La. foster care system to undergo new initiative

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services is implementing a new initiative in the state’s foster care system called Faith in Families. DCFS Secretary Suzy Sonnier says the goal is to safely reduce the number of children in the state’s foster care program and decrease the amount of time children spend in the system. The initiative also is geared toward helping every child find a permanent connection before he or she leaves the foster system. The (Shreveport) Times reports Faith in Families seeks to reduce the number of children in Louisiana’s foster care program by 25% by 2015. Louisiana has 706 children ages 15 to 17 in foster care. Over the next three years, many of them will age out of the system. “By 2015, we want 85% of our children to exit foster care within 24 months of entering either through reintegration with family or adoption,” Sonnier says. “We want to meet the national standard of 75.2% of children being reunited with their family within 12 months.” Sonnier laid out the new initiative Wednesday in Shreveport. Read the full story here.