Crushing caseloads and low wages drive out foster care workers, but children pay the price

Stoneleigh Fellow Steve Volk and his Resolve Philly colleague Julie Christie have published an article for The Philadelphia Inquirer examining the chronic turnover in the foster care system that can harm children and families.

Briana Royal became a case manager at Turning Points for Children two years ago with “a superhero complex,” she said. “You’re going to change the world.”

Royal, now 28, had hoped to offset the low $44,000 salary with the joy of helping children and families blossom.

Her job placed her near the front lines of the city foster care system. Turning Points is what’s known as a Community Umbrella Agency, a nonprofit company funded by the city Department of Human Services to care for kids removed from their families for alleged abuse or neglect.

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