KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A new program in Jackson County is helping speed up the process to reunite families in the foster care system so they don't miss key moments in their child's life.
"These are babies and they deserve to be with their parents if at all possible," attorney Laurie Snell said.
For more than two decades, Snell has represented parents with kids that been placed in foster care for a variety reasons.
"One of my clients was losing her housing in an eviction situation and the [Children's Division Child Abuse and Neglect] hot line came in," Snell said.
According to 2017 data from the Jackson County Family Court Division, babies in Jackson County spend on average 23-months in foster care before he or she is reunited with the birth parents or put in another permanent home.
"They miss huge milestone for these kids - when they start walking and when they start talking - because of how slow the system works," Snell said.
The new initiative, called "Cradles to Crayons," is tackling the problem with two goals.
"Reducing the amount of time for those kids who are in foster care and increasing the number of those cases where reunification is really a viable goal and actually happens," Judge J. Dale Youngs, the Family Court Administrative judge, said.
The program employs three full-time employees who guide parents to the services they need, hoping that a decision regarding their child's future is made sooner.
"If a permanency and protection officer needs to, they will get on the bus and ride to the treatment facility with the parent to help them understand how they navigate public transportation if necessary and help them just walk in the door," Dr. Pamela Behle, director of assessment and development services at family court, said. "I think sometimes services are intimating to parents."
Fifteen families are receiving help through the program, which began at the start of this year.
"These are temporary problems and mistakes that people have made and what we ultimately want to see families do is reunite with their children stronger and better able to be effective parents," said Behle.
As of Thursday, the program has assisted two of the 15 families resolve their cases that ended with a dismissal.
