A group of Charlotte foster parents has launched a new nonprofit this week, turning years of private frustration into a very public push for change in Mecklenburg County’s foster care system. Their message: the system is moving too slowly, kids are being shuffled around, and the basic safeguards meant to protect them are not always happening on time.
The group says children are bounced between homes and left in legal limbo because of missed case reviews, poor communication and high staff turnover. Co-founder Josclyn Reed, who spent five years trying to adopt her son, helped form the organization with several other foster parents after a string of cases they say exposed serious county oversight failures.
Reed and other organizers allege the county frequently skips or delays required 90-day check-in meetings. They cite examples that include a former foster youth who says he was suddenly removed from a home with no warning and driven away in a police car, and a former youth-and-family-services attorney who described the work environment as “highly dysfunctional,” according to WCNC.
About Path to Permanency
On its website, Path to Permanency says its mission is to shorten the time children spend in foster care so that cases actually meet the timelines required under the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act. The nonprofit also aims to hold county agencies accountable for case deadlines and basic communication.
In its news posts, Path to Permanency describes town halls, “People’s Assemblies” and action teams designed to keep everyone who matters at the same table. The group wants permanency-planning reviews to consistently include social workers, judges, guardians ad litem and foster parents so cases move more quickly toward reunification, guardianship or adoption instead of drifting for years.
Numbers Behind the Push
Organizers and allied advocates point to some worrying local trends to explain why they are ramping up the pressure now. In a November op-ed, the group’s operations manager wrote that foster-parent recruitment in Mecklenburg County has dropped about 22 percent over the past five years, that foster children in the county move on average roughly every 10 months, and that the median time to permanency here is more than two years. They argue those figures show why reform cannot wait. The op-ed was published by Carolina Journal.
Legal Context
Under federal law, the Adoption and Safe Families Act requires states to hold permanency hearings within about 12 months of a child entering foster care and sets additional timelines meant to speed up decisions about long-term placement. Those deadlines and their intent are summarized in reports and guidance from the GAO.
North Carolina court practice materials call for early periodic reviews to help keep cases from stalling out. That includes an initial court review within roughly 75 days of a child’s removal from home and another review about four months later. Advocates say these early check-ins are supposed to keep pressure on everyone involved so that permanency decisions do not drag on indefinitely. Those review timelines are detailed in state court practice guides.
County Response And Next Steps
Mecklenburg County’s public affairs office has not publicly addressed the specific complaints raised by Path to Permanency and other foster parents. A county spokesman told reporters the county had no information to share about the inquiry, according to WCNC.
Path to Permanency says it plans to keep the pressure on. The group will continue hosting public assemblies and says it is targeting the board of county commissioners, local judges and the Department of Social Services for clearer timelines and greater transparency as it builds public momentum for change.
