Also my Social Worker is trying so hard to get me out of the system before i turn 18 so i dont get aged out. i really have hated the system.

But dont blame the social workers, they are doing as much as they can they have 27-30 cases per person and that isnt per kid thats as a whole. thats alot of kids. if you want to blame anyone blame the Federal System, they did it to us.”

This note arrived this morning in my inbox.

As a guardian ad-Litem, I witnessed unfair treatment of children already in pain from exceedingly damaging home lives. One child had almost thirty foster homes before he aged out of the system (he has AIDs now).

Other than the federal “Imminent Harm Doctrine”, there are no protections at the federal level for children in America.

As I have traveled the states, I see how some states have almost no safety net for abused and neglected children.

America, please wake up and show some kindness to the weakest and most vulnerable among us. We will all be the better for it.

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Last year, a Pennsylvania judge was incarcerated for sending youth to prison for profit (he behaved as a commissioned salesman – selling innocent youth into jail).

The following article brings to light the commonality of for profit youth prisons and I think the abundance of meanness and poor management that combine to further damage the lives of America’s youth.

Reading the Class Action lawsuit that this report is based on is moving, and deserves to be made known to a larger public audience. That this nation supports the intensity of abuse to youth that it does explains the crime rates, prison rates (13 million prison and jail releases last year) and failing schools.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://www.bettermsreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Walnut-Grove-Complaint1.pdf

Federal Lawsuit Seeks to End Years of Physical, Sexual Abuse of Teenage Inmates

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From the Better Mississippi Report:
SHEILA BEDI

JACKSON, Miss. (Monday, Dec. 20, 2010) – A recent class-action lawsuit filed in federal court could finally end years of abuse to teenage prisoners – by fellow inmates and prison staff – at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.

Sheila Bedi, the deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed the lawsuit Nov. 16, 2010, in federal court in Jackson. Bedi said the lawsuit is needed to send years of serious abuse that has seen teenage prisoners tied, beaten and raped.

“In many ways the crisis at Walnut Grove is a re-tread of the crisis that plagued the training schools for so many years,” Bedi said in a recent interview. “Children were shackled, hogtied, beaten, sexually abused, forced to exercise until they vomited and then forced to eat their own vomit.”

You can download a copy of the federal lawsuit by clicking here.

Bedi said part of the problem is that the Walnut Grove youth prison was managed by a for-profit prison company, the GEO Group — the second largest for-profit prison company in the country. She said the company has a long track record of abusing the people in its custody.

The Walnut Grove prison opened in 2001 with 500 beds and was authorized to house “juvenile offenders” ages 13–19. Since then, approximately every two years, the Mississippi Legislature has amended the prison’s authorizing legislation to increase its bed capacity and to raise the maximum age of those who are eligible to be housed in the facility.

Abuse has been a problem at the prison for years. Bedi discussed the lawsuit and the problems at the Walnut Grove prison in an in-depth interview with the Better Mississippi Report. Here is the complete interview:
Better Mississippi Report: As a longtime advocate of juvenile justice, you and others made the decision to sue those involved in the running of the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility. What do you hope to achieve with this lawsuit?

Sheila Bedi: A for-profit youth prison, like Walnut Grove, has a strong financial incentive to imprison as many young people as possible on the cheap – cutting essential safety, health and educational services in order to increase profits. In Mississippi, youth as young as 13 can be tried and convicted in the adult criminal justice system – and eventually thrown away into abusive prisons. This combination of a profit-hungry private prison and a bad law that allows too many teenagers to enter the adult justice system has created a public safety crisis in Mississippi. This is a crisis that destroys young lives and has wasted more than $100 million in taxpayer dollars over the past 9 years.

But this crisis can be resolved. Over the past several years, juvenile justice officials, Commissioner Epps, legislators and the governor’s office have all collaborated to develop significant reforms to Mississippi’s criminal and juvenile justice systems. Hopefully, these officials will now turn their full attention to the youth imprisoned at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.

