What problem does it solve? To decrease physical and emotional damage done to foster care children. What is your solution and who does it apply to? This is NOT an insult to All Foster parents. Many Foster care children in NJ are seriously injured by their foster care parents. Presently in NJ foster care parents are paid $716 a month for board. This money is NOT taxed. In addition, foster parents receive a clothing allowance and foster care children qualify for Medicaid. If the child was receiving free lunch at their school before placement in a foster home, they continue to receive a free lunch at the school they attend as a foster child. My solution is to stop paying foster care parents the $716 a month board. What is the anticipated impact? This will decrease the number of foster parents who become foster parents for the wrong reason, to have extra income. This will help foster care children's safety since there is less incentive for income and a greater chance that the foster care parents are in the program for the right reason: to nurture a child or teen, to provide safety and stability to a young person.
No, I think there will be a decrease because ,ost families use the income to pay for extra activities for the children that they are taking care of.
There are plenty of foster parents that are not in it for the extra income. Living in NJ is already expensive and to ask foster parents to take a youth, often with many needs, into their home and ask them to navigate the system and everything it comes with is a lot. This idea would likely knock out awesome people from becoming a foster parent. It does not seem this idea is informed by a clear understanding of the foster care system, needs of youth in foster care, and basic cost of living.
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