For many years the U.S. was a leader among the developed nations in health, quality of life, education, and mortality. Not so any more. America’s public policies have become punitive to where we now have 5% of the world’s population & 25% of its prison population & there were 13 million prison and jail releases last year alone.

Public policy makers have been satisfied building more and bigger prisons, and schizophrenic about dealing with dysfunctional families and the problems their children pose to the schools and larger community.

Any valid study of U.S. institutions shows a direct correlation between abused and neglected children, failed schools, unsafe / unhealthy communities and full prisons.

A serious look at other industrialized nations (and many emerging nations) will show that these nations do not suffer the same terrible crime problems, failing school problems, and generational poverty issues because their public policy makers have come to understand that investments in early childhood programs & support for young families are a much better investment than prisons and jails.

Some states are fighting to keep programs that protect and foster their poor and vulnerable children, but many are not.

What can be said to people that would deny health, education, and the most basic needs for the babies and young children living among them that would change their mind to a more compassionate (and practical) understanding that we all benefit when healthy children become healthy citizens?

Perhaps, remind them that all religions demand caring for the weakest and most vulnerable among them.

“When institutions are defined by what they create, instead of what they were designed to create”, it must be said that American courts and legislatures are now creating preteen moms and juvenile felons.

*(Kathleen Long, DANCING WITH DEMONS)

Caseloads were too high before the downturn, & funding from non profits and governmental agencies has been significantly reduced, leaving more dysfunctional families & their abused and neglected children without help.

The future holds more and bigger juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons until this trend reverses & our communities grasp the wisdom of investing in youth.

The rest of this article is a compilation of recent updates on how states from around the nation are managing troubled families and their abused and neglected children;

Thank those of you who have sent me important articles. I appreciate the information.

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com


California

California
Florida

Florida
Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Illinois

Iowa http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2010/03/04/news/latest/doc4b8f5630d99ec604150445.txt#vmix_media_id=11609441 , read below (does not link well)

Michigan

Minnesota

Minnesota

Nevada

New York

Ohio (Forced to Live In Cages Article Link)
Pennsylvania


Tennessee
Texas
Texas
Texas
Texas

Washington

Wyoming

Thursday, March 4, 2010 12:49 AM CST
Child abuse cases climb across Iowa
By CHARLOTTE EBY, Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau

DES MOINES — Iowa child abuse cases were up in 2009, reversing a two-year decline, according to figures released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Iowa Thursday, March 4, 2010 12:49 AM CST
Child abuse cases climb across Iowa
By CHARLOTTE EBY, Globe Gazette Des Moines Bureau

DES MOINES — Iowa child abuse cases were up in 2009, reversing a two-year decline, according to figures released Wednesday by the Iowa Department of Human Services.

Officials reported an 11 percent increase in both the reports of abuse and the findings of abuse or neglect. They cited the down economy as a likely contributing factor to the rise in cass.

In North Iowa, however, the number of cases in 2009, though up slightly from 2008, are still significantly lower than the numbers from 2005 through 2007.

There were a total of 1,377 cases reported in North Iowa in 2009. Of those 374 were determined to be founded.

That’s up from 1,226 cases reported and 369 founded in 2008, increases of 9 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

But the number of cases reported in North Iowa counties in 2007 was 2,033, and the number of cased founded was 715.

Individual North Iowa county totals are in the chart on Page A1.

Heightened awareness of child abuse and high-profile cases may have contributed to the increases noted statewide, according to experts.

“There’s definitely more stress on families because of the economy, and so we think that has some impact, and this probably is the only logical thing right now to point to,” said DHS Director Charles Krogmeier.

Officials say domestic violence and substance abuse remain the main risk factors for children.

In 2009, investigators completed 25,814 assessments for child abuse or neglect, up 11 percent from 2008.

Those complaints or “intakes” typically come from a hotline, school officials, medical personnel or law enforcement.

“We’re getting more reports and investigating more,” Krogmeier said.

Roughly two-thirds of those investigations showed no abuse occurred. A total of 7,011 were founded abuse cases last year involving 10,148 children, compared to 6,141 founded cases in 2008. Founded abuse cases topped 7,900 in 2006.

The biggest share of abuse cases were the denial or critical care or neglect, which made up 81 percent. These types of cases commonly involve parents who are impaired by drug use or mental incapacity, officials said.

Physical abuse cases made up 9.3 percent of abuse cases. A majority of the children in abuse cases were 5 years old or younger.

Krogmeier said the number of workers who complete the assessments remains about the same number as last year despite budget cuts.

Some of those workers are expected to participate in an early retirement program offered to state workers this year, but Krogmeier said they expect to be able to fill those positions. He said they would continue to try to target resources to child protection efforts.

State Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, said the increasing numbers of abuse cases could not have come at a worse time. Lawmakers are still grappling with budget constraints as the state faces declining revenues.

Schulte is concerned an early retirement program for state workers would mean about one-third of frontline child abuse workers have the potential to retire.

“We’re already short and already not having enough people to get it done,” Schulte said.

— Bob Steenson of the Globe Gazette added to this report.

Texas;CHILD PROTECTION

The center is deeply committed to safeguarding Texas’ six million children from abuse or neglect.
Recent Child Protection Publications
Implementing the Permanent Care Assistance Program (03/11/2010)

The new permanency care assistance program, which pays relatives who take permanent custody of a child in state care, is well intended. But due to federal and practical constraints, implementation may not go as planned. That is why the 2017 sunset provision is important. It allows sufficient time for the program to get up and running but provides an important “out” if the program does not achieve its intended goals.

CPPP senior policy analyst Jane Burstain delivered this testimony on the permanency care assistance program to the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services.

The State of Texas Children: Breakfast Briefing (01/14/2010)

Join Dr. Harriett Romo, Director, UTSA CAPRI/Mexico Center, and Frances Deviney, Ph.D., Texas Kids Count Director, for a breakfast briefing on the well-being of children in San Antonio, Bexar County, and across Texas.

New Analysis Anticipates Child Poverty Increase (01/7/2010)

More than one of every five Texas children, or nearly 1.5 million kids, lived in poverty during 2008—and when data from 2009 are compiled, that number is likely to increase to one of every four kids, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by First Focus and Brookings researcher Julia Isaacs. The increase in poor children is placing an even heavier burden on an already strained network of private charities and state agencies already reeling from the triple punch of inadequate funding, staffing shortages, and a broken eligibility system that withholds critical assistance to needy families.

Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in Texas (12/16/2009)

Recently, a spotlight has been focused on deaths from child abuse and neglect in Texas. Texas does have a higher death rate per capita compared to other states. The exact reasons for the higher rate are difficult to determine but seem to be related to two factors. First, other states may be undercounting their child abuse and neglect deaths. Second, Texas probably has a larger number of child abuse and neglect deaths per capita related to the difficult circumstances families face in Texas, specifically high child poverty, a high teen birth rate, and low child abuse and neglect prevention.

Fostering Connections Creates a Conflict in Federal Law Regarding the Preferred Permanency Model (09/29/2009)

CPPP Senior Policy Analyst Jane Burstain recently offered testimony to the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means regarding the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act.

Child Protective Services and the 81st Legislature (07/16/2009)

The investments the 79th and 80th Legislatures made in the child protective services (CPS) system are paying off. More children are safely staying in their homes or with relatives and, when that is not possible, more are being adopted. As a result, fewer children are in foster care. The 81st Legislature built on these successes, making additional investments in CPS and passing legislation to further reduce the number of children entering the state’s care and improve outcomes for those children who do. This policy page discusses the details of that legislation and what needs to be done next.

The Gates Case: What It Means for Child Protective Services (06/26/2009)

In July 2008, the United States Court of Appeal for the Fifth Circuit published a decision in the case of Gates v. the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). The Fifth Circuit set guidelines under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution for state caseworkers to follow in making investigation and removal decisions in child protection cases. This policy page discusses what Gates means for caseworkers in the field, explores its impact on Child Protective Services (CPS), and makes recommendations about what the state and CPS need to do next.

The Texas School Disciplinary System and Foster Care Children (04/24/2009)

Research shows that abused and neglected children are much more likely than their peers to misinterpret neutral situations as threatening, have poor impulse control, and engage in aggressive behavior with adults and other children. These behaviors present public schools with difficult challenges. Continuing our effort to explore school outcomes for students in foster care, in this paper we compare students in foster care to the general student population and explore differences in how they fare in the school discipline system.

House Better Funds Child Protective Services (04/21/2009)

The House budget funds 85 percent of what Child Protective Services (CPS) needs to keep children safe in their families or with relatives, or, when that is not possible, to successfully transition out of care. In contrast, the Senate budget funds only 15 percent. In conference, the Senate needs to move towards the House budget or it will risk more failed family and relative placements, forcing more children into the more expensive alternative of foster care and risking poorer outcomes for Texas’ most vulnerable children.

House Bill 2860, An Act Relating to the Fostering Connections to Success Act: Testimony to the House Human Services Committee (04/9/2009)

“We appreciate Representative Dukes for authoring this important legislation to provide better financial support to older children in the long-term care of the state and relative caregivers. Last year, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Fostering Connections to Success Act. The act provides new federal matching funds to support extended assistance payments to older children who are adopted, extended foster care payments for older children in the long-term care of the state who are pursuing an education or a job and payments to support relatives who take permanent custody under certain circumstances. (Under the federal law, permanent custody is referred to as guardianship and under Texas law as conservatorship.) House Bill 2860 creates programs that will take advantage of these new federal funds while the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has requested the state general revenue required to fund the state share of the costs.”

