What happens when foster parents don't want to give up the child in their care? ProPublica goes inside the personal struggles that families with children or grandchildren in foster care have had trying to get their loved ones back. While foster care has traditionally aimed to unite children back with their birth families whenever possible, a new strategy called "foster parent intervening" has turned this notion on its head in a few states. The story highlights the case of Alicia Johansen and Fred Thornton of Colorado, whose newborn son was taken into custody in 2019 when he was born prematurely. Johansen, a meth user who didn't know she was pregnant until six months in, delivered her baby about 10 weeks early, when he weighed only 2.5 pounds. That wake-up call forced the new parents to do everything necessary to get their child back.
But despite meeting all requirements, including getting sober, finding jobs, and fixing their home, they were told the foster parents filed a motion to keep him, and their fitness as parents was again under review. The article details fostering-to-adopt as a growing trend because it's much harder to adopt today, with stricter rules in place for foreign adoption (down to 1,500 last year from 23,000 in 2004), as well as fewer children entering the system. In the end, Johansen and Thornton won their three-year fight to regain custody, but others aren't so lucky. One key to their success: They revealed their small local county had spent more than $310,000 on consultants, testing, and such, all part of efforts "to keep them from their child." The county's director of the Department of Human Services resigned. Read the full story here. (Or check out other Longforms.)
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