Your editorial which spoke of HRS's "cruel reunification policy" distorts HRS's most fundamental purpose by charging that family reunification forfeits the needs of the child. On the contrary, the family preservation philosophy is built upon the recognition that the best interest of the child is served by preserving, whenever possible, familial bonds.
Child welfare policy is driven, in large part, by federal statute. The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act was enacted in 1980. It requires states to implement a service program to reunify children with their parents. Before foster care can be considered by the court, all reasonable efforts to prevent removal must be exhausted. Both state and federal laws provide that children are to be removed only when they are in imminent danger of illness or injury. Once the problem that necessitated the removal is remedied, children are to be returned home.
Obviously, this does not mean that caseworkers should ignore the signs of abuse and neglect and allow children to remain in danger. But they begin by utilizing all resources available to a family, when appropriate, to ensure that a child can remain safely in his or her own home.
What to do when families fail to adequately care for their children is a complex problem. To contend that out-of-home placement is the only solution represents simplistic, short-sighted thinking and fails to take into account not only the shortage of available foster home, but, more importantly, the long-term damage caused by the trauma of separating children from their families. Family connections provide children with a foundation of security and identity, without which they feel alienated and unworthy.
While removal of children is sometimes necessary, placement in foster homes is far from a panacea. Foster care is, at best, an imperfect substitute for the child's biological family. At worst, children who have suffered the trauma of separation from their families exhibit difficulties in bonding that can last a lifetime. Multiple placements cause devastating emotional injury and leave children with even less capacity to adjust and trust.