Senate Bill 1411, An Act Relating to the Fostering Connections to Success Act: Testimony to the Senate Health & Human Services Committee (04/7/2009)

“We appreciate Senator West for authoring this important legislation to provide better financial support to older children in the long-term care of the state and relative caregivers. Last year, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Fostering Connections to Success Act. The act provides new federal matching funds to support extended assistance payments to older children who are adopted, extended foster care payments for older children in the long-term care of the state who are pursuing an education or a job and payments to support relatives who take permanent custody under certain circumstances. (Under the federal law, permanent custody is referred to as guardianship and under Texas law as conservatorship.) Senate Bill 1411 creates programs that will take advantage of these new federal funds while the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) has requested the state general revenue required to fund the state share of the costs.

HB 2040, Establishing Kinship Guardian Assistance: Testimony to House Human Services Committee (03/26/2009)

CPPP testified on HB 2040, which would provide subsidized kinship care for abused and neglected children. While we support kinship care, we recommended that the Legislature study the issue over the upcoming interim.

Child Protective Services Issues for the 81st Legislative Session: Invited Testimony to the House Human Services Committee (03/10/2009)

The 79th and 80th Legislatures made significant financial investments in Child Protective Services (CPS). CPS used those resources to improve investigations, to keep more children safe in their homes or with relatives, and to increase the number of adoptions for children who could not return to their parents’ care. But challenges remain. To meet these challenges and maintain the momentum of success, the 81st Legislature must continue to invest in CPS.

The 2010-2011 Budget and Child Protective Services: Testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services (02/24/2009)

The 79th and 80th legislatures made significant financial investments in Child Protective Services (CPS). CPS has used those resources to improve investigations, keep more children safe in their homes or with relatives, and to increase the number of adoptions for children who could not return to their parents’ care. It is important that the 81st legislature maintain this momentum of success and continue to invest in CPS so that recent gains are not lost and future challenges can be met.

Federal Funds for Texas CPS (02/23/2009)
Texas relies heavily on federal funds to pay for child protection. This Policy Page describes the major sources of federal funds and their uses. It also discusses policy recommendations of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care and the Kids are Waiting: Fix Foster Care Now campaign.

The 2010-2011 Budget and Child Protective Services: Testimony to the Texas Senate Finance Committee (02/12/2009)

The 79th and 80th legislatures made significant financial investments in Child Protective Services (CPS). CPS has used those resources to improve investigations, keep more children safe in their homes or with relatives, and to increase the number of adoptions for children who could not return to their parents’ care. It is important that the 81st legislature maintain this momentum of success and continue to invest in CPS so that recent gains are not lost and future challenges can be met.

A Better Understanding of Caseworker Turnover within Child Protective Services (02/4/2009)

As every parent knows, children need stability and consistency. For children involved in the child welfare system, who often come from and continue to live in chaotic circumstances, a caseworker may be their only continuous and stable relationship. High caseworker turnover, however, disrupts continuity and stability. To address this problem, this policy paper analyzes turnover data on Texas’ child protective services (CPS) caseworkers and makes recommendations about how turnover can be reduced.

State’s New Managed Health Care Model for Foster Children (11/17/2008)

Senate Bill 6 in 2005 directed HHSC to create a new health care delivery model to provide foster children with comprehensive services, a “medical home,” and coordinated access to care. HHSC worked with the DFPS to develop STAR Health, a new Medicaid managed-care model for foster children, which was implemented on April 1, 2008. This report explores the initial implementation of the program and STAR Health’s potential to improve health outcomes for foster children.

New Federal Foster Care Legislation: What It Means for Texas (11/3/2008)

On October 7, 2008, the President signed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 (H.R. 6893). The act overhauls the federal child welfare structure for the first time since the Adoptions and Safe Families Act in 1997. The law contains new requirements, changes federal financing for adoptions, and provides additional financial assistance for various optional programs. For Texas, none of the changes require new legislation, though the state must appropriate additional funding to fully benefit from the provisions of the new act. This policy paper discusses provisions of the federal legislation and the potential for helping Texas children.

CPPP Applauds Presidential Signing of Legislation to Shore Up Foster Care and Adoptions in The U.S. (10/8/2008)
The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) today applauded presidential signing of the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. The Act contains substantial improvements to the U.S. foster care system. Without this legislation, our nation’s current federal adoptions incentives program would have expired this month.

CPPP Hails U.S. Senate Passage of Adoption Incentives Bill, Urges Quick Presidential Action (09/23/2008)
The Center for Public Policy Priorities today announced that the U.S. Senate passed the Fostering Connection to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, which contains sweeping and comprehensive improvements to the U.S. foster care system. Without this legislation, our nation’s current federal adoptions incentives program would expire on September 30.

Drawing the Line between Public and Private Responsibility in Child Welfare: The Texas Debate (09/4/2008)

Protecting children and strengthening families is difficult, complicated work. Doing it well requires successfully engaging the entire community—both the public and private sectors. In this report, we explore the issues raised by how a state draws the line between public and private responsibility, and we make specific policy recommendations. The report compares Texas to the two states that have most completely privatized, Kansas and Florida.

Testimony on H.R. 5466 – Invest in Kids Act (03/6/2008)
Policy Analyst Tiffany Roper submitted testimony in support of the Invest in Kids Act, which reforms many outdated federal policies and gives states the ability to significantly improve their child welfare systems — keeping children out of care and decreasing the amount of time that children who must be in care spend in care.

Report Card on the Education of Foster Children (02/11/2008)
The public educates children because of our common interest in ensuring that children become responsible and productive adults and to provide an opportunity to every child to achieve their potential. Unfortunately, several national studies show that we aren’t doing a good job educating foster children. Foster children have lower test scores, lower graduation rates, and less post-secondary education. This policy page examines the problem and makes recommendations.

New Report: Lack of Child Abuse & Neglect Prevention Costs the U.S. Over $100 Billion a Year (01/29/2008)
According to a new economic impact analysis by Prevent Child Abuse America, child abuse and neglect cost the United States nearly $104 billion a year. Child abuse and neglect are preventable, yet in 2006, nearly 68,000 Texas children—one million kids nationwide–were confirmed victims of child maltreatment. A just-released study by Kids Are Waiting, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts, finds that the unavailability of federal child welfare funding for prevention programs and services is in part to blame. On average, only 10 percent of federal money dedicated for child welfare can currently be used to prevent child abuse and neglect. According to the report, 8% of federal dollars allocated to Texas for child welfare were used for prevention in 2006. Both reports are available at http://www.kidsarewaiting.org.

Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention in Texas and Nationally (01/29/2008)
The old proverb that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is especially relevant in terms of prevention of child abuse and neglect. Child abuse and neglect are preventable, yet in 2006, nearly 68,000 Texas children were confirmed victims of child abuse and neglect. Nationwide that number jumps to one million. While the federal government spent over 7 billion dollars on child welfare in 2007, most of the federal funding available for state use is restricted to spending on children who have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care. Little money is left to provide the prevention services that can prevent child abuse and neglect from occurring and children from coming into foster care in the first place.

Creating Foster Care Capacity for Abused and Neglected Children (01/14/2008)
When the state takes an abused or neglected child from their parent, a court names the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) the legal custodian of the child—essentially making the state the parent of the child. The state must then do for the child what any parent must—provide food, clothing, and shelter. Since January 2007, however, the state has had to keep over 500 abused and neglected children for at least one night, some for more, in a state office or a hotel room. Every region in the state has had to use offices or hotels, though some more than others. This is only one manifestation of a growing problem—the state does not have enough foster homes. This policy page examines this problem and makes recommendations for capacity building.

Federal Funds for Texas CPS (10/8/2007)
Texas relies heavily on federal funds to pay for child protection and foster care. Unfortunately, federal funds are often too limited or too inflexible to meet our state’s child welfare needs. CPPP’s latest policy brief describes the major sources of federal funds and their uses. It also discusses recent policy recommendations to reform federal funding of child protection made by the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care and other experts.

Testimony on Judicial Commission on Children, Youth, and Families (09/26/2007)
Yesterday the Texas Supreme Court held an historic public hearing on whether to establish a permanent judicial commission on children, youth, and families to strengthen court performance in child protection cases and foster collaboration to improve the child protection system. CPPP testified in favor of the commission. The archived tape of the public hearing is available at http://stmarytxlaw.mediasite.com/stmarytx/Catalog/

Report: More Than 1 in 4 Latino Foster Children Lives With a Grandparent or Relative (09/20/2007)
A new national report finds that 26% of Latino children in foster care are living with relatives. Nationwide, 23% of all foster children live with relatives. In Texas, in open CPS cases, the percentage of children living with relatives is about 26%, though most are not in paid foster care. The large number of children living with relatives underscores the need to make it easier for more relative families to care for their kin. In Congress, legislation is on the table that would allow states to use federal foster care funds to subsidize guardianships and link relative caregivers to a range of services to help the children in their care. The bipartisan Kinship Caregiver Support Act (KCSA) would extend to relatives the same benefits received by those who foster children or adopt children from the system.

Celebrate Grandparents’ Day by Urging Congress to Support Relative Caregivers (09/7/2007)
Every child needs a safe, permanent family to help them grow and flourish. Grandparents and other relatives can be an important resource to provide permanent homes for thousands of children in foster care– but they need the same supports any other foster family gets. Common-sense reforms in Congress could help make this happen– if you add your voice to call for change. In honor of Grandparents’ Day (September 9) call your senators and representative and ask for their support of the bipartisan Kinship Caregiver Support Act (S.661/HR 2188). This federal legislation would help the more than 124,000 children– 1 out of every 4 in foster care– who live with grandparents or other relatives. The bill would enable those relatives to become permanent guardians while maintaining crucial financial and social services support for things like medical visits, food, school clothes, and educational tutoring.

