The Sirita Law
Where is my place in this world? Where do I belong?
A Child’s Right to Permanency
Sirita Law: MS Word doc format
BACKGROUND:
Sirita Sotelo was a beautiful star that entered my life, for which I will be forever grateful.
Sirita was in foster care from the day she was born until she was nearly four. Reunification with her biological mother was attempted many times, and each time failed. Her biological father won custody shortly before she turned four. She was beaten to death while in his custody weeks before she would have turned five.
Removal into protective custody multiple times and into multiple foster homes left its mark on her. I know this, because the last time she was brought into my home as my foster daughter. More than anything else, Sirita wanted to know, “Where is my place in this world? Where do I belong?”
Unfortunately, three and a half years in foster care is not exceptional. There are children in care right now that have been in legal limbo for 5 years, 6 years, even more. The constant emotional turmoil of being moved and removed can cause deep scars, insecurity, behavioral problems, and difficulty bonding. There are no legal limitations in Washington State on how many times a child can be taken away from a parent or how long the process can take before parental rights are terminated. The process is deeply weighted in favor of parental rights, often even in face of the most extreme behavior. The current law needs to be changed.
NEEDED REFORMS:
1. Right to permanency within one year. If your child is taken away because your home is unsafe, you have one year to clean up your life or have your parental rights terminated. This is already the current federal guideline - but every time a child is returned in Washington State, the clock is reset, even if the parent loses the child again immediately. There needs to be a law limiting the cumulative time and the number of chances a parent has.
2. Right to supportive parents. If you do not contact or support your child in any way (emotional or financial) for a year, your rights as a parent are terminated.
3. Right to a safe home. Parents and other relatives should have to meet a high bar to win custody. Parenting classes should be mandatory for every adult in the home responsible for care. As part of the transition, visits with the former foster parents should continue during the six months supervision period following final custody.
4. Right to rapid protection. If a child is the subject of four or more separate CPS reports, the child will be taken into temporary custody and an investigation launched. If the reports are not substantiated the child will be returned and this will not count as a strike. This will not impede the ability of law enforcement to remove a child any time there is cause to believe a child is in imminent danger, regardless of the number of CPS reports.
5. Three strikes law: If your child is taken away twice, you have to meet a very high bar to get the child back. If your child is taken away a third time, your rights are terminated.
Extenuating circumstances: If a parent is hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated for reasons beyond their control, a one time extension of six months to one year could be granted at the discretion of the judge.
How this would have affected Sirita:
1) The time limit and the likelihood that this was her only chance would have been incentive for her mother to aggressively seek rehabilitation early on. She might have been successful and kept custody of her daughter.
2) If her mother did not succeed, then after one year, her rights would have been terminated. Her father would have been contacted to discuss placement when she was one year old. The circumstances around her birth would have been fairly recent; he might have declined. If he declined his rights would have been terminated and she would have been placed in an adoptive family.
3) Even if her father had decided he wanted custody, if he had to face the same standards a foster family has to meet for placement he might not have been approved. Again, she would have been placed in an adoptive family.
4) If her father had accepted, and had been approved, she would have entered his home at one year old. She might have integrated better into his family because:
a) She would not have interrupted the birth order, which increases sibling rivalry and family stress.
b) She wouldn't have had all the emotional and behavioral problems that resulted from 3 1/2 years of being moved around, returned and removed from her birth mother.
c) She would have been part of the equation when they considered having more children, instead of being the fifth child added to an already large family
d) All adults responsible for care would have been required to attend parenting classes. Although a parent may have success raising other children, they might not have experience with the emotional issues and sometimes extreme behavior a child can have after a series of placement disruptions.
e) Visits from her previous foster family would have increased continuity for her, could have helped the family deal with her behavioral issues.
f) Her previous foster family might have noticed if there were any red flags in the home environment.
g) Without the behavioral and family integration issues causing stress, she would have been easier to handle. While no child is ever at fault for abuse, less family stress can make abuse less likely.
While no one can say for certain where she would have been placed or what her fate would have been, these changes would have changed the odds dramatically in her favor and given her more stability during her life.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Call your legislators and tell them to support the Sirita Law. To find your legislator, go to http://www.leg.wa.gov and click on “Find Your Legislator,” or call the in-state Legislative Hotline at 1.800.562.6000.
It’s too late for my little girl, but there are thousands of other children just like her still caught in the system.