| In 1979 New York City's foster care system was criticized for failing children, poor administration and inadequately regulating the private, religious agencies. In response, New York City's Board of Estimate passed resolutions to reform the system. Similar reforms were legislated by New York State and the federal government.;This study analyzes the improvement and subsequent deterioration. Two factors appear to be decisive in preventing long-term improvement. The first is the underlying social functions of the foster care system which seem to be to regulate the poor, to provide resources to other organizations and to legitimate society. The second is the city's dependence for foster care on powerful, private religious agencies which act as a cartel. Their power to meet their institutional interests interacts with a fragmented, cumbersome, compliant public bureaucracy. As a result, the needs of children and their families often conflict with other institutional priorities. Significant long-term improvement appears unlikely without a change in the underlying structure and social functions of the foster care system.;The study is the product of participant observation and a variety of primary and secondary data, including official reports and internal data prepared by the city's child welfare agency; interviews; studies by the author on aspects of foster care; files of the New York City Council President's Office and the Foster Care Monitoring Committee; daily newspapers; and court papers for foster care lawsuits.;These reforms resulted in significant improvements in the city's foster care system between 1979 and 1984. After 1984, however, many of the improvements began to be eroded. By 1986 the foster care system was again in crisis. In many significant areas the system had deteriorated to the level at which it operated before the reforms were implemented; in some ways the system was far worse than in 1979. |
