Alabama has an ongoing problem of having enough foster care homes for children across the state. Recent data from the Department of Human Resources points to Alabama’s black belt for the greatest concentration of youngsters needing foster homes. The agency says six thousand children need to be taken in. But, there are only about two thousand spots available.
The situation with Alabama and its foster care system appeared clear in July of last year. That’s when TV news reports aired, showing foster children sleeping on the floor of the state’s Department of Human Resources. There weren’t enough foster homes to homes to take them all…
“Alabama’s foster care system feels strained and under-resources,” said Dr. Courtney Chapman Thomas—a social worker and professor at the University of Alabama.
“That’s leads to children going into group homes. That leads to siblings being separated, which leads to permanency being put off. And every time a child moves, it breaks relationships, and it can teach them not to trust adults.”
The situation of foster care in Alabama isn’t theoretical for Thomas: she is a foster parent herself. Thomas doesn’t think the system in Alabama is broken. She says it’s just stretched beyond its limits.
“One is the lack of available licensed foster care homes, and this is true in the state of Alabama. The second number they’re usually talking about is turnover and low retention rates of caseworkers.”
Another issue is the stability of short-term placements. This can lead to inadequate or sometimes inappropriate settings where children wind up.
Lily Duncan is a case manager with Tuscaloosa Angels: a non-profit organization that provides community support for foster families and foster children. Duncan is on the front lines of the shortage here in the state. She says volunteers really made a difference during last year’s holiday season.
“One of our families takes a lot of last-minute placements, and it was three days before Christmas that that they got this new placement. So, they wanted to get them a stocking, so they felt included just like every other member of the family. That same family got a placement right before the first day of school, so their Love Box leader went and bought her a new outfit for her first day of school so that she could have something she felt cute in.”
The Love Box Program is run by Tuscaloosa angels. It allows volunteers to step in for foster families so they can get the support they need. The Alabama Department of Human Resources says that, in 2025, there were close to six thousand children needing foster homes. At that same time, the state had just over two thousand homes to take them in.
Alabama has its own challenges when it comes to providing foster care, but other states around the nation appear to be doing better. For example, Rhode Island has one of the lowest placement instability rates in the country.
“A lot of credit goes to our state’s child welfare agency, DCYF,” said Lisa Guillette, the executive director of Foster Forward in Rhode Island.
“First, looking for fit and willing relatives whenever they have a child that comes into foster care. Statistically, when children are first placed with fit and willing relatives, their length of time in care goes down, their overall stability while they’re in care goes up,” said Guillette.
Rhode Island law prioritizes placing children with blood relatives. However, the state does recognize what’s called fictive kin: adults who may not be biologically related to a child, but still have strong, family-like relationships.
Guillette sees the importance of having these options. She says, “being able to consider those folks as potential kinship caregivers widens the circle of people who are really invested in the child or children and could potentially be a great stable placement source.”
Support systems matter for those in foster care. Guillette says that’s because children are often already experiencing separation and instability before entering the system.
“When young people are really still connected to their communities, to their people, that’s less disruptive to them, and that promotes greater stability.”
You may remember this TV report from the beginning of our story. It was about children needing foster homes sleeping on the floor of the department of human resources. The agency spoke to the press about this situation, blaming the Covid pandemic and a staff shortage for creating a lack of homes to take the children in.
For Alabama in general, advocates say the state still faces other major challenges. The list includes foster home shortages, increased numbers of caseworker turnover, and rising rates of placement instability. But supporters of the system also say the community can make a difference while broader reforms continue.
When Dr. Courtney Chapman Thomas thinks about the challenges facing foster care in Alabama, she says there are moments of hope that make it worthwhile.
“One day I was driving, and we had two little loves in the back seat. One was like, ‘Hey, mama, I have these special dots on my hand.’ And I said ‘Yeah, buddy, you do.’ He goes, ‘I think this is where the angel kissed me to tell me it’d be okay, that I’d get to you one day.”
