Resource Limitations
Most public agency staff are expected to do far too much with way too little.
Professionals and bureaucrats alone have not been able to solve the problems facing our foster care families and children. Family foster care must be: (1) tailored to the individual needs of children and their families, (2) rooted in the child’s community or neighborhood, (3) sensitive to cultural differences, and (4) able to serve many of the children now placed in group homes and institutions. This paper outlines how to achieve these goals with help from people at the local, neighborhood level.
Professionals and bureaucrats alone have not been able to solve problems facing our child welfare families. We must include more people, more skills and more resolve at more levels if we are going to make a true difference. That’s why forging partnerships with natural helpers at the neighborhood level may help professionals turn the tide.