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United for Families, Foster Parent Mentor Program, Children's services Advisory Committee B. PROGRAM NEED STATEMENT (Entire Section B not to exceed one page) 1 . a) What is the unacceptable condition requiring change? b) Who has the need? c) Where do they live? d) Provide local, state, or national trend data, with reference source, that corroborates that this is an area of need. A lack of support services threatens the stability of the foster care system because foster parents who do not feel supported are more likely to quit. UFF strongly believes that in-home support dedicated to the needs of foster parents is the best way to improve foster parent retention. An efficient child-welfare system that provides safe and temporary shelter to children for the least amount of time necessary depends on its ability to successfully recruit and retain foster parents. We currently license23 foster homes in Indian River County, of which 19 actively take children. Of those active homes, 14 are at or above capacity, meaning we cannot use those homes to place other children. Because only 22 percent of Indian River County homes currently have beds available, 30 percent (47) of Indian River County children who have been removed from their homes live in shelters or in other parts of the state. Not only does this remove a child from familiar settings, it also hinders the reunification process and lowers the probability that the child will return home, (Petr and Entriken, 1995, Service System Barriers to Reunification, Families in Society, 76(9) 523-533). d The No. 1 reason that caregivers leave foster care is lack of support, according to the 2002 National Conference of State Legislators report, Supporting and Retaining Foster Parents. The same report specified the type of support needed as "support from child welfare agency, including adequate supervision, monitoring and consultation, as well as support from a network of other foster parents." These trends are reflected in local exit interviews of former foster parents. An evaluation of 2005 re-licensing data suggests nearly 34 percent of UFF foster parents who did not renew their license opted out of the system due to a lack of support. Lack of support is exacerbated by a poor financial outlook among foster parents, whose mean annual household income is $37,429 (state average is $38, 819). The average foster home in Florida receives about $369 a month to care for a foster child, making Indian River County foster parents among the least reimbursed in the nation. According to a May 2004 USDA report, "Expenditures on Children by Families; 2003 ," childcare costs for a three-child home with teen- agers equal about $23 ,640 annually. That cost, when divided per child over 12 months, is $657 a month, or $288 more than the stipend Florida foster parents receive to care for a child. The need for better foster-parent support exists throughout the state, and at least two other districts — including the Daytona and Lakeland areas — have implemented similar mentor programs to address it. 2. a) Identify similar programs that are currently serving the needs of your targeted population; b) Explain how these existing programs are under-serving the targeted population of your program. UFF contracts case management services to Children' s Home Society and Family Preservation Services. Both agencies indirectly serve foster parents through the case- management of children on their caseloads . The needs of foster parents, however, often go unaddressed in the daily struggle to deal with child-related issues. Hibiscus Children' s Center also serves foster parents through UFF recruitment and training program. These services, however, end once the foster parent is licensed. 2