NC House lawmakers propose ‘long overdue’ reforms to child welfare system

The legislation would increase state oversight of local social services departments and aims to find placements more quickly for youth with behavioral health needs.

Gaile Osborne, foster parent to six children, said allowing more state oversight of the child welfare system will indirectly help with foster parent recruitment and retention. Credit: Grace Vitaglione / NC Health News

by Grace Vitaglione April 10, 2025

Gaile Osborne is a foster parent to six children. She would’ve had seven if her first foster child had been allowed to stay with her, she said.

Instead, her county Department of Social Services decided to put the 4-year-old back with her biological mother in what Osborne thought was a premature decision. She and her husband spoke up, she said, but were labeled as “overstepping boundaries.”

Later, she learned the child had subsequently been placed back into the foster care system repeatedly, but no one had reached out to Osborne to ask if she would take her in.

“As a mom sitting here with an open home, a license and open beds — to find out that she’s been all over the place — it just breaks your heart,” she said. Osborne later became an advocate for foster children and is now executive director of Foster Family Alliance of North Carolina.

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