Dorothy Knightly of Nashua, NH In New Hampshire, foster licensing is not required of grandparent's or other family member's. But children are almost NEVER placed with relative's even though the relatives plead to take them. In fact I have never heard of any cases where the child was placed with family. CPS lies in court and tell's the Judge there were no relatives willing to take them.
If the relatives fight CPS and the court to prove the innocence of the child's parent's, they never see these children, never mind get custody. The corrupt CPS and the court will not return the child, no matter what, even though it's been proven that the child was taken under false allegation's and kept from the family by the deceitful practices of CPS. In N.H., Kinship Care is NOT an option. Incentive money mean's more to CPS than the best interest's of a child.report abuse

Rick of Winslow, ME There's a reason for this that most people are unaware of. For each foster child in 'the system' the State receives 'X' dollars from the Federal Government for the care of that child. Some of the money goes to the foster parents, some goes to pay for the case workers who have to visit these families on a regular basis, and some goes to the Social Services agency to pay for the staff that oversees the entire program.

If kids were given directly to relatives, they receive no money and the State loses that funding. I suspect there are lobbyists involved also - but it's a rather lucrative money-maker for the State from the federal government.

By making relatives register as foster parents (which isn't done in all States but apparently in Maine according to soxprincess) then the State will receive the federal funds.report abuse

cookiecrumb of Earth, OTHER In Utah the grandparents are granted custody of their grandchild without needing to get a foster care license. I know this because I live in senior housing and we have 2 sets of grandparents raising their grandchildren in 2 bedroom apartments. The summer is the worst because those of us who don't have children in our homes can't use the pool because the kids are in it from open til close. So much for 'senior housing'report abuse

SoxPrincess of Augusta, ME I have been a child protective caseworker for the state for some time now. When the state takes custody of a child, our number one priority is to place with family if possible. Family is looked into extensively, including criminal background checks, DMV checks and child protective history checks. There are interviews and the home is assessed. We also require any family member that we place a child with to go through the foster parent licensing process. If there is no appropriate family then, yes, foster homes are used for the placement of the children. It is always our goal to be able to place with a family member to keep the trauma of being removed from biological parents as low as possible. I hope this answer sheds some light.report abuse