With no insurance, Chicago archdiocesan foster care program to end

Published: 2007-04-24

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago has begun dismantling its foster care program after announcing that it will stop providing foster care services as of June 30. The decision, which Catholic and state welfare officials called "tragic," came after Catholic Charities was unable to get liability insurance for its foster care program. Catholic Charities and other private agencies recruit and train foster parents to be licensed by the state, place children with the foster parents they have trained, and provide monitoring, casework and social services to the children. When the closure was announced April 16, about 900 children were in the program, said April Specht, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities. More than 150 staff positions are to be cut as well. The decision came after Catholic Charities was unsuccessful in finding liability insurance to cover the program. Its current carrier agreed to continue providing coverage of all of Catholic Charities' services except foster care. The agency approached 25 providers besides its current carrier; 24 turned it down, and one did not respond, Specht said. The insurance company's decision came after Catholic Charities settled a lawsuit over the alleged abuse of three children in a foster home in the 1990s for $12 million.

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