Overview of Major Actions on CHIP, Medicaid and Child Protective Services (08/1/2007)
CPPP Associate Director Anne Dunkelberg and Policy Analyst Tiffany Roper presented an overview of major actions on the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Medicaid, and Child Protective Services to the San Antonio Nonprofit Council.

Analyses to Help You Prepare for the Conference Committee Budget Debate (05/1/2007)
CPPP has revised its overview of the differences between House and Senate state budget proposals for 2008 and 2009. More detailed side-by-side comparisons for Education, Protective Services, Medicaid/CHIP, Public Health, Assistive & Rehabilitative Services, and Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) are also available. Texas can afford to meet all its needs. Texas has at least $3 billion more in General Revenue that the legislature could appropriate. In addition, the legislature could redirect $1.4 billion in the House and Senate proposals that would only undo past payment deferrals. Undoing these payment deferrals has no purpose except to shelter money to pay for tax cuts after 2009. If the legislature appropriated this entire $4.4 billion to meet today’s needs, Texas would still have another $4.3 billion in its Rainy Day Fund to meet an emergency of any sort.

Children Released by TYC Will Hit CPS Hard (04/11/2007)
TYC recently notified Child Protective Services that CPS must find homes for many of the children TYC is releasing. Almost 100 of the children at TYC are in the state’s conservatorship (meaning that before the child was committed to TYC, a court removed the child from the parent’s custody and gave responsibility to CPS), though we do not have a figure for how many of these are scheduled to be released. TYC is also asking CPS to take children for whom TYC cannot locate parents or whom the parents refuse to pick up. TYC releases will hit CPS hard because these TYC children are hard to place—a child coming out of TYC can’t go into just any foster home—and CPS already has a foster care capacity crisis. In February, 42 children spent a combined total of 52 nights sleeping in a state office building. CPS is now putting children up in hotels.

Privatization of State Foster Care and Adoption Services: An Idea Whose Time Has Come or a Disaster in the Making? (04/3/2007)
Child Protective Services (CPS) in the Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) employs specialists who recruit, train, and monitor foster and adoptive parents and complete adoptions. CPS also contracts with private providers for these services. Some argue that the state should maintain this public-private system. Others argue that the state should use only private providers. This Policy Page explores the pros and cons of each approach.

Privatizing Welfare Services Would Put Profit Above Children: Austin American-Statesman (03/19/2007)
Earlier this week, Texas announced the termination of its contract with Accenture, the private company the state hired to enroll Texans in health care, food stamps, and TANF cash assistance. Although privatization was supposed to save the state money and improve services to families, thousands of the most vulnerable Texans were wrongly denied benefits and the state didn’t save a dime. Despite the failure of this privatization experiment, legislation is still in the works to privatize another essential state service — Child Protective Services (CPS), the child welfare arm of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). CPS investigates reports of child abuse and neglect and works to protect these children.

Strengthening Child Protective Services: Comparing SB 758, HB 2140, and HB 3916 with HB 1361 (03/14/2007)
In 2005, the 79th Texas Legislature considered whether to privatize any or all of the child protective responsibilities of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS). At that time, a push to privatize resulted in a mandate to completely privatize case management and substitute care services throughout the state by 2011, with the first region to be privatized by the end of 2007. After contract difficulties, however, implementation of this mandate was put on hold. This legislative session, privatization is under reconsideration. This policy page examines privatization and whether it is the best approach to improving Texas’ child welfare system.

Strengthening Child Protective Services: An Analysis of DFPS’s LAR and Senate Bill 758 (03/5/2007)
This policy page provides CPPP’s analysis of the Legislative Appropriation Request for Child Protective Services, as well as Chairman Nelson’s CPS bill for this session, SB 758.

The Federal Role in Funding Child Protection: How Eliminating the “Lookback” Could Help Texas (02/7/2007)
Nationally, in 1998, more than half of the children in foster care were eligible for federal support, but, by 2005, fewer than half were—an estimated 35,000 fewer children. Experts project that the number of children eligible for support will continue to decline by about 5,000 a year. Many factors contribute to this decline, including changes in state policies and demographics. A new analysis by KIDS ARE WAITING: Fix Foster Care Now, led by The Pew Charitable Trusts, with CPPP as a partner, shows that part of the decline is the result of the federal “lookback” policy. This policy makes a child’s eligibility for federal funds dependent on whether their family would have qualified for support in 1996 under the rules of the now-defunct Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

New National Report: 35,000 Fewer Abused & Neglected Children Eligible for Federal Support; Texas Children at Risk (02/7/2007)
Over the past decade, thousands of foster children and the states responsible for them have lost critical federal support and this problem is only projected to get worse, according to a study just released by KIDS ARE WAITING: Fix Foster Care Now.

Judicial Leadership and Child Protection (01/22/2007)
Across the nation, child welfare judges are taking on a new role—participating in collaborations designed to strengthen the child welfare system, such as multi-disciplinary task forces or court improvement projects. As judicial leadership increases, however, questions have arisen regarding the limits on judicial leadership. When does exercising leadership to improve the system compromise impartiality in individual cases? This policy brief addresses the limitations on judicial leadership in Texas and discusses where judicial leadership is not only appropriate, but also necessary.

Lawyers and Child Protection (01/22/2007)
For years, many have complained about the quality of legal representation in child protection cases. In 2005, the Texas legislature addressed these longtime criticisms through Senate Bill 6 (SB 6), which reformed many aspects of the child welfare system, including representation of children and parents. Much remains to be done, however. The good news is that unlike many challenges facing the state, it is possible to significantly strengthen legal representation in child protection cases in a short period with limited funds. This policy brief provides an overview of the issues, discusses the new provisions of Senate Bill 6, and recommends additional ways to make representation more effective for DFPS, parents, and children.

Presentations at the United Way of Metro Tarrant County’s Pre-Legislative Health and Human Services Public Policy Forum (11/13/2006)
Celia Hagert and Tiffany Roper presented on outsourcing public benefits administration and privatizing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services at the United Way of Metro Tarrant County’s public policy forum.

Comments on HHSC’s Proposal for Comprehensive Medical Care for Children in Foster Care (08/2/2006)
CPPP prepared comments in response to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s proposal for a comprehensive medical system for children in foster care.

Federal Funds for Texas CPS (05/17/2006)
Texas relies heavily on federal funds to pay for child protection and foster care. This Policy Brief describes the major sources of federal funds and their uses. It also discusses the recommendations of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care and describes recent changes in federal funding.

CPPP’s Comments on HHSC’s Outsourcing Proposal (05/12/2006)
CPPP prepared these comments in response to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services Commission’s draft proposal relating to an independent evaluation of outsourcing case management and services in the foster care system.

CPPP’s Comments on DFPS’ Outsourcing Proposal (03/20/2006)
CPPP prepared these comments in response to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ draft proposal relating to outsourcing of case management and services to children and families in the foster care system.

CPPP’s Comments on HHSC’s Proposal to Develop a Medical System for Children in Foster Care (03/20/2006)
CPPP prepared comments in response to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s draft proposal to develop a medical system for children in foster care.

Who’s Who and What to Do in the Texas Child Protection System (01/30/2006)
CPPP is excited to share with you a short brochure we’ve developed to build collaborations in child protection and spread awareness of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care’s court improvement recommendations. CPPP is involved in this work as the Texas partner of Home At Last, a national Pew initiative to ensure that foster children are placed in safe and stable homes as quickly as possible.

A Holiday Wish for Foster Children: Gilmer Mirror (12/26/2005)
It’s difficult to separate the thought of children from the spirit of the season. So full of hope and happiness, children truly embody the magic of the holidays. But for the nearly 28,000 Texas kids who will spend the holidays in foster care, the season is not so bright.

How Texas Can Help Lawyers Help Children: Austin American-Statesman (10/14/2005)
Aimee Blanchard, a 2002 graduate of The University of Texas School of Law, went to law school to become a child welfare attorney. She even spent a year working with abused and neglected children at the Children’s Rights Clinic, a hands-on clinic at UT. As a student attorney representing the legal interests of child clients, Ms. Blanchard did a lot of things that practicing lawyers do– interviewing clients, developing legal strategies for her cases, and arguing her clients’ positions in the courtroom.

National Study: Student Loan Debt Keeps Lawyers from Entering or Staying in the Child Welfare Field (09/28/2005)
Too many of the nearly 28,000 kids in Texas’ foster care system (and the over 500,000 foster children nationwide) lack stable legal representation and are voiceless in the court proceedings that profoundly affect their lives. A first-ever study of children’s attorneys reveals why: many lawyers cannot afford to enter or remain in this low-paying practice area due to overwhelming student loan debt. Over two-thirds (68%) of lawyers surveyed owe at least $50,000 in student loan debt and nearly a quarter (24%) owe $75,000 or more.

Home At Last (09/1/2005)
CPPP is the Texas partner of Home at Last: Moving Children in Foster Care to Safe, Permanent Families (HAL), an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts. HAL is a national and state public education and outreach campaign about the recommendations to enhance federal financing and court oversight of child welfare cases made by the blue-ribbon Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care. HAL focuses on the court recommendations—facilitating better and timelier court decisions related to children’s safety, permanence, and well-being. You can learn more about the Pew Commission’s work and recommendations at www.pewfostercare.org.

Houston KIDS COUNT Conference on Children Powerpoint Presentations (06/15/2005)
The following presentations were given at the Houston KIDS COUNT Conference on Children, a half-day conference on children’s issues in the wake of the 79th Legislative Session.

Statement of F. Scott McCown Regarding Child Protective Services Legislation (05/27/2005)
To answer how child protection fared this session, one must study both the final appropriations bills and Senate Bill 6.

