In North Carolina, the average rate of entry into foster care each year is 2.4 per 1,000 children. As of 2022, there were 10,246 children in foster care in North Carolina. There were 5,436 licensed foster homes and 102 congregate care providers, but this does not mean that those homes had space for new children. Many of these children who are entering foster care do not have a placement option when they arrive in care, many spend multiple nights in the county agency sleeping on a cot in an uninviting room supervised by social workers. This is a disservice to the children we are removing from their family and homes to move them to DSS where they sleep on the floor, which may make them feel even more like they have no home.

This is one of the many reasons why social workers are facing burn out. Children are not just dropped out at DSS and have no supervision. Social workers are forced to work overtime and after hours to serve as the caretakers for these children for 24 hours per day. According to the Child Welfare League of America, high caseloads and unmanageable job demands lead to an average turnover rate of 40% in social workers. The CWLA reports that the effect of this turnover on children and families is significant. The more social workers that a child in foster care has assigned to their case during their time in foster care, the less likely they are to achieve permanence. 

Supporting the Foster Care Stabilization Act of 2023 that would make emergency assistance available to foster youth, provide better pre-placement services, along with increased access to necessary resources and services for foster care youth. These resources and services would help decrease the number of foster care youth that are sleeping over in DSS, while simultaneously fighting against social worker burnout. 

We are calling on you as leaders who hold the power to better the circumstances of these already traumatized youth. You may change the trajectory of a child's future by supporting the Foster Care Stabilization Act of 2023.