LeslieS of Freeport, ME As one who is raising grandchildren, please let me emphatically state that in many cases the apple DOES fall far from the tree. There are cases in which DHHS takes custody BECAUSE family have called in a report. sometimes it is necessary to involve the state, like it or not, because the parent won't relinquish the child to a fit caregiver.
All "sides"--DHHS, foster parents & kin providers have the few & far between horror stories such as kals, above. But thankfully it is not the norm.
As to the absence of a safety plan not being in place as the reason a child enters custody--a safety plan was offered to me. I declined it, not due to money, but due to needing the case management services DHHS provides to kids in their care.
I also wanted to make sure the parental visits were supervised by someone other than me, and I hate to say it, but let DHHS be the "bad guys" who are making the decisions regarding my grandchild when I am given flack by others in the family as to the arrangements made.
It is not easy to take on a child(ren) who have been abused and/or neglected by their parents, especially later on in life. I appreciate all the help given by the DHHS case worker involved. Jumper is absolutely correct, DHHS does work hard to place a child with relatives as appropriate.report abuse

Rick of Winslow, ME I'm not refering to how it's done in Maine as my experience had to do while living in Virginia where, if a child is placed with relatives rather than the foster care system, relatives don't receive the $480 or so monthly that foster parents get. I understand that in Maine, when kids are placed with relatives, that the State requires the relatives to obtain a foster care license, thus ensuring that federal funds come into the State for the care.

In my own experience, rather than having the State involved (which I could have done and received a monthly check) we opted to go to court, obtain legal custody, and were able to live as a 'normal' family. Not all situations are the same and mine involved the death of the parent rather than a child being removed from an abusive home. My point, that the State receives money for each child in 'the system' stands.report abuse

Flatbusted Broke of Randolph, ME Uh, no Rick. I have to chime in with kal on this one. These kids are taken into custody because of their family situations and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.report abuse

kal of Staten Island, NY Not in all cases, as I am sure there are grandparents and other family members that would be great caregivers, but in many, the reason the child is in state custody in the first place is because of "lack of family values" that have gone on for generations. As a former foster parent to one child for close to 8 years, it became a nightmare with the biological family fighting to have the child live with them. In fact I saw this family enabling the parent by rushing to the home to fill the refrigerator with food, doing laundry, cleaning etc before DHS would come to do a home visit. They also hid facts from DHS on very obvious dangerous situations so that they wouldn't remove the children from the mother. It delayed the removal from the parent but it did eventually happen. Then the family began making up lies about us as a foster family just so they could get the State to move the child in with them, after 8 years the State did place him with family. The family thus didn't follow DHS orders, let the child visit his mom etc. This became a nightmare as the child didn't get along with the first family member and after just over a year they moved him in with another--this didn't work either. He then ran away and at 16 was homeless, lived on the streets for 2 years, is now 18, didn't graduate from high school and has a child. In this case if the family members had let DHS do their work and hadn't interfered with the foster family this child might have stood a chance of becoming a productive citizen. I do believe children should be placed with family members if it is in their best interest and that caseworkers work hard to make this happen. Just wish they hadn't fallen for the "family" in our case.report abuse