Privatize protective services? Let’s not: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (05/15/2005)
The Texas House has just passed legislation to have private corporations take over the job of ensuring the safety of our abused children and getting them into permanent homes. The proposed legislation calls for firing about 1,700 Child Protective Services caseworkers.

Memo to Conferees on Senate Bill 6: Privatization of Case Management (04/27/2005)
In their different versions of Senate Bill 6, both the Senate and the House require the Department of Family and Protective Services to discontinue its foster and adoption units and outsource all foster care and adoption services. The Senate and the House differ, however, with regard to privatizing case management. The Senate authorizes a regional pilot to test the concept. The House mandates statewide implementation. The conference committee will have to choose between these two approaches.

Scott McCown Statement: House Version of Senate Bill 6 (04/19/2005)
The House made significant changes to Senate Bill 6. In introducing those changes, Chairman Hupp said that the Senate plan did not go far enough. In our judgment, the reverse is true. The House plan goes too far by turning over children in the legal care of the state to private companies. We hope that the Senate can prevail on the House in conference to move toward the Senate plan.

Call to Action for Child Protection (04/15/2005)
Strengthening child protection is critically important. This call to action advises you about what is happening and what you can do to make your voice heard.

CPS Reform Side by Side (04/15/2005)
CPPP’s analysis of where the House and Senate bills stand as of April 15, before the full House vote. Read Call to Action for Child Protection for complete details.

CPS: Is the Legislature Going to Make Things Worse for Texas Children and Families? (04/6/2005)
In an earlier brief, we analyzed privatization of case management. This brief compares CPS performance in Texas to the three states favorably cited by HHSC that have made the greatest use of privatization. Based on this comparison, this brief argues that the Senate proposal to pilot privatization is the only prudent course.

Privatization of Child Protective Services (03/28/2005)
This policy brief analyzes privatizing case management. The brief recommends that before the state privatizes case management, it pilot the concept, perhaps seeking a federal Title IV-E waiver to use federal funds in a demonstration project.

CPPP Statement on HHSC CPS Recommendations (01/6/2005)
Today, the Governor and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission released a long-awaited report on changes that should be made to child protective services (CPS) to safeguard the state’s six million children from abuse or neglect.

Child Protective Services Testimony (10/19/2004)
I am Scott McCown, the director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, the home of the Texas KIDS COUNT Project. Before I came to the center, I served as a district judge for fourteen years, hearing some 2,000 cases regarding child abuse and concerning some 4,000 children.

Funding Child Protection in Texas (10/1/2004)
Texans have recently heard one tragic story after another about the failure of our child protection system. In this policy brief, we explain that Texas has a small, inadequately funded child protection system. We then describe where the state gets money for child protection. Finally, we discuss emerging funding challenges.

Child Welfare (09/30/2004)
Presentation to Houston One Voice Collaborative.

Comments on the 2006-07 Legislative Appropriations Request of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (07/20/2004)
Some Texans think that over time the state has significantly increased support for child protective services, and that CPS remains troubled due to bad management or policies. An objective analysis shows this to be untrue.

Kinship Care in Texas (05/1/2004)
When the state must remove a child from a parent for the child’s protection, the child is often best served by placement with a relative, commonly called kinship care. When a judge makes a placement decision, however, the judge must determine the best interest of a particular child. This determination can be extraordinarily complex. In this policy brief, we discuss these complexities and make recommendations about how to enhance the use of kinship care.

Adoption Subsidies and Foster Families (04/13/2004)
Since the passage by Congress of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), Texas has significantly increased the number of adoptions.

Adoption of Minority Children (03/24/2004)
In 1994, Congress enacted the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act (MEPA), which prohibits states from delaying or denying adoption placements on the basis of race or ethnicity, but which allowed consideration of race and ethnicity in making placement decisions.

Testimony to Interim Committee on Minority Adoption (03/24/2004)
I am Scott McCown and I am testifying on behalf of the Center for Public Policy Priorities. The center has long been concerned about child well-being, and is the home of the Texas KIDS COUNT Project.

Adoption Efforts at the Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services (03/18/2004)
We applaud the Speaker for his interim charge to this committee to study “ways to increase the adoption of special-needs children through efficiency in the Adoption Assistance Program.” Increasing adoptions of special-needs children is of course a subset of a larger question: How do we increase adoptions? But special-needs children do present special challenges.

Adoption Efforts at the Texas Dept. of Family and Protective Services: Testimony on Increasing Adoptions (03/18/2004)
We applaud the Speaker for his interim charge to this committee to study “ways to increase the adoption of special-needs children through efficiency in the Adoption Assistance Program.” Increasing adoptions of special-needs children is of course a subset of a larger question: How do we increase adoptions? But special-needs children do present special challenges.

Foster Care in Texas and Other States Faces a Federal Financing Straitjacket, Says New Report (03/11/2004)
As the effect of state budget cuts to various social services continues to surface in Texas communities, a report released today spotlights states’ troubled foster care systems and how these systems could be improved if states had the flexibility to provide more foster children and their families with critically needed services such as mental health and substance abuse programs.

Comments to the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care Relating to Federal Financing (08/6/2003)
Our comments are divided into three parts: 1) an explanation of how child protection in Texas is different from other states; 2) an explanation of why block grants are particularly devastating to Texas children; and 3) an explanation of why the Title IV-E eligibility “look back” is particularly devastating to Texas children.

Child Protective Services/Foster Care Budget Cuts for 2004-05 (06/6/2003)
This Policy Page describes cuts in child welfare programs administered by the Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, which will receive General Revenue funding of $484 million in the biennium that begins September 1st–down from $529 million in 2002-03, for an overall cut of 9 percent in GR funding.

Preserve the safe house Bush built for children (03/3/2003)
Then-Gov. George W. Bush championed abused children, reforming laws and increasing funding for child protection. Everything he did for children, however, the 78th Legislature under Gov. Rick Perry will undo unless they fund Child Protective Services.

Testimony on Protective & Regulatory Services Budget in 2004-05 Appropriations Bill (02/25/2003)
I am F. Scott McCown, Executive Director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a non-partisan, non-profit policy research organization concerned about low- and moderate-income Texans. Child welfare is an important issue for the center; it has also long been a major interest of mine.

Child Well-Being Funding Needs in 2002-2003 (02/5/2001)
On Tuesday, February 6th, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS) is scheduled to have its budget request heard by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. Individuals and groups who are concerned about state funding for child protective services (CPS), foster care, adult protective services, at-risk prevention programs for children and youth, child care regulation, and many other important DPRS programs will have a chance to testify at this hearing. This Policy Page summarizes important recent developments in DPRS funding.

All Grown Up, Nowhere to Go: Teens in Foster Care Transition (01/1/2001)
The Texas Foster Care Transitions Project, a research effort conducted by the Center for Public Policy Priorities, provides a first glimpse of a little-known but extremely vulnerable population of young people in Texas— foster youth who have transitioned from the care of the state to independence.

Child Protective Services Budget Issues (03/12/1999)
One health and human service budget issue that has successfully captured legislators’ attention and support is the need to increase funding for the Texas Department of Regulatory Services (DPRS), the state agency responsible for investigating and preventing abuse or neglect of Texas children and adults, regulating child care facilities, and providing foster care and adoption services for children who cannot remain in their biological families. An emergency spending package is likely to provide more money to DPRS in the remainder of this fiscal year, and the general appropriations act (HB 1/SB 2) will probably provide more resources for 2000 and 2001, although not as much as is needed to fully address Texas’ child abuse crisis.

Protective Services Threatened on Many Fronts (10/26/1995)
The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services (DPRS), which operates the state’s Child and Adult Protective Services programs, receives funding from many federal sources. Not only does the agency rely upon traditional child welfare (i.e. child protective) funding sources like Title IV-E Foster Care and Title IV-B Child Welfare Services, DPRS also receives substantial federal funding from Title XIX Medicaid, Title XX Social Services Block Grant and Title IV-A Emergency Assistance. In all sixty percent — $298 million — of DPRS’s 1996 operating budget is projected to come from federal funding sources.

Texas recently refused almost a billion dollars from the federal government to improve its school system. Texas has suffered the lowest graduation rates in the nation with the worst racial disparities.

Houston schools superintendent wrote at the time; “I have 100,000 kids in Houston who don’t read at grade level”.

Georgia education officials recently ordered investigations at 191 schools across the state where they found evidence of tampering on answer sheets for the state’s standardized achievement test.

The list of inner city schools struggling to educate the children of those who could not get to (or for reasons of loyalty, love, or ethics) decided not to, escape to the suburbs where the schools still function is long.

My old high school, Edison, built in 1922, graduates less than 50% of its students, its sister school across town has graduated less than 30% of its students for five years running.

As a nation, we know that high school dropouts have a far greater chance of preteen pregnancy, years of costly incarceration and leading dysfunctional lives that they pass on to their children (who will repeat this cycle).

25% of America’s graduating seniors are now functionally illiterate, and U.S. graduation rates are among the worst in the world.

Today, many states are increasing their percentage of spending on juvenile justice and criminal justice while maintaining or reducing spending on education.

New York and California have been spending about $250,000 per year per juvenile in their juvenile justice systems. MN has reached the half a billion dollar mark for maintaining its prison system this year after five years of double digit growth.

We are spending more on prisons than on schools and we are getting more accomplished criminals than good students.

“What we do to our children, they will do to our society”

Kids At Risk Action seeks information about what is happening in your community that impacts abused and neglected children.

Send us your stories.

Comment here, or privately; Info@invisiblechildren.org

Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/KidsAtRisk

I have posted what I think to be two well written perspectives of this issue. Please share your comments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/12schools.html
New York Times
Board’s Decision to Close 28 Kansas City Schools Follows Years of Inaction
By SUSAN SAULNY
Published: March 11, 2010

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Like so many other public school parents, Reshonda Sanders felt confused on Thursday as she tried to comprehend why nearly half of the schools here, including her own alma mater, are to close for good at the end of the year. As the mother of two high school students, she was well aware of the district’s struggles.

