- Foster children are sleeping on cots at social services offices because there aren't enough care homes for them.

That was the headline that shocked North Carolinians last year.

Today, the crisis continues.

In just two years, the number of licensed foster homes in North Carolina dropped by 20%.

We've got over 10,000 kids who need homes, but only about 5,600 licensed foster homes.

If you do the math, it doesn't quite add up.

Now, I know you may be thinking, hasn't it always been tough to find foster parents?

Sure, but not like this, this is different.

So what's changed?

Why is this happening now?

And most importantly, what could we do about it?

I'm David Hurst, this is "ncImpact".

[lively music] Mikaila Hopper was 12 years old when she entered foster care.

Over the next six years, she moved home 23 different times.

- So I think if you take anybody, even an adult, and change their environment constantly, it's an experience that really you can't describe or put into words.

- [David] That was 10 years ago, today, even more children face the same challenges Mikaila did.

Why?

Well, several things happened at once.

Of course, the pandemic changed everything, more kids needed help with mental health.

At the same time, many foster families stopped taking in children.

They're worried about COVID or they struggled with schools being closed.

Now, even though the pandemic has ended, those foster families still haven't come back.

You see, finding childcare is tough, mental health services have long wait lists, and social workers are managing double the recommended caseload.

It's forcing impossible choices about where to place children safely.

- I'll never forget, I was visiting a DSS in a different county and I walked in and they literally were pulling up the cots from the conference room and I thought, "We've gotta do something about this, kids shouldn't have to sleep in a conference room."

- [David] In Gaston County, they're refusing to accept this as the new normal.

- Welcome to the Hummingbird House.

- [David] Susanna Kavanaugh runs the Least of These Carolinas.

Her organization partners with local churches to create something different, The Hummingbird House.

- Let's show you the living room.

- [David] It may look like any other home on the street, but inside, it serves a special purpose.

Here, foster children can stay with their social workers while waiting for placement.

The kitchen stays stocked with food, the bedrooms can house up to five children at once, and most importantly, it feels like a real home.

- For most of these children, chaos is all they've ever known.

- [David] Children can stay here for up to two weeks.

In that time, social workers have a chance to find the right foster home, not just the first available bed.

- And it doesn't only serve the kids, it serves the social workers because they're able to rest and take care of the kids and they don't have to worry about food because we've already taken care of that for them.

- [David] And the organization does more than just provide emergency housing.

- Actually ready to go and that'll probably be picked up tomorrow.

And then this is probably gonna be in someone's living room.

- Wow.

- By the end of the week, being opened up by a really happy kid.

- [David] They're transforming how children enter foster care with something as simple as a bag.

- So usually, typically, a child in foster care brings everything they own in a black trash bag, and sometimes they're not even allowed to do that.

And so we like to replace that black trash bag with something that kind of screams dignity for them.

- [David] Every month, volunteers prepare up to 100 personalized duffle bags.

Each contains new clothes, toiletries, and comfort items.

It's a small gesture that makes a big difference.

But while the Hummingbird House and Bags of Hope provide crucial immediate support, Susanna knows it's not enough to solve the bigger problem.

- A long-term solution is more foster parents.

We just can't keep doing what we're doing the way we're doing it.

- [David] That solution depends on people like Tiffany Jothen.

For seven years, she's opened her home to foster children.

She says it changes everyone involved, both the kids and the families who take them in.

- I tell people it is the most challenging and hardest, yet most rewarding and best thing I've ever done.

- [David] And support networks across North Carolina are expanding to meet these challenges.

Recent state policy changes have increased financial assistance, with monthly stipends now ranging from 700 to $800 per child.

The reforms also extend equal support to kinship caregivers, relatives who take in foster children.

But what about the root of the issue?

Why are children entering the foster care system in the first place?

Well, child neglect accounts for about 75% of confirmed child protective services cases across the country, yet resources to prevent neglect remain scarce.

- So you're with limited resources, limited prosecutors, limited court time, limited funds available, limited treatment providers.

- [David] These limited resources create a cascade of challenges.

In North Carolina, children remain in state care for an average of one to two years with less than half of those families achieving reunification.

Critics claim some lose custody due to circumstances tied directly to poverty, such as housing instability or inability to afford childcare.

The challenge state authorities say is finding the balance between protecting children while preserving families.

But with mounting caseloads and scarce resources, that balance becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.

So across North Carolina, counties are rethinking their approach to child welfare.

New programs focus on prevention, addressing family needs before separation becomes necessary.

Gaston County has launched specialized courts and diversion programs aimed at keeping families together while ensuring child safety.

- Our office, you know, we're very careful about and mindful of the situations that where we're gonna send a kid back into.

And that's why we try to work hand in hand with Least of These or DSS or any other partnership that we may have to try to set our children up and our parents up for success.

[soft music] - [David] After experiencing 23 different placements, Mikaila Hopper found stability through adult adoption.

Today, she works to transform a system she once struggled to navigate, her experience now informs her work recruiting and supporting foster families.

- Even though we are in a crisis, I see more and more people who are like that stepping in.

It gives me a lot of hope.

- We can't change the world for all the children in foster care, there's over 10,000 in the state of North Carolina, we can't, we know we can't help all of them, but we just focus on the ones that we can help and we try and help them the best that we can so that that ripple effect starts happening.

[soft music continues] - [David] For "ncImpact", I'm David Hurst.

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