OLYMPIA — A new survey of foster parents shows mixed success in improving the system, but lawyers for foster kids said some glaring problems support their decision to haul the state back to court.
In the statewide survey released Thursday, foster caregivers said state government still lags far behind its long-held goal of ensuring most foster kids see a caseworker once a month.
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s administration once pledged, for example, that most foster kids would get monthly caseworker visits by October 2005.
But according to the survey conducted earlier this year, fewer than 40 percent of foster kids were getting checkups, seen as crucial in preventing abuse.
Even more troubling, critics of the state said, was that 17 percent of caregivers reported their foster kids hadn’t been seen even once in all of 2006.
The survey is part of the state’s landmark settlement of a lawsuit known as the Braam case, in which 13 foster children sued the state for bouncing them around foster homes without adequate services.
The state settled the suit in 2004 by promising to make dozens of specific improvements.
Foster parents contacted for the survey did point to strengths for the state. More than 88 percent, for example, said they were getting adequate training from the government.
Caregivers also gave the state high marks for treating them with respect, and for providing kids with mental health services in a timely manner.
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