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(Continued from Page 1) and are eligible under Title 20 Federal programs for various other assistances, according to Miss Mustoe. Once a year, the court reviews each foster care case, including the required Foster Care Services Plan drawn up for every child. The Welfare Department must also review the individual plans every six months. Top priority in the Services Plan is to return the foster child to his or her natural parents, according to Mrs. Buntin. Second priority is to place for adoption, third to keep in permanent foster care and fourth to keep in continued foster care. If the foster home where the child’s been cared for is “the best place for the child to be, the best place to grow up in,” then, said Mrs. Buntin, the Welfare Department can subsidize adoption for those families that can’t support an extra mouth without foster care payment. "We’re striving for permanence with these children,” added Miss Mustoe. She reported that the shortest time kids stay in foster care here is approximately one year. "We had one graduate from Lord Fairfax who's been in foster care since he was eight years old,” she said. Emergency Homes The most critical need in Rappahannock's foster care program is for emergency homes. “We don’t need them very often but when we do, we’re really thrown up a tree,” commented Mrs. Buntin. If a drunken driver has children in the car, when he’s arrested, then the kids have to go somewhere and they certainly can’t spend the night in jail with dad. On occasions like this and in instances of child abuse, Mrs. Buntin has kept children in her home overnight. "I’ve found neighbors (who would agree to take children in an emergency) but they’re taking a great risk,” added Miss Mustoe. "We would be much better off to have a private or group home that would take these kids for 24 or 48 hours.” For emergency and long term care, Mrs. Buntin maintained that group homes are much better suited to teenagers, particularly kids that come under the Welfare Department through the Juvenile Justice Code revisions. With a group home—one that served and was supported by several counties—there would be adequate funds to ensure that the house parents received training to teach them how to cope with disturbed adolescents, according to the Welfare Superintendent. Children in Need of Services are referred to the Welfare Department by the court’s probation officer under the Division of Youth
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