Beebe: Foster parents needed
Posted on Saturday, October 4, 2008
Gov. Mike Beebe said Friday that the state needs more foster parents and he’s reconsidering his previous support for the state’s 3-year-old practice of barring unmarried cohabiting couples from being foster parents.
The state Department of Human Services ban has existed since February 2005, but now the department has proposed making its practice a formal policy. At a hearing on the proposal Thursday, 18 of the 20 witnesses opposed the ban.
A decision on the policy will be made shortly after the public-comment period ends Oct. 18, a state official said.
Speaking on his monthly radio show, Beebe said Friday the current practice was put into place by the administration of his predecessor, Gov. Mike Huckabee.
“It is my belief now and it is my belief going forward, unless something comes forward that changes my mind, that the ultimate test is what is in the best interest of the child,” he said. “What is in the best interest of the child can vary from case to case.
“ After I read what everybody has said [Thursday ] I expect there will be forthcoming in the next few days some positive discussions about what we need to do.... We need more foster parents, not less foster parents, but whoever we get as a foster parent the ultimate test has to be what’s in the best interest of the child.” Beebe also reiterated his opposition to the Family Council Action Committee’s proposed initiated act on the Nov. 4 ballot. It would bar unmarried cohabiting couples from either adopting or fostering children. He previously had said it “goes too far.” Last October, Beebe told reporters that the proposed act as it would apply to foster care “is in today’s society currently in the best interest of the child.
“ I think it’s a totally different rule for adoptions,” he said back then.
Beebe said in an interview Friday that he drew that distinction because of the “fragile nature” of foster children. He said he’s always indicated that adoptions should be decided based on the best interest of the child case-by-case.
As for reconsidering his previous support for the ban on unmarried cohabiting couples from being foster parents, Beebe said, “The test won’t change. It will still be what’s in the best interest of the child. The question is should you have a blanket policy on foster care or should you be able to decide that on a case-by-case basis with certain guidelines ?” Among other things, the lack of foster parents has caused him to review his previous support for the ban, Beebe said.
Currently on any given day, about 3, 700 foster children are in state custody with roughly 1, 100 foster homes.
The ban was set out in a department directive after a similar state ban against homosexuals was struck down by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox in 2004. Two years later, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld Fox’s ruling.
Jerry Cox, president of the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee, said Friday that it would be a serious mistake for the state to discard the ban.
“If the governor makes the best interest of the child the primary consideration, then it is a no brainer that children should not be placed in homes where there is a live-in boyfriend or a live-in girlfriend,” he said.
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