Ed Zurga/Associated Press
Kansas City, Mo. officials will close about half of its schools.
Related

Kansas City to Close Nearly Half Its Schools (March 11, 2010)
Room for Debate: Does the Size of a School Matter?
“But even so, I thought, Could they be serious? Close almost 30 schools, all at once?” said Ms. Sanders, 34. “That’s devastating for us. How did it get to be this bad? What were they doing for years and years so that something like this happens just like overnight?”

In her bafflement, Ms. Sanders is not alone. In the wake of the Kansas City school board’s decision to shutter 28 of its 61 schools, many people were left scratching their heads. While school closings as a result of demographic change and tight budgets are commonplace across the country, rarely does a system lose half of itself in one sweep.

The sudden move suggests a depth of dysfunction here that is rarely associated with Kansas City, a lively heartland town with a reputation for order. But a closer look at the school board’s recent history reveals a chaotic, almost nonfunctioning body that put off making tough choices and even routine improvements for generations. Experts said that in the board’s years of inaction is a cautionary tale for school districts everywhere.

“This is extraordinary,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a research group in Washington. “The school board was dysfunctional for years. There was very poor governance for a long period of time, and it was like a revolving door with superintendents.”

Mr. Jennings also said the board was plagued with “a general unwillingness to face the facts” of the chaos it created.

Students have been leaving the Kansas City public schools in droves. Close to 18,000 students exited to better suburban districts or charter schools in the last 10 years alone. The student enrollment is now 17,400 children, who are mostly black and impoverished.

And achievement levels in the schools are abysmal: Fewer than a third of elementary students in the city schools read at or above grade level. And in most of the schools, fewer than a quarter of students are proficient at their grade levels.

Faced with a $50 million deficit in its $300 million budget, the district decided to close the schools. The plan also calls for the elimination of 700 of 3,000 jobs, including teaching positions.

Education experts praised the new schools superintendent, John Covington, who was hired in April from the Pueblo, Colo., school district where he was also superintendent, for pushing for change. A former principal and teacher, Dr. Covington spent months researching and writing the Right-Sizing plan, and managed to win a 5-to-4 majority from the board.

Previous superintendents had failed in similar efforts to downsize the district.

“He put a mountain of information out there with statistics, and people finally understood what was happening, even if they didn’t like it,” said Duane Kelly, who has been a school board member for 10 years and voted in favor of the closings. “It was time.”

The local teachers’ union agreed. “We have buildings that are half empty,” said Andrea Flinders, the union president. “We recognized that schools needed to be closed, but the board wasn’t willing. This board is different.”

If the schools had fallen into bankruptcy, as was predicted before the closings, the state would have seized control, and made changes as it saw fit.

In 2006, the Council of the Great City Schools, a Washington-based coalition of the nation’s largest school districts, produced an extensive analysis of what was going wrong in the Kansas City schools. It concluded that the board wasted too much time on administrative trivia, its instructional program lacked “cohesion and forward momentum” and it had “no machinery” for intervening when students fell behind.

The council included advice in the report on how the schools could fix themselves, but little if any action appeared to have been taken as a result.

At times before Wednesday night’s vote, the board’s meeting threatened to fall into chaos, with members trading insults, not following rules of order and even crying. An angry audience shouted its general disapproval.

“This is too much, too fast,” said a parent, Carmen Edwards, after the vote.

Nakisha Eubanks, a mother of three students, said: “I don’t want my kids in this district, going through all this disruption. But I can’t move, and I don’t have transportation. So, this is it.”

Minneapolis Startribune.com March 8, 2010

Don Samuels, Chanda Baker, Sondra Samuels: As the teachers union digs in, it’s students who suffer
By DON SAMUELS, CHANDA BAKER, and SONDRA SAMUELS

On a personal level, union leaders such as Education Minnesota President Thomas Dooher no doubt care about our schools, teachers and communities. We all know many wonderful teachers in Education Minnesota’s ranks. They are our relatives, neighbors and friends.
Yet on issue after issue, Dooher stands defiantly in the school entrance, horn in hand, blocking any innovation that would lift black children from north Minneapolis out of the endless cycle of poverty and failure. Many leaders within the black community, including us, will not stand politely by and allow such injustice at the hands of Education Minnesota to happen any longer.

Only 34 percent of the Minneapolis district’s black students graduate from high school in four years, compared with almost 70 percent of whites, according to the latest state figures. Last year, only 8.6 percent of black students were proficient on state science tests, compared with 61.4 percent of white students.

Despite the crisis in our urban education system, Dooher publicly stated that he would rather lose hundreds of millions of dollars for our public schools than give up union positions on issues like performance pay and alternative teacher certification — strategies that President Obama supports for closing the achievement gap.

Well, Dooher got his wish last week, when Minnesota failed to become a finalist in the Race to the Top program and secure up to $250 million of the $4.35 billion competition. Make no mistake: Despite the public statement that “we’re obviously disappointed,” Dooher achieved his goal.

To their credit, almost 90 percent of Minnesota’s school districts and charter schools, as well as 28 union locals, including in Minneapolis and St. Paul, supported the president’s innovations, but it was not enough to override the state union’s opposition.

What is the union leader’s next target? Dooher opposes another proven innovation touted by the president — the alternative teacher certification bill under consideration in the Minnesota Legislature, which would widen the pool of qualified candidates entering the field from different paths and attract more minorities into the teacher ranks.

Minnesota has one of the largest achievement gaps in the nation, and we believe alternative teacher certification is one of the missing links as to why Minnesota’s urban core schools have not yet realized the success of many of their counterparts in other cities. Students trapped in consistently low-performing schools have been robbed of their right to a high-quality education and effective teachers. If the Legislature passes alternative teacher certification, it would open the pipeline to programs like Teach For America, which recruits top-notch teachers into high-needs classrooms.

Although Dooher has claimed otherwise, a growing body of extensive reputable research from the Urban Institute and others indicates that Teach For America teachers are as effective as veteran and fully certified teachers. On behalf of our struggling students, we need these talented individuals leading our kids to academic success.

We tout our predominantly white suburban schools as some of the best in the nation, which they are. Yet today the African-American, Hispanic and immigrant families living in north Minneapolis and many other neighborhoods in the urban core have few, if any, choices to send their children to quality schools that match our high-performing suburban schools.

Education Minnesota’s hollow defense of the status quo is a cynical, morally bankrupt agenda, which focuses more on protecting the adult members of teacher unions than protecting the interests of the state’s most vulnerable children. Dooher has become the last holdout for the failed status quo, one that has yielded no significant change to the achievement gap over the last three decades. His commitment to thwarting real reform has blocked every bridge that spans the racial and socioeconomic performance gap.

Other related works; Preparing for Prison? Inner-city Schools and the Extended Reach of Criminal Justice

http://www.allacademic.com/one/www/research/index.php?cmd=www_search&offset=0&limit=5&multi_search_search_mode=publication&multi_search_publication_fulltext_mod=fulltext&textfield_submit=true&search_module=multi_search&search=Search&search_field=title_idx&fulltext_search=%3Cb%3EPreparing+for+Prison%3F++Inner-city+Schools+and+the+Extended+Reach+of+Criminal+Justice%3C%2Fb%3E&PHPSESSID=fb5be97e8821beb4e1690544b38d298c

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/feb/17/social-services-to-feel-house-budget-cuts/

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/affordable_after-school_care_n.html

http://www.irp.wisc.edu/dispatch/2010/02/12/

http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x1834673907/Edmond-agency-sees-budget-cuts-growth-in-need

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/article/BOBMGAT17_20100217-195001/325011/

http://utahlegislaturewatch.org/2009/02/13/legislative-education-budget-committee-more-cuts-to-education-shorten-school-year/

http://www2.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/va._education_officials_decry_k-12_budget_cuts/41715/

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/gov_patersons_budget_plan_woul.html

Kids At Risk Action seeks information about what is happening in your community that impacts abused and neglected children.

Send us your stories.

Comment here, or privately; Info@invisiblechildren.org

The vast majority of the children we will be tying up & confining come from very troubled homes. Or, as former MN Supreme court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz has stated, about 90% of the youth in juvenile justice have come through child protection services.

Before a child can become removed from a home through child protection services, they have lived for a long time in an abusive or neglectful home and have been tortured as defined by the World Health Organization.

It’s not the happy children that we will be restraining - it’s the three million children that are reported to child protection in America each year.

In my experience, the WHO’s definition of torture fits the life experience of a child that has been removed from an abusive home; “extended exposure to violence and deprivation” has been their life. The U.S. has no other child protection policy than the IMMINENT HARM DOCTRINE.

The link between an abused child’s past tortured life and future troubled life is clear to most of us that have lived with or worked with these damaged children long enough. It causes me great pain to see my guardian ad-Litem kids handled like mad animals (tasered, confined, beat up by under-trained staff in under-resourced detention centers)

These are the children that develop behavior problems in school, get into trouble with delinquency, juvenile justice & the court system. Without appropriate services, they are on a one way path to criminal justice, poverty, preteen pregnancy & dysfunctional lifestyles (and that is often forever).

Our schools, jails, and courts are filled with abused and neglected children.

Thirteen million prison and jail releases in the U.S. last year, & America has more crime and criminals per capita than any other nation in the world. All because we can’t stop punishing abused and neglected children.

States that have discovered restorative justice and a therapeutic approach for youth are saving money and getting terrific results. States that continue to punish and incarcerate are feeling the burden of failure of public policy.

Children with serious behavioral problems need help getting to normal.

