NC lawmakers file bipartisan bill to reform state’s foster care system

North Carolina lawmakers have introduced a bill that seeks to make reforms to the state’s foster care system — the latest effort to improve a system that sponsors say is broken. 

House Bill 612, which sponsors call the “Fostering Care in NC Act,” proposes wide-ranging reforms to improve the safety and well-being of children in foster care. The bill, filed Monday, comes two months after WRAL's investigative documentary, “Broken: Foster Care in North Carolina,” exposed major failures in the state's foster care system.

If passed, it would give the state Department of Health and Human Services more authority to review records and enforce rules within local social services departments. It also aims to tighten procedures and deadlines for investigating reports of abuse and neglect. To reduce bias, the bill would create rules for identifying and handling conflicts of interest involving social services, employees or their relatives.

HB 612 also sets clearer rules for how children are placed in nonsecure custody. It strengthens visitation requirements by requiring supervised visits before a child is returned to a parent or guardian.

Primary sponsors Reps. Allen Chesser, R-Nash; John Bell, R-Wayne; Donnie Loftis, R-Gaston; and Vernetta Alston, D-Durham. Sponsors are discussed the bill at a news conference at the state legislative building on Wednesday. 

“It’s important to remember children are 25% of our population and 100% of our future,” Chesser said.

It’s the latest proposal aimed at reforming the state’s foster care system in the wake of “Broken: Foster Care in North Carolina,” which focused on the deaths of Blake and London Deven — adopted children whose disappearances went unnoticed for years. The documentary revealed gaps in oversight and accountability, including how each of the state’s 100 counties runs its own program with little to no oversight from the state.

“This is not an agenda item driven by one party or another,” Chesser said. “This is a true bipartisan effort.”

Alston echoed Chesser's sentiments about the bill.

“This bill provides the certainty and stability every child, every family, every person deserves,” Alston said.

Loftis mentioned the difficulty of having each of North Carolina's 100 counties operating 100 foster care systems.

“It makes it really difficult to have a standardization of care,” Loftis said.

Gaile Osborne, executive director of the Foster Family Alliance of NC and a foster parent to 40 children, explained what the bill means to her personally.

This [bill] is the highlight of the last 15 years of my life,” Osborne said.

State lawmakers have proposed separate legislation that seeks to establish a new watchdog office called the Child and Family Welfare Ombudsman. If passed, the office would review foster care cases and advocate for what is best for the children involved.