Better Mississippi Report: How is the Walnut Grove lawsuit different from the suits involving the Oakley and Columbia Training Schools?

Bedi: In many ways the crisis at Walnut Grove is a re-tread of the crisis that plagued the training schools for so many years. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Justice uncovered unspeakable abuses at the Oakley and Columbia training schools. Children were shackled, hogtied, beaten, sexually abused, forced to exercise until they vomited and then forced to eat their own vomit. The George W. Bush Department of Justice called these facilities the worst juvenile prisons the Justice Department had investigated in decades.

The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Mississippi Center for Justice filed multiple lawsuits over conditions in the training schools. Additionally, we had incredibly strong leadership on juvenile justice issues from state legislators—including Sen. Gray Tollison and Reps. George Flaggs, Earle Banks and John Hines. As a result of these efforts, Mississippi has drastically reformed its juvenile justice system. The Columbia Training School has been closed down; community-based sanctions have been created in all 82 counties; and the Oakley Training School is a safe, humane place for our children. It’s a place that we need in order to keep our juvenile justice system functioning. I never thought I would be able to say that seven years ago.

With the Walnut Grove crisis, there are many similarities: there’s a prison that is subjecting young people to unspeakable abuses, a U.S. Department of Justice investigation and a private lawsuit. We have also strong leadership from some of our local legislators. But there is an important difference – Walnut Grove is a for-profit prison. The Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility is operated by the GEO group, the second largest for-profit prison company in the country; it has a long track record of abusing the people in its custody. The GEO group has projected that its 2010 income will exceed $1 billion. Some of that comes directly from Mississippi taxpayers – who pay more than $14 million annually to operate Walnut Grove.

Better Mississippi Report: Please explain how the city of Walnut Grove gained oversight of a state juvenile correctional facility. Is this arrangement repeated anywhere in the state? Or in the nation? If so, is this a better way of providing for juvenile correctional facilities than the state government route?

Bedi: The town of Walnut Grove created the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Authority specifically for the purposes of administrating a private, for-profit youth prison. This is a highly unusual arrangement. It appears that the facility was built purely to provide additional profits to the Correctional Authority and the private prison operators. Mississippi taxpayers pay Defendant Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Authority $31.40 per youth per day to operate the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility.

The facility opened in 2001 with 500 beds and was authorized to house “juvenile offenders” between the ages of 13–19. Since then, approximately every two years, the Mississippi Legislature has amended the facility’s authorizing legislation to increase its bed capacity and to raise the maximum age of those who are eligible to be housed in the facility. In 2002, the Legislature amended the law to allow 20 year olds at the facility.

The legislature then doubled the facility’s size in 2004 – allowing it to house 500 more for a total capacity of 1,000 beds. In 2005, lawmakers raised the maximum age and the facility began housing people until shortly after their 22nd birthdays. The facility’s capacity was expanded again in 2007, when the Legislature added another 500 beds. The facility is currently authorized to house 1,500 individuals between the ages of 13 and 22. These amendments have significantly increased its income and tripled the size the prison.
In 2004, the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Authority subcontracted with Cornell, a for-profit corporation, for the management and operation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility. Under its contract with authority, Cornell had responsibility for providing humane care and treatment consistent with all constitutional and ACA standards. In violation of these duties, Cornell incarcerated youth in extremely dangerous conditions, resulting in the serious injury of numerous young prisoners and the death of two youths.

Until its recent acquisition by the GEO Group Inc., Cornell was a for-profit corporation incorporated and existing in the state of Texas and maintaining a principal place of business in Houston. Upon assuming control of the youth facility, GEO management retained almost all of the employees who were formerly employed by Cornell. The management structure and staffing assignments remain identical to those in place before the acquisition.

