ATLANTA — A close, tight-knit family struggling with poverty knew they needed help.

Nineteen-year-old Halle Mickel said when her family reached out to state agencies for assistance, they didn’t expect what came with their call for help.

“Instead of the support we desperately needed, we had our lives tremendously turned upside down by the very system designed to assist us,” said Mickel, recalling her experience entering Georgia’s foster care system. “Two of my siblings were confined to mental hospitals, while the rest of my siblings were bounced from foster home to foster home, facing neglect, abuse and emotional trauma by strangers.”

Her seven siblings remain separated within five foster homes, she told the Senate Study Committee on Foster Care and Adoption at a Sept. 26 hearing.

Mickel said her family was forced to call the Georgia Division of Family and Child Services as victims of domestic violence with two special needs children in the household. The two siblings were regularly suspended from school for behavioral issues, and Mickel said her mother ultimately lost her job. The family was evicted from their home after falling behind on their rent.

“It hurts me to know that we were failed excessively by the ones we called on for a shoulder,” Mickel said. “My family story is not the first story to be told, and there are many others like us who have suffered due to the family division caused by our system. Families shouldn’t be fearful that their children will be abruptly snatched away due to poverty.”

Mickel suggested that the state offer financial support to families in need instead of paying for children to be in foster homes as a first resort, “especially being that it causes great emotional trauma to be separated from parents.”

Out-of-home placement is an adverse childhood experience, and studies have shown a strong link between the scope of exposure to household dysfunction and the increased risk of chronic disease and behavioral challenges later in life.

More than 51% of children who enter the child welfare system have experienced four or more adverse childhood experiences compared to about 1 in 6 people in the general population, according to Heather Wilson of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Adverse childhood experiences may include physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical neglect, emotional neglect, alcohol or drug abuse by a parent, mentally ill parent, divorce, incarceration of parent or childhood domestic violence.

“Recent data indicates that at least 64% of adults experience at least one [adverse childhood experience] with 1 in 6 adults reporting experiencing four or more,” said Tammy Hill, project manager for National Conference of State Legislatures. “People who are Black, Hispanic or Latino or multiracial, as well as people with less than a high school diploma or income lower than $15,000 a year may have a greater experience or an increased exposure and duration to harmful health conditions.”

Such stressors at a young age can interfere with healthy nerve and hormonal systems and mental development, health officials say.

Wilson said that chronic stress is often associated with foster care and out-of-home placement, and that removal from a family to new home can potentially grow more harmful to a child each time.

“Child Development Research tells us that children need consistency, predictability and attachment to a caring adult to thrive. This is especially true for children in foster care who have experienced the trauma leading up to and including the removal from home as well as the trauma of ongoing separation from family,” Wilson said. “Children in out of home care need stable adult connections to support their well-being. [Adverse childhood experiences] are especially problematic for those children in foster care as a greater cumulative ACE exposure has been shown to dramatically increase that placement instability.”

During the four-hour hearing, the Senate Study Committee on Foster Care and Adoption heard from several professionals in the foster care and adoption sectors, and they appeared to have consensus that solutions are needed to minimize childhood trauma resulting from placements and solutions to help families stay together.

Some suggestions included providing parents with more support services and more foster parent training and resources to help them become more equipped to foster children with special needs.

Georgia State University is also preparing to launch a pilot grant-funded court program, Georgia Thrive, to provide more intimate case management for young children up to age 3 and their families who are involved or at risk of involvement in the welfare system.

“ Infants and toddlers are most likely to receive DFCS services as well as most likely to enter foster care,” said Callan Wells of the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, a policy partner for GSU. “…What’s really different about infant and toddler courts is that connection to resources as well as mental health services. That connection to mental health services is really critical for families in terms of keeping families together for reunification. … Infants and toddlers are most likely to receive DFCS services as well as most likely to enter foster care.”

The Senate Study Committee on Foster Care and Adoption’s next meeting is Oct. 26 in Columbus and will focus on adoption reform. {a class=”editor-rtfLink” href=”https://www.cnhinews.com/cnhi/article_4aae4980-36ee-11ee-9228-5baf601d27b9.html” target=”_blank”}At the committee’s August meeting,{/a} presenters provided information on initiatives in other states regarding foster care and adoption.

Some initiatives focused on parenting and home visiting programs, and mental health and substance abuse treatment for adults. Some states have also experimented with creating full-time foster parenting programs that pay foster parents as a salaried position.

The committee is expected to complete its work by Dec. 1 and generate a report which could lead to legislative proposals or agency recommendations.

More information on foster care services in Georgia can be found at fostergeorgia.com.