How could the overturning of Roe v. Wade impact the North Carolina foster care system?

As the nation faces the overturning of Roe v. Wade, an already stressed child welfare system is bracing for impact.

Across North Carolina during the 2020-21 fiscal year, 4,544 children entered the care of Child Welfare Custody, according to the UNC School of Social Work. Of those, 38% went to foster care, with most of the children still in the system.

The National Foster Youth Institute says the current strain on the foster care system is evident. The Institute adds that while adoption has long been championed as a positive alternative to abortion, the lifelong effect the foster care system has on children is bleak.

Across the country, foster care advocates and experts agree that systems are overwhelmed by the number of children in their care.

In some states, children are bedding down in hotels. In others, they are cycled from bed to bed in temporary homes, leaving them with little sense of stability. While adoption is an option, the Institute estimates as many as one in four adoptions fail, in which an adoptive family returns a child to the foster care system.

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Foster care in Cumberland County

Locally, there are nearly 700 children under the age of 18 in foster care, according to Cumberland County Department of Social Services data.

“Our mission is to provide services to reunify families while balancing the child’s need for safety, permanency and well-being. We strive to provide family-centered services that are time-limited and goal-oriented so that children may grow up in an environment where they not only survive but thrive,” Department of Social Services Director Heather Skeens said via email.

In the last fiscal year, which started July 1, 2021, and ended June 30, 2022, nearly 150 children under the age of 18 and 15 adults entered the foster care system, according to Cumberland County Department of Social Services data.

Between July 2017 and June 2020, children spent on average nearly 615 days in the foster care system, according to Cumberland County Department of Social Services data.

On average nationally, children spend two years in the foster care system.

The foster care system cost Cumberland County nearly $3.5 million last fiscal year, Skeens said.

“We are always looking for foster parents, especially those that would like to parent our teens. CCDSS has participated in radio spots on WIDU and Beasley Broadcast to educate the public. The public can call the new recruitment line at 910-677-2551 and staff person will reach out and address any inquiry ... We will begin information sessions for interest in fostering again in September 2022,” Skeens said.

During the 2020-2021 fiscal year, a little more than 400 children under the age of 18 entered the foster care system, and nearly 270 of those children are still in foster care, Skeens said.

“CCDSS is continuously looking at internal operations in an effort to provide the best services to children and families. CCDSS has engaged our partners with mental health, the judicial system as well as NCDHHS in an effort to improve outcomes for our children,” Skeens said.

Abortion's impact on care

Experts also say anti-abortion legislation shows negative effects on the foster care system.

A 2008 Duke University study showed that in the years after Roe was passed, regions with more restrictive anti-abortion legislation, like parental consent laws for instance, resulted in more children born into families who could not care for them.

Another more recent study from 2017 found that while most people would choose to attempt to raise their child if they did not have access to abortion, an estimated 9% would put their child up for adoption.

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Roughly translated, that means that if the 29,500 abortions performed in North Carolina in 2017 were carried to term, an estimated 2,600 additional children would be placed for adoption that year. Those figures come from the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research organization that was once part of Planned Parenthood.

Foster care is also far from an ideal situation for any child, the National Foster Child Institute says. People who spend time in the foster care system frequently experience long-term effects. Only 55% graduate from high school, around half experience homelessness and 30% have higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the National Foster Youth Institute.

Additionally, fostered youth are more likely to be sex trafficked. They experience teen pregnancy at twice the rate of the general population, according to the Institute, creating a cycle of children likely to enter the foster care system.

Despite the Roe decision released last week, abortion is still legal in North Carolina.

Political pundits say it is unlikely the General Assembly will consider making a ruling on abortion rights in the state during its short session because Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper would likely veto the ruling, and Republicans do not have a supermajority to overturn a veto from the governor.

Wilmington StarNews Reporter Sydney Hoover can be reached at 910-343-2339 or shoover@gannett.com.

Fayetteville Observer reporter Jasmine Castrellon contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Roe v. Wade: How its overturn could impact state's foster care system