Parental Rights Bill Will Be a Boon to Vulnerable Kids

• Editor's Note: This column is written by state Rep. Dale Kooyenga (R-14th District), who represents much of Wauwatosa and part of Brookfield in the state Assembly.

Every two hours in Wisconsin, a child enters foster care. Once in foster care, children are often lost in the bureaucracy and handed off from one home to another. Even though there are caring families that serve as host families in the foster care program, it is expensive and some children do not find the stability they so desperately need. Once a child enters the foster care system, it is difficult for both biological parents and the children to make a healthy exit from the system.

Our state needs to seek proactive solutions for Wisconsin’s families, as opposed to relying solely on the reactive foster care program. I was surprised to hear that last year the state bureaucracy shut down a non-profit by the name of Safe Families. The Safe Families organization partners parents dealing with difficult personal issues with stable families.

Their mission is best summarized by the testimony of a young woman from Rockford, IL, where the organization is operating with great success. This young woman was addicted to drugs and alcohol from the age of 13. In her 20s, she was still using drugs and had become a single mother.

She knew she needed to seek treatment for her addictions but could not keep her child with her parents because her father was abusive. She also could not place her children with the foster care system, and even if she did, she feared she would not be able to get her child back. She felt as though she had no options.

This is a scenario where Safe Families excels. A stable family in her neighborhood volunteered to help. Safe Families facilitated the transfer of her daughter to a loving home while the drug-addicted mother attended treatment to deal with her problem.  The young woman is now sober. The host family serves as a resource to this young mother as she looks forward to job training and providing a safe, stable home for her little girl.

Two lives were saved and not a single taxpayer dollar was spent. Similar programs introduced in Wisconsin can save millions and most importantly change lives for the better. A simple change in our law is required to ensure Safe Families can operate in Wisconsin.

Currently, parents in Wisconsin cannot grant power of attorney to other parents (i.e. non-relatives), a right permitted to parents in a vast majority of other states. Assembly Bill 30 gives parents the rights to do what is best for their families. These rights are not only necessary to empower families but also necessary for granting all parents essential parental rights. Power of attorney is useful for vacationing parents or a single parent who is deployed with the U.S. military, or a parent who may be receiving medical treatment, such as chemotherapy.

AB30 has received tremendous support from both sides of the aisle. In a very partisan environment, it has been refreshing to work with colleagues on both sides on a bill that will give parents options and provide a better environment for some of our community's most vulnerable children.