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On any given day, more than 430,000 American children are in the foster care system. Roughly half of foster care placements quit after their first year or first placement, and a child that ages out of the foster care system has less than a 3% chance of earning a college degree. Further, many of the victims of sex trafficking in the United States are runaways from the foster care system or have aged out of the foster care system. So, yes, we have a foster care crisis on our hands.

This is why I am so grateful for the work of the Director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, Terry Stidgon, MSN, RN. She was appointed as director of the Indiana Department of Child Services in early 2018 as part of Governor Eric Holcomb’s sweeping reform of the state’s child welfare agency. And, under her leadership, the total number of Department of Child Services cases has decreased by over 30%, the rate of children entering care has decreased by nearly 34%, and turnover at the agency has decreased by 30%.

I recently interviewed Director Stigdon about this remarkable turnaround, the key leadership lessons she has learned, and how the church can help DCS “go upstream” on foster care. Here’s that conversation.

Key Takeaways:

• Key quote: “I don’t want to improve DCS. I want to transform DCS.”
• Primary prevention – the best way to impact the abuse and neglect of children is to prevent it from happening in the first place. Director Stigdon shares a powerful story about “going upstream” and sets out several practical ways churches can do this.
• Secondary prevention – helping kids stay in their homes even if additional support is needed. Indiana DCS has modified its policies on informal adjustments (being involved but not removing the kids), and their assistance to families has reduced the removal rate in approximately 4,000 open cases from 40% to less than 2%.
• Foster care – the importance of developing care communities around foster care families in your church and community.
• Adoption – Director Stigdon encouraged Christians to adopt kids age 9 and older due to the decreased chance of a child that age being adopted. If you want to learn more about adoption, click here. If you want to see kids that are looking for a family in Indiana, click here to see pictures and some videos.
• Older youth – Kids that age out of the foster system do not have parental support in navigating major life decisions such as college and career. Churches can provide community and mentorship in these situations.
• Billboard statement: Due to time constraints, I did not ask Director Stigdon this question: “If you had a billboard on which to put a message to churches, what would you put on it?” She sent me her answer later on, and it is profound: “The billboard would have the picture of a child in one corner. The other corner would have the face(s) of a parent or parents. The words would be: Most children in foster care are not orphans. The majority of those children still have a parent or parents who could also benefit from the love, support, and forgiveness of the church. Consider how you can serve your community differently and prevent child abuse and neglect?”