The March North Quabbin Community Coalition forum featured a discussion around the issue of foster care for children. For over two years, the North Quabbin community has been working with state agencies to look at the issue and the impact of foster care on schools and town services as well as the impact on families. The group has included representatives from both Athol and Orange Town leadership, schools districts, the Department of Social Services, the Department of Youth Services, privately contracted providers of care, social service groups and lead agency representatives. The issue of foster care is vastly complex and often misunderstood. The North Quabbin region has taken a different approach than many parts of the state in that the philosophy has been more clearly defined. The goal is to maintain local connections for children in need of care whenever possible to do so. By placing children within their home community, reunification and meaningful connections are not disrupted.

     Foster care is a necessity for some families who through a variety of circumstances are unable to care for their children safely at home. There are many different types of placements available and are fluid depending on the needs of each individual child. Children are first placed within a kinship home or a family member when available. In some cases foster care may be in a child-specific placement or a home in which a relationship previously exists. Some children are placed in unrestricted foster homes managed by the Department of Social Services and others  with a higher level of need are placed in Intensive Foster Care homes which are managed by privately contracted agencies.

     The North Quabbin has made a commitment to improving the system of care for all of our children and communication has been identified as a critical component of this systems change model. Quality care for children cannot occur within a vacuum and the whole community must be involved in order to create a system that meets the needs of all families and institutions. It truly does “take a village” to raise healthy kids and the North Quabbin region is once again at the cutting edge of developing an innovative approach within a very complex and difficult system.