Director of Children’s Services Provides Insight on Adoption & Foster Care Services in PA
Flo Rhue has learned more than a few things after spending 33 years working in foster care in Pennsylvania for The Salvation Army. At the top of the list: Put the kids first.
As Director at The Salvation Army Eastern Pennsylvania Children’s Services, she oversees a department that ensures vital support to foster and adopted children in Pennsylvania. She has also succeeded in bringing several innovative programs such as the HALO Project (Healing, Attachment, Loving, Outreach), TBRI® Services, and Visit Coaching to the communities they serve.
Rhue recently discussed The Salvation Army’s foster care and adoption programs in Pennsylvania.
What is the ministry of The Salvation Army Eastern Pennsylvania Children’s Services?
The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination.
Guided by The Salvation Army’s mission, our ministry does the best to nurture children, strengthen families, and engage communities. It is about the children and how we can care and meet them where they’re at based on their unique needs. A lot of families will come to us and say they want to grow their family and that's great, but it has to be about the child and making sure that they can provide for their needs. And foster care is really the foundation of all that we do.
Can you tell me about the foster care programs at The Salvation Army in Eastern Pennsylvania?
The goal of foster care is to reunify the children with their biological families. In traditional foster care, foster families provide short-term or long-term temporary care to children whose families are unable to provide safety or stability for them.
Our team is there every step of the fostering process. When a family steps forward to welcome a foster child or children into their home, it’s our job as their partner to ensure they feel confident in providing the best possible care by equipping them with the information, tools, and support they need.
Can you describe the current foster care needs in Pennsylvania? What ages of children are in need of foster homes the most?
We need families for children of all ages. We're struggling right now with placing little kids. Recently, we had a five-year-old who was disrupted from a placement, and we didn't have another family to take him. The county had custody of the child and had to do a statewide search to try and find him a family. They came up empty. Eventually, this child went back home. The court judge approved it. That probably wouldn't happen if there was another foster family available, but that's the kind of a crisis that we're in right now with foster care.
We really need families for sibling groups, special needs, and older youth. It's hard to place three, four, or five children. We get referrals for large sibling groups, and most families are only willing to take one or two. Especially teenagers. People automatically think of little kids when it comes to foster and adoptive care but teens are just as at risk. Older youth can end up in residential facilities and other places that are not ideal situations.
What is reunification and what is that process like?
For any child that comes into care, generally nine times out of ten, the goal will be family reunification. Sometimes we're working towards family reunification, but at the same time, we do like concurrent planning, and we're also looking for a permanent adoptive family for that child. We don't want kids lingering in foster care forever. Their birth family either has to meet their goals so that the child can be reunited back home or, if they can't within a certain timeframe, the child becomes available for adoption.
Tell me about The Salvation Army’s adoption services available in Eastern Pennsylvania.
For adoption services, we contract with the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network to place children waiting to be adopted with families willing to give them a safe home and bright future. Similar to foster care services, we provide families and individuals with training and support to welcome a child into their home. From finding the right adoption match, to meeting the child, and preparing to welcome them home, our caseworkers are assigned to help guide them step by step through the process. After the adoption has been finalized, families have ongoing access to post-permanency support resources and services.
What separates The Salvation Army’s foster care and adoptive services from others in Pennsylvania?
People are attracted to The Salvation Army because it resonates with them on different levels. Some people feel connected to our organization because they or someone they know has benefited from one of The Salvation Army’s services and programs, like meal assistance, children’s after-school programs, shelter services, etc. We're also faith-based, so we get a lot of families of faith that come our way. The faith-based families are great because they come to us wanting to help children rooted in their faith.
Some agencies are really large. They may have offices across Pennsylvania where we have two offices in Allentown and Souderton. Since we are smaller, it allows our caseworkers to spend that quality time making sure that our families get the services and support they need.
Can you tell me more about the type of assistances you provide to support foster and adoptive parents?
There are a lot of ways we help families and individuals to make sure they feels supported throughout the process. There are family visits and potential counseling sessions. We offer the HALO Project, which is a ten-week intensive program for foster and adoptive families that helps kids from hard places. The Halo Project is based in what's called TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention). Participating parents have reported a decrease in relational frustration with their child, and an increase in attachment, parenting confidence, and overall involvement. We help families, parents, and caregivers understand trauma and how it affects the child's development. We also have a kids club alongside that works with the kids to help them better learn how to regulate their behavior.
Going back to TBRI – We use it to help families bond and connect so that the children feel safe and confident in trusting their parents with their needs. We have a lot of TBRI practitioners on staff. We offer TBRI services, TBRI training, and TBRI in-home services. We also offer it to communities and schools. TBRI has become such a success that schools and agencies are asking us to provide training to them.
What makes us stand out is we understand trauma, and we can help the families understand it and equip them to care for children.
For more information, please visit https://easternusa.salvationarmy.org/eastern-pennsylvania/childrens-services/.