Foster parents advocate more funds for kids

As a child, Judy Larkin would often go across the street from her Levittown home and gaze at the photographs of the foster children that her neighbor had cared for.

"I can picture her wall, with hundreds of kids that went in and out of her home," said Larkin, 55, of Islip Terrace. "It was something I always wanted to do."

Last year, Larkin and her husband, Michael, 53, got their chance. The couple trained to become foster parents in Suffolk County, and recently fostered four siblings for nearly a year.

While Larkin expected fostering to be tough, what she didn't expect was how expensive it could be. And she's not sure she can afford to continue.

Larkin said she was providing more than half of the children's expenses out of her own pocket.

"We were getting approximately $2,000 [total] for four children. A month," she said.

Such is the bind for many foster parents on Long Island and throughout the state, who must rely on a government reimbursement rate they say doesn't cover all the child's expenses.

The rate, which increases with the child's age, is a maximum of $520 a month for a child up to 5 years old in the metropolitan area, including Long Island, plus allowances for diapers, visitation trips, and some extracurricular activities and lessons.

The rate is the subject of a lawsuit filed last month in U.S. District Court against the state by the New York State Citizens' Coalition for Children, a Brooklyn group that advocates for foster parents.

"It's very expensive to raise children," said Sarah Gerstenzang, executive director of the group. "There are some allowances for diapers and things, but clearly the rate is not based on a formula, as it needs to be. And it's not based on actual costs."

The lawsuit asks that the state Office of Children and Family Services establish a minimum reimbursement amount, rather than a cap. That office would not comment on the litigation.

While the state receives federal foster care grants and sets the reimbursement rate, the responsibility for administering the program falls to the counties.

Each county can choose how much to reimburse foster parents, up to the state's maximum; both Nassau and Suffolk reimburse at the maximum rate.

Nassau County has about 160 foster homes and about 483 children in the foster-care system, which includes group homes and institutional settings, while Suffolk County has 538 foster homes and 734 children in the system.

Social services commissioners of both counties agree the rates are too low.

"These two counties have enormously high expenses that help create many of the problems that we address in DSS," said Suffolk Social Services Commissioner Gregory Blass. "And it's a cruel irony that we're forced to address them with rates that are often inadequate for the reality of living on Long Island."

Nassau's commissioner, John Imhof, said: "If the state decides they're going to be able to increase the rate, given its own financial situation, I'm certain foster families and [Nassau County] would welcome that tremendously."

Officials in both counties say they still have enough foster parents to meet the need, but fear that without a rate increase, they won't be able to recruit and retain them. And some foster families say they need an increase in the rates to help their family budgets.

"Think of what a teenager needs, with sneakers and jeans," said Peggy Tomasicchio, 68, of Stony Brook, a foster parent for 37 years. "They have to be dressed like everybody else. You don't go to Goodwill to dress your foster children."

Larkin said she bought her foster children the more expensive brand-name crayons, glue and other school supplies, rather than the cheaper store brands, so they wouldn't be teased by other children at school. The money came out of her pocket; school supplies are not reimbursable.

Now that her home is empty of foster children, Larkin said she and her husband are deciding whether they want to continue fostering.

"It gets to the point where it is a financial drain," she said. "I have to seriously consider whether or not I'll be closing my home. I won't foster unless I can do it right, and I don't know if I can afford to do it right anymore."