sws4420
01-10-2007, 06:56 AM
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Albany Shardise McAuthur's mother died in April, Shardise became homeless. She was just 16.
A married sister took her in, but supporting her quickly overwhelmed the family, which takes home less than $500 per week.
As a destitute orphan, Shardise is the responsibility of the state and county, her law guardian, Jaya Connors, said. She accused Albany County of ducking its statutory requirement to support relatives who want to become foster parents.
Officials seemed to hope "that this whole situation would go away," Connors said. Meanwhile, Shardise is left in a sort of legal limbo.
Connors wants Albany County to make Shardise's sister a certified foster parent and reimburse her for room, board and food. The practice, called kinship foster care, is considered useful because it keeps families together and frees up other foster homes for needy children without relatives to care for them.
Shardise's dilemma follows a 2006 court ruling that Albany County improperly refused an aunt seeking foster certification. In that case, a county employee declared "Albany County has never recognized kinship foster care," the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court found. A caseworker told the aunt "there was no such thing" as kinship benefits.
State law requires social service departments to assist relatives to become foster parents. In the McAuthur case, the county "sat on" the family's application, Connors said. A caseworker confirmed she was to the sister's home to either talk them out of kinship care or deny their request, she said.
Actually, Albany County has worked diligently to help Shardise, said Sheila Poole, commissioner of Children, Youth and Families in Albany County. "County staff has been working daily with this family to explore all the options" from food stamps and a subsidized apartment or home to social service benefits.
Many of the Capital Region's 14,000 children who live with grandparents are underserved, advocates say, as social services agencies dodge legal mandates to cut costs.
Critics of kinship care say relatives are harder to supervise than nonfamily foster parents and more apt to expose abused children to their addicted, ill or dysfunctional birth parents.
Of the 90 foster homes now open in Albany County, 12 of those are kinship homes, housing 19 children, Poole said. The county held two kinship certification programs in 2006, Poole said.
Shardise's sister, Brandy McAuthur-Parker, works full time for $22,000 a year and attends college at night. She and her husband are raising an 8-year-old son. Her husband was laid off by Key Bank and took a minimum wage job at Sears.
Shardise, who attends Albany High School, is already getting food stamps and about $100 a month in social services, court records state. As a foster child, her sister would get in the ballpark of $600 a month.
But if Shardise, now 17, went into foster care, state law might force her to leave her sister's home because it lacks an extra bedroom, Poole said. "So it's counterintuitive to think that placing her in foster care is the right solution. We don't want children to enter foster care unless every other alternative has been exhausted. Her sister has done a fabulous job and has stepped up."
Meanwhile, the door to kinship foster care "is never closed," Poole said. "We are in the business of certifying kinship foster families in Albany County."
In December, after Family Court ordered Albany County to respond to McAuthur-Parker's kinship foster request, the county rejected her bid. The family's apartment was too small, with no separate bedroom, which is required by state law, it said.
But the family would have quickly rented a larger place if approved, said Connors, who plans to appeal. "By denying assistance because she does not currently live in a three-bedroom apartment, the department is being shortsighted and not focused on family-centered problem solving."
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=552260&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=1/10/2007
Albany Shardise McAuthur's mother died in April, Shardise became homeless. She was just 16.
A married sister took her in, but supporting her quickly overwhelmed the family, which takes home less than $500 per week.
As a destitute orphan, Shardise is the responsibility of the state and county, her law guardian, Jaya Connors, said. She accused Albany County of ducking its statutory requirement to support relatives who want to become foster parents.
Officials seemed to hope "that this whole situation would go away," Connors said. Meanwhile, Shardise is left in a sort of legal limbo.
Connors wants Albany County to make Shardise's sister a certified foster parent and reimburse her for room, board and food. The practice, called kinship foster care, is considered useful because it keeps families together and frees up other foster homes for needy children without relatives to care for them.
Shardise's dilemma follows a 2006 court ruling that Albany County improperly refused an aunt seeking foster certification. In that case, a county employee declared "Albany County has never recognized kinship foster care," the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court found. A caseworker told the aunt "there was no such thing" as kinship benefits.
State law requires social service departments to assist relatives to become foster parents. In the McAuthur case, the county "sat on" the family's application, Connors said. A caseworker confirmed she was to the sister's home to either talk them out of kinship care or deny their request, she said.
Actually, Albany County has worked diligently to help Shardise, said Sheila Poole, commissioner of Children, Youth and Families in Albany County. "County staff has been working daily with this family to explore all the options" from food stamps and a subsidized apartment or home to social service benefits.
Many of the Capital Region's 14,000 children who live with grandparents are underserved, advocates say, as social services agencies dodge legal mandates to cut costs.
Critics of kinship care say relatives are harder to supervise than nonfamily foster parents and more apt to expose abused children to their addicted, ill or dysfunctional birth parents.
Of the 90 foster homes now open in Albany County, 12 of those are kinship homes, housing 19 children, Poole said. The county held two kinship certification programs in 2006, Poole said.
Shardise's sister, Brandy McAuthur-Parker, works full time for $22,000 a year and attends college at night. She and her husband are raising an 8-year-old son. Her husband was laid off by Key Bank and took a minimum wage job at Sears.
Shardise, who attends Albany High School, is already getting food stamps and about $100 a month in social services, court records state. As a foster child, her sister would get in the ballpark of $600 a month.
But if Shardise, now 17, went into foster care, state law might force her to leave her sister's home because it lacks an extra bedroom, Poole said. "So it's counterintuitive to think that placing her in foster care is the right solution. We don't want children to enter foster care unless every other alternative has been exhausted. Her sister has done a fabulous job and has stepped up."
Meanwhile, the door to kinship foster care "is never closed," Poole said. "We are in the business of certifying kinship foster families in Albany County."
In December, after Family Court ordered Albany County to respond to McAuthur-Parker's kinship foster request, the county rejected her bid. The family's apartment was too small, with no separate bedroom, which is required by state law, it said.
But the family would have quickly rented a larger place if approved, said Connors, who plans to appeal. "By denying assistance because she does not currently live in a three-bedroom apartment, the department is being shortsighted and not focused on family-centered problem solving."
http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=552260&category=REGIONOTHER&BCCode=HOME&newsdate=1/10/2007