Milwaukee County is home to the largest number of foster children in Wisconsin, but it doesn't have enough foster homes to ensure children are kept in their communities. That's why children are sometimes placed far from their neighborhoods, schools and support systems, which can add to the trauma of being removed from their families.
One in three children entering foster care are placed more than 20 miles from their home. Advocates like Teresa Cocker say increasing the number of foster homes in Milwaukee could help keep children connected to their communities and reduce the long-term impacts of displacement. Cocker is the chief community programs officer at Norris, a local trauma informed youth care facility. She discussed the current state of the foster care system.
How would you describe the state of the foster care system in Milwaukee?
What I would say is that there is a huge need for foster parents in the state of Wisconsin and specifically in Milwaukee County. Norris is a private organization, and we receive referrals for children who need foster care placements from across the entire state. Out of all of the referrals we receive, about 70% come from Milwaukee. That is about 70 kids per month.
How has that changed in recent years?
As a private organization that licenses level 3 therapeutic foster care parents, we have seen the trends maintain over the past several years. On average, we receive about 100 referrals a month for children needing placement, and that has remained steady.
What we are seeing is that the needs of the kids that are being referred to our programs are increasing. So, there are more kids who are experiencing mental health challenges, behavioral challenges, struggling with alcohol and drugs, and those are kids who are needing placement.
You mentioned level 3 — can you describe some of the distinctions between levels?
In the state of Wisconsin, there is a level system for licensing foster parents, and most children are placed in levels 1 through 3. Level 1 licensing is child specific, so that would be a family friend or a relative who is interested in helping out a specific child.
Level 2 foster care is general foster care and counties across the state license level 2 foster parents. They don't necessarily have to have experience in parenting. They will receive some training and some support, and they will receive referrals for placement from those counties. Level 3 foster care is therapeutic or treatment foster care and private agencies across the state license Level 3 parents.
What are the biggest challenges facing foster families, caseworkers and children today?
I think the biggest challenges are finding resources to support stability for kids, whether that is in their foster homes or to be reunified with their families. There are challenges in finding therapists, in providing services which could be mentoring for kids or crisis mentoring for kids. It is a challenge because those resources aren't necessarily available.
You mentioned the importance of reuniting children with their families. What is the success rate of that locally and how does that compare nationwide?
The primary goal the majority of the time is to reunify them with their birth families. We know that that's when kids succeed and do their best. In Wisconsin and across the nation, around 60-65% of children are reunified with their birth families.
How can people help?
They can contact us at Norris, so our website is norriscenter.org. We also have a phone number which is 262-222-2000. We also have an e-mail tfc@norriscenter.org.
We can talk about different ways to support. It could be applying to become a foster parent yourself. It could be applying to be a respite foster parent. We also are always looking for people to help us recruit. So, you might not be interested or able to foster, but you might know someone who is. So, sharing our information on social media, being open to partner with us to host events and to share information. There’s a variety of ways people can help and we're happy to meet people where they're at.