Most children with serious behavioral problems that don’t get help end up leading dysfunctional lives. It is far less costly to help a child get to normal than to let the child develop into a dysfunctional adult.

A good number of the children I have worked with in child protection have never had a nice day in their life, have a great need for mental health services, and do not respond well to threats or punishment.

The need for early childhood programs and mental health help is tremendous. Most states are using way to many psychotropics along with brute force and punishment against children that have already endured horrifically tortured home lives.

The A.C.E. study in Ramsey County demonstrated that about 70% of the serious and violent crime committed by youth in the county was committed by youth from under four % of the families in the county.

Our current policies of punishment instead of treating the behavior problems of children has failed and will continue to fail.

If our policies are to be measured by what they produce, it must be said that America’s politics of punishing abused and neglected children (restraint, confinement, imprisonment, lack of a humane approach to children), are producing juvenile delinquents, preteen mothers, overcrowded prisons and unsafe cities. Internationally, we are no longer a leader in the quality of life indices that we lead in for so long.

Minneapolis Minnesota has a mental health model in its school system that could work for the nation. Missouri went from 90% recidivism in its juvenile justice system to almost 90% success in just a few years with a therapeutic and caring approach to youth.

The economics of saving children through these models is proven and our mandate to care for the weakest and most vulnerable among us has been with us since time began, yet we continue to charge eleven year old children in adult criminal court & legislate to heap more punishment on abused and neglected children.

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A child’s right to be heard is the essence of the guardian ad-Litem program. Think about it. Voiceless, helpless children enduring unspeakable horrors, sometimes for many years with no one to turn to for help.

The World Health Organization defines Torture as extended exposure to violence and deprivation. That is how I see child abuse.

In my experience as a guardian ad-Litem, a child often doesn’t even know that these terrible adult behaviors are wrong or they they have not done something to cause them.

Unspeakable crimes are committed against children but its not a crime in most third world nations, and it is rarely discovered if child protection services are under-trained or under resourced in industrialized nations.


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Developing nations struggle to provide any protection for young children unlucky enough to be born into violent or dysfunctional families. Girls are still treated like objects in much of the third world.

When I spoke at the UN a few years ago, a woman from Africa explained that there “were not words” to describe the commonality of the abuse perpetrated upon children in her country.

Today’s New York Times had a terrible example in Yeman, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/opinion/04kristof.html
OP-ED COLUMNIST

Divorced Before Puberty

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: March 3, 2010

It’s hard to imagine that there have been many younger divorcées — or braver ones — than a pint-size third grader named Nujood Ali (about the same age as Jerry Lee Lewis’ first wife in the U.S. fifty years ago).

So to read that Ireland is implementing a guardian ad-Litem program, which gives a child a voice in his/her own life was a definite step forward for humanity last week.

The Irish Times – Monday, March 1, 2010
Implementing best practice on the right of children to be heard

The proposed wording for the constitutional amendment on childrens rights provides an opportunity for a world-class system allowing children’s voices to be heard

THE PROPOSED wording for the amendment to the Constitution on children’s rights includes a reference to “the right of the child’s voice to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, having regard to the child’s age and maturity”. This was enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989, to which Ireland is a party.

Being afforded the opportunity to be heard by the decision-maker on matters affecting oneself is one of the cornerstones of due process, not only in criminal law cases, but also in civil law cases, such as child care and family law cases, in which children’s interests are often at stake.

While legal representation may be appropriate for older teenagers in order to be heard, most children will require help in transmitting their views to the court. In Ireland, this assistance takes the form of the guardian ad litem (guardian in law), usually an independent social worker. However, provision for the right of children to be heard through either mechanism in civil law cases in Ireland has, to date, been minimalistic and ad-hoc.

The Child Care Act 1991 permits the appointment of a guardian ad litem for a child involved in proceedings relating to care and supervision orders, where the child is not a party to proceedings. This is a matter for the discretion of the judge, and practice varies between regions and individual judges. Furthermore, the appointment is paid for by the HSE, which can raise conflicts of interest, because child care cases often involve children being taken into the care of the HSE.

The Children Act 1997 provides for the appointment of a guardian ad litem in family law proceedings. This provision has not entered into force, so it is not used in practice. The net effect of inadequate legislation in both child care and family law proceedings is that the majority of children are left unheard in matters directly concerning them.

It is useful to look at the experiences of other countries in order to consider how the right of children to be heard could be adequately provided for in Ireland. There is a strong presumption in favour of the appointment of guardians ad litem in the respective systems of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In fact, guardians ad litem are automatically appointed unless the court is satisfied that it is not necessary to do so. This ensures a level of consistency in appointment between regions and individual judges.

The legislative provision for hearing children in family law cases as opposed to care cases is not as strong in these neighbouring jurisdictions, but at least some systems are in place. In family law proceedings, the court may be assisted by Children’s Court officers in Northern Ireland and Family Court advisers in England, who may interview the children involved to obtain their views.

In the Scottish system, all children in family law cases receive a form from the court, inviting them to let the judge know whether they wish to express views. In any civil proceedings in Scotland, the equivalent of a guardian ad litem can be appointed by the court to protect the interests of the child (for example if there is a conflict of interest between child and parent/s).

Children are considered competent to instruct a solicitor from the age of 12, and solicitors can accept instruction from children under this age if they consider the children have the capacity to instruct.

It is useful to consider the comments of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the right to be heard. The committee advises states to avoid stipulating minimum ages at which children should be heard, but instead to have processes in place for assessing the capacities of children to form views if the issue arises. The committee urges that children should have a large measure of choice about whether to speak directly to the judge or whether to be heard through a representative.

The right to be heard is interpreted by the committee as including the right of children to have their views seriously considered. Children’s views should hold a significant amount of weight if they are clear, reasonable and independent. Children should also be provided with adequate information at all stages (unless this is inappropriate), and should have the outcome of the case explained to them, including the position of their views within the process.

An important factor in proper implementation of the right of children to be heard would be the existence of a regulatory body to oversee its application in both types of proceedings. Such an organisation could administer the guardian ad litem service and provide for social reports and other means of enabling children to express views where those children wish to do so. It could also ensure that the guidance from the UN committee is put into practice.

The system in Ireland will have to be vastly improved to vindicate the right of children to be heard. The proposed constitutional amendment provides us with a chance to improve practice and to develop a world class system enabling Ireland to abide by directions of the UN committee, incorporate best practice, and surpass provision elsewhere.

Aoife Daly is completing a PhD on the right of children to be heard at the School of Law, Trinity College Dublin, and teaches a course on children’s rights at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway

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As a volunteer guardian ad-Litem working with abused and neglected children in my county, I have watched services for at risk children disappear and the horrible results that follow. It is becoming unbearable at this time of economic unrest.

Seniors of the 1950’s were well served by the public support they received when people stood up for them at the time.

Where is that support for the millions of children reported to child protection services in this nation each year and why is it that 90% of the youth in juvenile justice have passed through child protection systems and are headed for criminal justice & U.S. preteen pregnancy and STD rates are the highest in the world?

I remember a nation that stood by its weakest and most vulnerable citizens. Where did they go?

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:How Widespread a Problem?

A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:
How Widespread a Problem?
http://unhappygrammy-grandparentsblog.blogspot.com/

A New York University Survey determined that over 28% of the children in foster care had been abused while in the system. The cases noted were frightening. Louisiana a study indicated that 21% of abuse and neglect cases involved foster homes. Hundreds of Louisiana foster children were shipped to Texas.

Stephen Berzon of the Children’s Defense Fund explained the shocking findings of the court before a Congressional subcommitte, saying: “children were physically abused, handcuffed, beaten, chained, and tied up, kept in cages, and overdrugged with psychotropic medication for institutional convenience.”

The rest of this report is terrifying. Many states have decades long histories of ignoring the physical violence and overt sexual abuse of very young children. This report names names, dates, and places.

California paid $18 million to children that were abused while in its custody. This is a frightening story.

I agree with Children’s Rights Project attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry: “There are a lot of injuries, a lot of abuse. The most significant thing is the psychological death of so many of these kids. Kids are being destroyed every day, destroyed by a government-funded system set out to help them.”

Each state must look hard at the outcomes it wants to achieve. Recent studies show that 80% of children aging out of foster care are leading dysfunctional lives

There is an institutional violence done to children when the system is too busy, too under-trained, or under-resourced to include family members.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2010
A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:How Widespread a Problem?

A Critical Look At The Foster Care System:
How Widespread a Problem?

——————————————————————————–

HOW WIDESPREAD A PROBLEM?
One of the most comprehensive surveys of abuse in foster care was conducted in conjunction with a Baltimore lawsuit. Trudy Festinger, head of the Department of Research at the New York University School of Social Work, determined that over 28 per cent of the children in state care had been abused while in the system.

Reviewed cases depicted “a pattern of physical, sexual and emotional abuses” inflicted upon children in the custody of the Baltimore Department.

Cases reviewed as the trial progressed revealed children who had suffered continuous sexual and physical abuse or neglect in foster homes known to be inadequate by the Department. Cases included that of sexual abuse of young girls by their foster fathers, and that of a young girl who contracted gonorrhea of the throat as a result of sexual abuse in an unlicenced foster home.[1]

In Louisiana, a study conducted in conjunction with a civil suit found that 21 percent of abuse or neglect cases involved foster homes.[2]

In another Louisiana case, one in which thousands of pages of evidence were reviewed, and extensive testimony and depositions were taken, it was discovered that hundreds of foster children had been shipped out of the state to Texas.

