Episode 70: Preventing Placement Disruptions

In foster care settings, small moments of instability, such as minor disagreements or misunderstandings, can escalate into greater conflicts that may result in calls to law enforcement or threaten placement stability. During these moments, children, youth, or caregivers may not have the resources to de-escalate these situations and avoid placement disruptions either because they lack the access or fail to qualify for eligibility or meet resource requirements.

This episode features a conversation surrounding the California Family Urgent Response System (FURS)—a coordinated statewide, regional, and county-level system designed to provide collaborative and timely phone-based State-level response and a county-level in-home, in-person mobile response during situations of instability—to preserve the relationship of the caregiver and the child or youth. The intention of FURS is to provide current and former foster youth and their caregivers with immediate, trauma-informed support when they need it and reduce hospitalizations, law enforcement contacts, and placement in out-of-home facilities.

The following individuals are featured in this episode:

• Lori Fuller, chief, Permanency Policy Bureau, California Department of Social Services
• Jennifer Snarr, staff services manager, Permanency Policy Bureau, California Department of Social Services
• Diana Boyer, director of policy for older adults and child welfare services, County Welfare Directors Association of California
• Jessica Haspel, associate director of child welfare policy, Children Now

Topics discussed include the following:

• How the State passed legislation to fund FURS
• What the requirements were for county in-person response teams
• How a live response and a "warm handoff" between State and county responders is important
• How FURS maintains family (or youth) centered responses