Gaston County foster care staff emphasize reunification and support for foster parents

Marika McMahan, who said she works in permanency planning and placement, told colleagues she helps place children in foster care and supports them "until they can go home." Marika said she received placement referrals for two children just before the meeting and planned a home visit later that day.

Jacqueline Jackson, a social worker in the licensing unit, said part of her job is recruiting foster parents and finding placements when children enter custody. "We actually look for placement for those children," Jackson said, adding that foster families often become part of a child’s extended support network after reunification.

An unnamed reunification and permanency planning worker described the team’s central mission: helping parents regain custody by connecting families to needed services. "The most important part about our job is making sure needs are met," the worker said, listing medical appointments, health insurance, food resources, housing and substance-abuse treatment as frequent supports arranged to enable reunification.

Another staff member who described her role supporting foster parents explained that her team acts as a social worker for foster families rather than for the child. She said the office conducts quarterly home visits to check compliance and may schedule visits after normal business hours to meet foster parents’ schedules. "If they both work and they don't get home till 06:00, guess what? I'm going out at 06:00 to do my home visit," she said.

Throughout the discussion, staff emphasized that the goal is reunification rather than removal. Jacqueline Jackson pushed back on a common public perception, saying, "I think sometimes people think that we take children and that's just it. And that's not what we do. The ultimate goal is to reunify the children to the family."

Speakers also described the emotional challenges of the work and the satisfaction of success stories. "Seeing kids get to go home is the highlight," the reunification worker said. Staff said they build strong connections with families and try to provide both immediate care for children in placement and long-term supports to help families reunify.

The meeting was a staff-level discussion of roles and practices; no formal actions, votes or policy changes were recorded.