Stephen Berzon of the Children’s Defense Fund explained the shocking findings of the court before a Congressional subcommitte, saying: “children were physically abused, handcuffed, beaten, chained, and tied up, kept in cages, and overdrugged with psychotropic medication for institutional convenience.”[3]

In Missouri, a 1981 study found that 57 percent of the sample children were placed in foster care settings that put them “at the very least at a high risk of abuse or neglect.”[4]

A later report issued in 1987 found that 25 percent of the children in the Missouri sample group had been victims of “abuse or inappropriate punishment.”

Children’s Rights Project attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry described the findings of the Missouri review before the Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families:

The most troubling result of the Kansas City review was the level of abuse, undetected or unreported, in foster homes. 25% of the children in the sample were the subject of abuse or inappropriate punishment. 88% of those reports were not properly investigated.[5]

SEXUAL ABUSE
A recent class action lawsuit filed on behalf of foster children in the State of Arizona serves well to indicate the extent of sexual abuse of children in state care.

The suit alleges that over 500 of an estimated 4,000 foster children, a figure representing at least 12.5 percent of the state’s foster care population, have been sexually abused while in state care.

The action also charged that “the acts and omissions of Defendants were done in bad faith, with malice, intent or deliberate indifference to and/or reckless disregard for the health, safety and rights of the Plaintiffs.”[6]

But the problems associated with foster placements in Arizona are not limited to sexual abuse. During a recent two year period, one foster child died on average every seven and a half weeks in the state of Arizona. Four of them were reported as having been “viciously beaten to death” by their foster parents.[7]

The sexual abuse of children in government custody would appear to be a particularly widespread problem.

In Maryland, a 1992 study found that substantiated allegations of sexual abuse in foster care are four times higher than that found among the general population.[8]

In Kentucky, sex abuse in foster care was “all over the newspapers,” according to department head Larry Michalczyk.

The former Commissioner explained that within a few years of time, his state saw a child die while in residential placement, a lawsuit filed against a DSS staff member on behalf of a foster child, and legislative inquiries into its child protection system.[9]

Kentucky would prove to be a problematic state, as case reviewers would find that only 55 percent of the children in the state’s care had the legally mandated case plans.[10]

Perhaps the most significant indicator of the true extent of sexual abuse in foster care was a survey of alumni of what was described as an “exemplary” and “model” program in the Pacific Northwest, argues University professor Richard Wexler.

“In this lavishly-funded program caseloads were kept low and both workers and foster parents got special training. This was not ordinary foster care, this was Cadillac Foster Care,” he explained.

In this “exemplary” program, 24 percent of the girls responding to a survey said they were victims of actual or attempted sexual abuse in the one home in which they had stayed the longest. Significantly, they were not even asked about the other foster homes in which they had stayed.[11]

The Children’s Rights Project has initiated a number of successful civil suits against foster care and child welfare systems. One such landmark suit was brought against the Illinois foster care system. Attorney Benjamin Wolf instituted the legal action after concluding that the states foster care system functioned as “a laboratory experiment to produce the sexual abuse of children.”[12]

Yet by many accounts, the sexual abuse of children in the state’s care has increased along with the increase in placements, successful lawsuits notwithstanding. Even Patrick Murphy, the outspoken Cook County Public Guardian, admits that sexual abuse of children in the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has probably increased.[13]

SYSTEMWIDE ABUSES
According to an Associated Press investigation, in nearly half the states, cases take years to come to completion as agencies repeatedly fail to investigate abuse reports in a timely fashion, find permanent homes for children, or even keep track of those children under their care and custody.[14]

For various reasons, ranging from failure to provide adequate supervision and oversight of workers, to failure to provide safe child care facilities, 22 states and the District of Columbia have been ruled inadequate by the courts and now operate under some form of judicial supervision.[15]

But the reader should not be reassured that such problems are isolated only to those states which have been successfully litigated against. As Children’s Rights Project attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry explained to a Congressional subcommittee: “We have turned down requests from a number of other states to institute additional lawsuits, solely because of a lack of resources.”[16]

A 1986 survey conducted by the National Foster Care Education Project found that foster children were 10 times more likely to be abused than children among the general population. A follow-up study in 1990 by the same group produced similar results.[17]

The American Civil Liberties Union’s Children’s Rights Project similarly estimates that a child in the care of the state is ten times more likely to be abused than one in the care of his parents.[18]

In a legal action brought by the Children’s Rights Project against the District of Columbia child welfare system, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that:

because of the appalling manner in which the system is managed, children remain subject to continuing abuse and neglect at the hands of heartless parents and guardians, even after the DHS has received reports of their predicaments. The court also found that youngsters who have been taken into the custody of the District’s foster-care system languish in inappropriate placements, with scarce hope of returning to their families or being adopted.
The Court also found that the agency entrusted with the care of children “has consistently evaded numerous responsibilities placed on it by local and federal statutes.” Among the deficiencies cited was “failure to provide services to families to prevent the placement of children in foster care.”[19]

Frustrated by the lack of progress after years of litigation, child advocates succeeded in placing the District of Columbia child welfare system into full receivership in 1995, making it the first such system in the nation to come under the direct control of the Court.[20]

In a Pennsylvania case, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit wrote in a 1994 decision: “It is a matter of common knowledge (and it is not disputed here) that in recent years the system run by DHS and overseen by DPW has repeatedly failed to fulfill its mandates, and unfortunately has often jeopardized the welfare of the children in its care.”

The original complaint, filed by the Children’s Rights Project on April 4, 1990, alleged that systemic deficiencies prevent the Pennsylvania department from performing needed services, and that it consistently violates the due process rights of both parents and children:

Specifically, plaintiffs claim that these amendments confer the right not to be deprived of a family relationship; the right not to be harmed while in state custody; the right to placement in the least restrictive, most appropriate placement; the right to medical and psychiatric treatment; the right to care consistent with competent professional judgment; and the right not to be deprived of liberty or property interests without due process of law.[21]
One of the plaintiffs in the Pennsylvania suit was “Tara M.” on whose behalf the ACLU charged the city of Philadelphia with neglect. Human Services Commissioner Joan Reeves guaranteed the young girl an adoptive home with specially trained parents.

In August of 1996, Tara M. would make the headlines once again, as her new foster parents were sentenced for “one of the most appalling cases of child abuse” Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn E. Temin said she had ever heard.

Nine-year-old Tara has had three skin grafts and wears a protective stocking in recovery from burns over more than half her body. Police said the foster parents punished the girl by stripping her, forcing her into the bathtub and dousing her with buckets of scalding water. This was the very best of care the city could provide for Tara, a girl who had already endured years of physical and sexual abuse in the several foster homes into which she had been placed over the years.[22]

The Children’s Rights Project has also been involved in suits against child welfare systems in the states of Connecticut, Kansas, Louisiana and New Mexico, and the cities of Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Milwaukee, and New York City.[23]

Says Children’s Rights Project attorney Marcia Robinson Lowry: “There are a lot of injuries, a lot of abuse. The most significant thing is the psychological death of so many of these kids. Kids are being destroyed every day, destroyed by a government-funded system set out to help them.”[24]

In California, as of 1989 Los Angeles County alone had paid $18 million in settlements to children who had been abused while in its custody.

One such case involved a nine-year-old boy who weighed only 28 lbs., and who could hardly speak after the suicides of his parents. County social workers failed to visit him in his foster home for four months.

During that time, he was beaten, sodomized, burned on his genitals and nearly drowned by his foster parents. He became a spastic paraplegic. By 1990 the state was threatening to take over Los Angeles County’s child welfare system.[25]

The California-based Little Hoover Commission, in examining the functioning of the foster care system determined: “That children can come to harm–and even die–while supposedly under the protection of foster care is not in dispute.” Some cases cited by the Commission included:

A foster mother arrested in Los Angeles on charges of beating to death her 23-month-old foster son, allegedly over toilet training problems.
A Los Angeles woman arrested for the attempted murder of a 19-month-old foster child who she said fell from a jungle gym. Doctors believed the severe head injuries, which may result in blindness, could only have come from abuse.
A Sacramento woman who was injured in a car accident who voluntarily placed her daughter in a foster care facility. During a tantrum by the child, an employee of the facility wrapped her in a blanket and squatted on her. She was later discovered dead.[26]

MINIMIZING THE ABUSES
Child welfare departments are rarely forthcoming with information about the actual extent of harm that comes to children in their care. It is largely through audits and casereadings associated with legal actions that the actual extent of abuses in the foster care system come to light.

The reasons for this may not be as complex as they are often made to appear.

Child welfare officials who have managed to entrench themselves in lifetime civil service positions in the more desirable nooks and crannies of the child welfare system have a vested interest to protect, and those who run public bureaucracies have devised their own “rationalized myths” to protect their interests, argues sociologist John Hagedorn.

The myths of “doing good” benefit those who are advantaged by existing institutional arrangements. Even as politicians are constantly criticizing “bureaucracy” and “bureaucrats,” they approve millions of dollars worth of public funds to keep the bureaucracies running. As Hagedorn succinctly explains:

It’s simply too risky for bureaucrats to admit that their agency may not be “doing good.” The erosion of that myth may lead someone to investigate them or even propose cutting their budgets.[27]
But if there is one thing that is riskier for bureaucrats than admitting that their system may not be doing good, it is that it is doing far more harm than good.

Thus we find situations such as that in which the California Department’s legal division discovered a “secret room” in the Los Angeles Department containing 15 filing cabinets holding approximately 3,000 case files on foster care facilities that had problems which were not reported to the state.

