State Says Survey Of Foster Homes Encouraging Inspection Of Nearly 1,400 Homes In State Resulted In 12 Licenses Revoked, Including One In Spokane

When state inspectors visited a foster home on Spokane’s South Hill they found a developmentally disabled young man making a fire in a cold, messy, knifestrewn house without supervision.

It was considered the worst foster home of the 150 homes inspected in the area late last year. The state responded by revoking its license.

The action stemmed from a statewide survey designed to better gauge safety conditions at the rarely inspected homes.

Foster homes now are under the microscope as more politicians advocate keeping troubled children and developmentally disabled adults out of expensive institutions in favor of the cheaper, residential foster care settings.

After an alarming string of infant deaths in Seattle foster homes, the state Department of Social and Health Services launched a survey last fall to evaluate conditions before expanding the program.

The results, released this week, are encouraging.

Inspections of 1,391 homes triggered the closure of only 12 homes statewide, including the one Spokane home.

Compared to many state departments, the foster care bureaucracy appears lean.

Tight state coffers pay for only three full-time foster home inspectors for the almost 400 foster homes in Lincoln, Pend Oreille and Spokane County.

The homes usually are inspected only once every three years.

State inspectors interviewed children and developmentally disabled adults about their living conditions. The survey also chronicled safety violations.

Inspectors found 82 violations at homes in the northeastern Washington region. Most were resolved easily. Smoke alarms didn’t work. CPR training was needed. Guns and medication weren’t locked up and out of reach.

Connie Bacon, state foster home licensing supervisor in Spokane, said she was comforted the survey didn’t uncover more serious problems, and pleased only one home needed to be closed.

Bacon also said she supports plans to give state officials more power in recruiting and keeping good foster parents.

“I won’t need such a high burden of proof” to suspend or revoke a license, she said.

From Ida Rotter’s vantage, it’s already too easy to yank a license.

She had been a foster care provider for 18 years before the inspection of her South Hill home on Nov. 29 as part of the state survey.

She was caring for four developmentally disabled men, aged 20, 24, 26 and 32, at the time. She also cared for two adopted and handicapped children.

Rotter said inspectors arrived on a bad day when her home was in chaos. She said it wasn’t clear they were coming, so she left for 20 minutes to do something at her church.

Rotter said when she came back and saw the inspectors she was simply exhausted.

“Ida appeared confused and depressed. Her affect was flat throughout our stay,” the inspection report noted.

Rotter said her behavior was misinterpreted.

“Then, when I get so tired I can’t even see straight, they yank my license. They say I’ve lost my mind. I was tired! It’s not fair … I’ve been doing this for my sole income.”

Rotter said she worries about how she will make money, and also about the future of her foster charges, one of whom she raised for 17 years. She is appealing the license revocation.

Carol Cheatle, head of the state’s children’s services program, said the agency will announce a plan Friday to improve foster homes.

She said she wants to improve foster parent recruitment and education programs. “There’s a high turnover in foster parents. It’s a tough job.”