Agencies try to recruit foster families as number of kids needing homes grows

Edgewood’s John and Robin Tiller took in two foster children in January 2021 — brothers who were 6 and 4 years old. After the boys spent a weekend with the family, they did not want to leave, Robin said.

The couple described the years with the boys as a great joy.

“We love them, and they love us,” John said. “It keeps me young taking them to football games and running around in the grass. We show them so much love because they need love. I hope other people feel and think that way.”

As Harford County faces a crisis trying to find homes for foster children, county social services and two nonprofits hope that efforts like the Tillers telling their story will bring in more volunteers.

There are more than 200 foster children in Harford County, and about 80 foster homes that work with Harford County’s Department of Social Services, according to county social worker Michelle Darling.

As of this year, The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region and Arrow Child & Family Ministries are the only two private foster care agencies in Harford County. The ARC NCR works with 16 foster care families but lost 17 in the past three years. Arrow Child & Family Ministries worked with 53 foster families in 2022, however that number dropped to 46 this year, according to ministries’ program assistant Erica Biglen.

“In the last five years, we have lost 15 private agencies, which is massive. Catholic Charities used to be a huge approving agency for foster homes all across the Baltimore Metro Area,” said Darling. “They closed up shop seven years ago.”

The Tillers started the process of becoming foster parents 30 years ago when their children were small.

“I just had the heart to help, and I always wanted to get involved,” said Robin, 58.

However, after the family moved and Robin started a new job, the couple decided the time was not right to be foster parents. Their desire returned in 2021 when John, 60, saw their neighbor interacting with their foster child.

“I saw how she showed the child love and thought, ‘That’s just great,’” John said.

The Tillers started the foster care process again in November 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. They were certified by The Arc NCR.

“Everything was online,” said Robin. “It wasn’t hard at all. I think we were done with the process in two months.”

But unlike the Tillers’ experience, the process of becoming foster parents can be tedious and rough for others.

“The problem that we have in Maryland is that the regulations in order to be approved as a foster family have become so stringent that a lot of private companies are closing up shop,” Darling said.

In 2018, Congress approved, and President Donald Trump signed the Family First Prevention Services Act establishing guidelines to change child welfare systems across the country. In 2019, Maryland legislators passed the Family First Act, in line with the federal action.

The legislation’s purpose was to turn the focus of the child welfare system toward keeping children safely with their families by providing greater access to mental health services, substance use treatment, and parenting skills courses to avoid the trauma that results when children are placed in out-of-home care, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services site.

“They wanted to make it easier for families to step up for the kids,” Darling said. "Now, if a grandparent needs to take care of their grandchild, if they want to receive the same benefit as approved foster families like stipends, they have to go through the same process that everyone else has to go through.

“Most of the regulations that came from the Family First Act totally make sense, like background checks and making sure no one’s on the sex offender registry, but then there are some things that make you go ‘Should this really be required?’” she said

At the time of passage, some of Darling’s approved foster families had to be re-approved. The ongoing difficulties of finding families also are affecting private foster care agencies, said Steven Acerno, The Arc Northern Chesapeake Region’s director of treatment.

“There are programs that are closing because either they do not have enough staff or they don’t have enough foster families,” said Acerno. “So, when that happens the resources that the state has shrink.”

Darling noted that other jurisdictions, such as Baltimore County, are also facing a shortage of foster care homes. That county, she said, has about 600 children in foster care and only 127 foster care homes working with social services. However, the number of foster homes in Harford County is dwindling, and the number of children who need foster homes is not.

“This is probably the reality for more jurisdictions,” said Darling. “It tends to be a third of children in care being able to have a foster placement.”

Of the more than 200 foster children in Harford County, 64 were sent out of the county and the state. Harford County’s Department of Social Services has placed children in Baltimore and Cecil counties, Baltimore city and the Eastern Shore.

“Some of the children were sent to live with family out of the county,” said Darling. “We always try find a home in the county. If we don’t have any viable agency foster homes, which is what the social services are, we then look at private homes. If they don’t have anyone, then we have to look outside of the county. We have been very fortunate that we haven’t had too many situations where we’ve had children in hotels and overnight stays in hospitals.”

Children between the ages of 13 and 18 are more likely to be without a foster home to go to, according to Darling. Of the more than 200 children in foster care in the county, 99 are teenagers and 45 are younger than 13 years old.

“We have a really horrendous time trying to find a family to foster the older youth,” said Darling. “There’s a huge need. Most people want the babies.”

In the Tillers’ case, the brothers in foster care were able to stay together. But that’s not always the case.

Most of the children that The Arc NCR work with have separation issues. For some, it’s hard being apart from their parents, but for most it’s harder being away from their siblings, Acerno said.

“Sometimes sibling relationships are more powerful than the relationship with the parents or guardians,” Acerno said. “There’s a wide range of mental health concerns that can come out of being separated from family members, including acting out in school or at home. If we can keep the siblings together, we have to help because of those issues.”