Advocacy Project

Molly Tuttle
SWK 4910-002 Fall 2022
 The Problem
• Governor Roy Cooper proclaimed May to be Foster Care Month stating more than “10,322 children
and youth are in the foster care system in North Carolina” (Governor Proclaims Foster Care Month
2022 | NC Gov. Cooper, 2022).

• In Scotland County, there are around 100 children in foster care with only about 20 or so licensed
foster homes. This means that many children are placed in other counties, some even in other states.
This also means that siblings are more likely to be separated. One of the biggest problems ailing
foster care in Scotland County is homelessness.
 Advocacy
• I felt the best plan of action for this problem would be to write a letter to the Governor of North
Carolina only because the NC House and Senate seats are up for re-election. Additionally, finding
homes for foster children should be a bipartisan issue that a state governor should be able to lead,
regardless of their own political affiliation.
• In my letter to Governor Cooper, I outlined an interesting bit of information released over the
summer stating that North Carolina had a $6 billion budget surplus (Opeka, 2022).
• Unfortunately, the money has already been earmarked for things such as teacher and non-certified
school employee raises, the state inflationary reserve, school safety grants and resource officers, and
election security (Opeka, 2022).
 Advocacy
• I recommended to Governor Cooper that for the next budget or the next budget surplus, it should
include increased funding for the foster care system in North Carolina. One recommendation in
particular was to fund the construction of more group homes around the state, especially in our local
area.
• Local group homes would even help save counties money and resources when they are able to place
children closer to the original home rather than having to drive them hours away. This also makes
visitation easier with siblings or other family members.
• Having local group homes would also help alleviate the stress that many local DSS agencies are
feeling when it comes to not having placement for children thus requiring social workers to have to
stay overnight, sometimes multiple nights in a row, at the agency, while trying to locate a placement
for the child(ren).
 Citations
• Governor Proclaims Foster Care Month 2022 | NC Gov. Cooper. (2022, April 28). Governor.nc.gov.

https://governor.nc.gov/governor-proclaims-foster-care-month-2022

• ‌Opeka, T. (2022, June 29). New N.C. budget includes surplus, reserve, raises. Carolina Journal -.

https://www.carolinajournal.com/n-c-new-budget-includes-surplus-reserve-raises/