Victoria Johannes, courtesy of the St. Cloud Times.

Kudos to the St. Cloud Times for its story on an innovative approach social workers in some Minnesota counties are using to keep children in homes. Instead of removing mistreated children from homes, social workers develop a plan with the family to keep their offspring safe. Social workers also recruit a network of relatives, friends, neighbors and acquaintances to support the families and ensure they are following the plan.

“We’re seeing that by involving parents and their extended support early in the case that we’re able to allow the family to make the important ongoing decisions for the kids, rather than having judges make decisions for the kids.” — Social Service Supervisor Victoria Johannes

Q: Should social service departments in other parts of the country adopt a similar strategy to reduce the number of children placed in foster care? Please leave your comments below.