In one case, ten foster children slept on the floor of a garage, while ten more were crammed into an upstairs bedroom. Three had been abused, one with a fractured skull and two broken limbs. Yet the home was not closed until months after the conditions were discovered.[28]

Thus we find caseworkers in a Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services office running files relating to a botched investigation through a paper-shredder.[29]

Thus we find a New York City caseworker indicating as “unfounded” the repeated rapes of a young girl in institutional care, notwithstanding the testimony of credible witnesses.[30]

Thus we find an agency administrator in Oklahoma quietly dismissing two agency employees accused of the sexual abuse of foster children without so much as a blot on their records.[31]

Thus we find what was described as a “whitewash of wrongdoing” in an edited audit of a child welfare office in Utah, and death threats made against the rare brave legislator who dared to push for the public release of the unexpurgated document.[32]

Thus we find a report of system-wide abuses at the Columbus-Maryville “shelter” in Illinois suppressed by Cook County Public Guardian Patrick Murphy.[33]

THE QUIET ABUSES
With the high rate of multiple placements that most foster children endure, the possibility that they may experience overt physical or sexual abuse becomes an increasing certainty with each move. Yet even those children who are not subjected to overt physical or sexual abuse in state care often endure conditions tantamount to abuse.

Due to the overuse of foster care, the high number of children in custody often results in children being placed on a bed-available basis.[34]

The number of conventional foster homes in the public sector has dropped from 125,000 in 1988 to 100,000 today–and the “exodus continues,” says Gordon Evans, information director for the National Foster Parent Association in Houston.

Evans notes that the average number of children per home is 3.7–up from about 1.4 in 1983–and he estimates that “tens of thousands” care for six, seven, and eight youngsters at a time.[35]

Because of the shortage of conventional foster homes, and due in no small measure to the unwillingness of child welfare agencies to provide meaningful services to families, children continue to be shuttled off to institutional or residential placements on a bed-available basis.

Julie and her twin brother Juan were two such children. They were placed with their grandmother who tried to obtain needed services for them. The agency neglected to provide services, instead shuttling them in and out of five placements in which they often failed to receive proper medical care for their health problems.

The agency then sent Julie and Juan, at the age of two, to an institution for adolescent boys. When their grandmother visited them she discovered that Julie had been physically abused. The twins were then placed with a foster mother who again abused them, while failing to provide proper medical care.

Juan, after suffering a great deal of pain, died at age 3 before he could be returned to his grandmother. Julie’s condition worsened after her brother’s death, and she died at age four. The advocacy group Children’s Rights sued the city of New York for damages, and a jury awarded $87,500 to Julie’s estate. Her surviving sister plans to use the money to attend college.[36]

Julie and Juan’s story is in many respects typical. Because of the shortage of conventional foster homes due to the high number of children being unnecessarily placed in care, children often have labels assigned arbitrarily for purposes of placement.

Children may end up in a place like the Hegeman Diagnostic Center in Brooklyn, where a twelve-year-old girl who had been raped in a foster home was brought–only to be sexually abused by other girls at the center.

“We believe that assaults, sexual and otherwise, occur daily at the center,” said Karen Freedman of Lawyers for Children.[37]

Or they may wind up in a private residential treatment center like Indian Oaks in Manteno, Illinois, on the grounds of what used to be the state mental institution.

“Indian Oaks occupies one building, but the rest is desolate, empty, broken buildings,” says Peter Schmiedel, supervising attorney of the Special Litigations Team in the Office of the Public Guardian. “It’s something out of a bad, eerie movie.”

Says Schmiedel: “If ever you want to see something terrible, go to the DCFS intake shelter at Columbus-Maryville. Go downstairs where they keep the teenagers. The place used to be a morgue. It’s a room without windows, crowded, wall-to-wall beds.”

These beds were created in response to DCFS saying they need more beds, adds Schmiedel. “It’s market-driven forces, children as industry.”

Part of Schmiedel’s job is to go through unusual incident reports. “We must get two or three hundred a week,” he says, some of which include serious reports of physical and sexual abuse in treatment centers and foster homes. “It’s frightening–we don’t know which cases are the most serious.”

“You see what some parents do to their kids, but then you see what happens to kids who are removed from their homes and put into foster homes… I mean, the stories are grotesque.”[38]

Or consider the plight of those foster wards locked in detention in the San Francisco Youth Guidance Center Facility–maintained in small locked cells alongside alleged juvenile offenders who are themselves awaiting adjudication of their cases. A grand jury found the conditions endured by these children to be far worse than that endured by adult criminals in the County prison.[39]

THE SILENT NEGLECT
Even for those fortunate enough not to find themselves warehoused in glorified prisons, mental hospitals or congregate care facilities, overcrowding, medical and educational neglect are still the norm for many of the nation’s foster children.

A 1993 action filed in Utah is in many ways typical. The National Center for Youth Law filed the class-action on behalf of about 1,400 children in foster care and another 10,000 alleged to have been abused and neglected.

The action charged that the state failed to provide adequately trained caseworkers, medical treatment and education to children in its care, that it used unlicensed foster homes and homes that did not meet federal standards. It also alleged that children bounce around in the system and languish in foster care. A subsequent legislative audit largely confirmed the allegations.[40]

By 1994, the Utah legislature approved what the Governor called a “SWAT Team approach” to handling the system wide deficiencies in its foster care and child protective services programs.[41]

By 1995 it had established “Judicial M*A*S*H units,” courtrooms with temporary judges to handle the backlog of hundreds of children waiting for rulings on their cases.[42]

Also typical of recent actions is a Youth Law Center suit in California which accused Eloise Anderson, director of the Department of Social Services, of refusing to carry out state and federal laws which require audits of county child welfare programs.

Among the deficiencies cited in the lawsuit: “children in California’s child welfare system have been subjected to inadequate supervision, substandard conditions and inadequate health care and education.”[43]

On a national level, the General Accounting Office recently examined the issue of whether the nation’s foster children were being adequately serviced with respect to their health care needs. The GAO found that:

despite foster care agency regulations requiring comprehensive routine health care, an estimated 12 percent of young foster children receive no routine health care, 34 percent receive no immunizations, and 32 percent have some identified health needs that are not met
an estimated 78 percent of young foster children are at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus as a result of parental drug abuse, yet only about 9 percent of foster children are tested for HIV
young foster children placed with relatives receive fewer health-related services than children placed with nonrelative foster parents, possibly since relative caregivers receive less monitoring and assistance from caseworkers
that the Department of Health and Human Services has not designated any technical assistance to assist states with health-related programs for foster children and does not audit states’ compliance with health-related safeguards for foster children.[44]
As for the educational needs of children in state care, the situation is equally as distressing.

Miami attorney Karen Gievers, former President of the Florida Bar Association, filed a lawsuit in 1996, alleging that while 73 percent of Florida children among the general population graduate from high school or get an equivalent diploma, less than half of the state’s foster children do.[45]

In 1995, a suit was filed in Florida against its Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services. The suit sought to shut down the Department, forcing HRS to stop taking children into foster care until it could better aid the 9,300 children already under its supervision. According to Howard Davidson, director of the American Bar Association’s Center on Children and the Law:

You could carbon-copy the lawsuit filed in Florida in every state. . . We have a child welfare system that’s near collapse.[46]
Even for those children who are not necessarily subjected to overt physical or sexual while in state care, life in state care often fails to provide them with permanence or stability.

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation reports that most foster care placements bear no resemblence to the ideal short term stay on the way to family reunification. Rather, “the devastating norm for foster children is multiple moves, extended stays, and no stable family ties.”[47]

Or, as Bruce Boyer, supervising attorney for the Children and Family Justice Center of Northwestern Law School notes, “there are a set of harms that follow a kid in foster care even if they are treated as well as the foster care system is capable of treating children. For those kinds of harms there is no mechanism for holding decision makers accountable; the only one who suffers is the child.”[48]

The most tragic aspect of all this is that most of the children subjected to the abuses of foster care don’t need to be there. And, it is largely because the system is flooded with so many children that don’t belong in care that these abuses continue to mount.

The situation is perhaps best summarized by a California based Santa Clara County Grand Jury report. “The Grand Jury did not see clear and convincing evidence that the foster care system operates with the best interest of the child in mind. It did find that the interest of the child often took a back seat to the interest of others.[49]

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America’s aging population is retreating into retirement with its pensions and savings and leaving young families with failing schools, health systems, and communities.

The lack of financial or public support for day care, early childhood programs, schools & health care is being compounded by the increased political footballing of five year olds.

At Risk Children have been sold out to the pharmaceutical firms of our very young children as guinea pigs for Prozac, Ritalin, and other psychotropic medications (Ritalin was banned in Sweden in 1968 due to the increase in suicides).

Educators are expected to deal with the mental health issues of thousands of abused and neglected children in their classrooms each year & then be denigrated by political figures in election years.

At the same time, media & politicians are blaming the people working in the field instead of taking a constructive approach to understanding the issues and creating public policies that address the problems.

Building prisons has not worked (500M budget in MN this year), nor has under-serving abused and neglected children (double digit prison growth 4 of last 5 years).

There is nothing responsible or adult-like in accusing bad teachers for failed schools, or for blaming social workers when a baby is found in a dumpster. That is like blaming the police for the criminal in the squad car.

It is to our own best interest to approach these issues in a responsible fashion and make the investment in determining what needs to be done and then doing it.

We will continue to degrade our cities and spend far more money maintaining prisons, fighting crime, and paying for damage and insurance than we would if children received the attention they need to succeed in school and go on to lead productive lives.
The following are a few examples of the how various states are dealing with the current financial crisis and how it is impacting their public safety and children;


California Schools

Minnesota

North Carolina

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2009/02/06/parents-and-youth-advocates-arms-over-budget-cuts

Data on Pre School Success in Florida

Good News In Early Childhood Care
Georgia
Georgia

Kansas

New York

Texas
Texas
Texas

Michigan

Illinois

Florida

Florida

Tennessee

Nevada

Missouri

Florida

California

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Send KARA links to the important children’s policy news and stories in your state.

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/contact-us/