Gerstenzang and Pat O’Brien
Parents whose children are in foster care face an uphill battle as they work to bring their children home — practically, emotionally and financially. That could change for New York families if legislators act now.
For the past 40 years, federal law has encouraged child welfare and child support enforcement agencies to work together to recover the cost of foster care from children’s parents. Parents whose children are placed in foster care are blindsided by these bills. The charges they are required to pay can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars in monthly fees.
Research shows that there is little relationship between a parent’s annual income and the monthly charges they incur. The unforeseen financial burden endangers the family’s ability to afford essentials such as food or housing, adversely impacting the family’s financial stability and plummeting them deeper into poverty.
In addition to destabilizing the family’s financial situation, research shows that these monthly payments delay reunification. The child’s ability to return home is jeopardized, extending their stay in foster care by an average of over six months. One out of five children will never return home to their families. And the effects for Black families are four times worse.
What happens when parents are unable to make their monthly payments? Their debt rapidly balloons. New York has one of the highest interest rates on child support arrears in the country at 9% per year. And the state spends at least three times more in administrative expenses than it recovers from parents.
New York has made substantial reforms in child welfare over the past decade, and has seen its foster care caseload decline by almost 50%. Efforts to reexamine practices to ensure they help rather than punish families are a central aspect of these reforms. New York City has already adjusted its policy to restrict child support payments for parents whose children are placed in care, and now the rest of the state needs to follow.
The Legislature has an opportunity to support these reform. Recent guidance from the Biden administration is designed to reduce the number of parents referred to child support following a foster care placement. The recommendation encourages states to develop new policies that limit child support collections to only “very rare circumstances.”
Legislation (A4027/S7054) that would significantly reduce the practice of charging parents for foster care deserves lawmakers’ support — because child welfare policies and practices should align with New York’s stated goals: to protect children and support families.
Sarah Gerstenzang is board president of the Adoptive & Foster Family Coalition of New York. Pat O’Brien is the executive director.