Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.
Do you ever feel like you’re on a hamster wheel, just going around and around and never making progress? Sometimes I feel that way as well.
I have been focused on trying to improve the foster care system since I arrived in the Senate. I am not sure we’re making any difference at all. It is so broken that the system may need to be scrapped and just start all over. I keep looking for answers and so far have not located any lasting solutions.
The stories that I hear are heartbreaking. I ache for these poor children and, it appears to me, the situation is getting worse instead of better.
I chair Health Care and Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations. Many services fall under this umbrella. This includes Welfare programs, foster care, early education, etc. Since I have been in the Senate, my passion has been to help these children by improving the system. I have written numerous bills to make changes to the system. Some have passed, others have been stymied by interest groups who want to keep things the way they are. It boggles the mind.
Recently an emergency room doctor made me aware of a foster child who had been in the emergency room for 140 days. There were serious mental health issues. There were no mental health beds available. She was just being housed in the ED while waiting. This is not unusual at all.
Some of these children are foster children, who have been removed from the home, but some have families who just don’t know where to turn. I spoke with a mother who has a 12 year old son who threatens to kill the family members. They would take him to the hospital when severe incidents happened and a few days later, he was back home. The cycle started all over again. I was able to assist this mother to find a longer term facility where he could get the treatment he needed.
When there’s no foster home for children to go to, and there is a tremendous shortage, they sleep in DSS offices or stay in hotels with social workers. Sometimes they stay overnight in police stations waiting for a social worker or family member to show up.
Last year 94 children lived in DSS offices for a period of time. Many children are placed in foster homes in other states. The cost is staggering. One child who is an illegal minor is being housed in another state and it is costing North Carolina tax payers $20,000 per month. This is not the only one. That one just happens to be local. Watch out for many more of these as unaccompanied minors are streaming in over the southern border.
When I talk to the county DSS social workers, it’s even more disturbing. The stories they share are unbelievable. They shared that recently one social worker had her hair pulled out from her scalp by a child. Another was bitten so badly, she had to have surgery. And another had a bookcase turned over on her causing injury. All of this was done by children who have serious mental conditions.
A child was forced to have sex with an animal by the mothers boyfriend, and has developed serious mental issues. The worker could barely tell this story. She was so disturbed. This is the most difficult job in the world performed by these social workers.
The trauma these children have experienced is tragic. They need serious help and the parents and the system have failed them.
My biggest frustration is that children are bounced from foster home to foster home and back and forth to Mom. How many chances should one get to fail their children over and over?
A foster family came to visit me and told me of their experience with a 13 year old girl. She had been in ten (10) foster homes in twenty two (22) months. She was failing in school and it was creating chaos. This family found her a tutor, got her involved in a youth group, loved her and she started doing very well. Social Service came in and removed her from the home. When asked why, they were told “the contract is up with Mecklenburg County.” I was furious. I called DSS and asked for an explanation. The answer is, “I don’t know how that happened. I will see if I can find out.” I still have not received an answer.
I sponsored a bill to expedite permanency and prevent infants from being sent home with mothers who are drug addicted. Currently, they leave the hospital with them in many cases. And the bouncing from place to place begins. Doesn’t this seem like common sense? Well, it was one of the ugliest debates ever to be held on the Senate floor. I was called racist and quite a few other names you don’t want to hear.
The Governor vetoed that bill and the beat goes on. I have filed it again this year and hopefully it will pass. It has been watered down substantially in hopes of passage. I’m hoping that the Governor will accept this one and we can help a few of these babies and children.
Jesus loves the little children. So do I.
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Joyce Krawiec serves in the North Carolina Senate. She represents Davie County and Forsyth County, NC. Christian, wife, mother, small business owner, and conservative.