A for-profit youth prison, like Walnut Grove, has a strong financial incentive to imprison as many young people as possible on the cheap – cutting essential safety, health and educational services in order to increase profits. In Mississippi, youth as young as 13 can be tried and convicted in the adult criminal justice system – and eventually thrown away into abusive prisons.

This combination of a profit-hungry private prison and a bad law that allows too many teenagers to enter the adult justice system has created a public safety crisis in Mississippi.

This is a crisis that destroys young lives and has wasted over $100 million in taxpayer dollars the past nine years.

Better Mississippi Report: Why was this suit filed in federal court, rather than state court?

Bedi: This is a class action and the majority of the claims included in the complaint are federal claims. In this case we are only seeking an injunction – a court order requiring the facility to operate in compliance with state and federal law.

Better Mississippi Report: Was there a “tipping point” in events at the facility that led to this lawsuit?

Bedi: Two youth have lost their lives in this facility over the past three years. Countless others endure daily threats to their safety as a result of the prison’s dangerously deficient security policies and the abusive prison guards who torment the youth in their custody. Many judges order youth to finish their high school education at Walnut Grove. But less than half the youth imprisoned in the facility attend school.

Better Mississippi Report: The State Superintendent of Education is named as a defendant in this suit. Can you explain why?

Bedi: The Mississippi Legislature established the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility with good intentions: to ensure that young men in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections would have a second chance and receive rehabilitative services. Unfortunately, these good intentions were never realized. While state law requires that all young men at Walnut Grove receive educational services throughout their incarceration, less than half of the youth actually attend school. Youth with disabilities are also denied the special education services to which they are entitled under federal law.

As the superintendent of education, defendant Tom Burnham is responsible for ensuring education services for all youth in Mississippi – including those youth who are imprisoned.

Better Mississippi Report: Are there other alternatives to incarceration for juvenile offenders? If so, what evidence is there to support these alternatives as being more beneficial than the “jail” model for these juveniles?

Bedi: There is no justice, or should you say “logic,” in treating a 13-year-old child as if he were a 30-year-old man. Yet Mississippi courts are prohibited from making any distinction between adults and children in criminal matters. Mississippi’s laws ban children from voting, entering into contracts, getting married, or dropping out of school. But the law often treats children as adults in the criminal justice sphere. Neither science nor common sense justifies this paradox. Recent brain science research proves that, compared to adults, children’s brains are underdeveloped.

This is particularly true for the part of the brain children use to weigh the future consequences of their decisions and to navigate complex legal process. Common sense tells us that society does not benefit when a child spends his most formative years behind bars – influenced not by teachers and parents, but by hardened adult criminals.
These laws don’t even effectively reduce crime. Many studies, including one commissioned by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, have concluded that children tried and punished in the adult system have recidivism rates up to 40percent higher than youth sanctioned and rehabilitated in the juvenile system. Intending to keep us safer, the laws that try children as adults do just the opposite.

U.S. Department of Justice research shows that youth incarcerated in the adult criminal justice system are eight times more likely to commit suicide than in youth locked up in juvenile facilities. Youth housed in adult correctional facilities are nearly five times more likely to be sexually assaulted, three times more likely to be assaulted by prison staff and 50 percent more likely to be assaulted with a weapon than youth in a juvenile facility.

Better Mississippi Report: What kinds of offenses qualify a juvenile offender to be placed at Walnut Grove? What ages and genders are housed there?

Bedi: Walnut Grove is a prison for youth ages 13-22 located in Leake County, Miss. Sixty-seven percent of the young men at Walnut Grove are incarcerated for committing non-violent offenses. It is a facility for youth who are tried and convicted in the adult criminal justice system.

Better Mississippi Report: In a perfect legislative session, what kinds of changes to the statute would you recommend to improve the administering of justice for juvenile offenders in Mississippi?

Bedi: We’re collaborating with the legislators to develop a number of measures that would, No. 1., put some additional judicial controls on the process that allows children to be transferred into the adult criminal justice system; No. 2, reform some of the laws governing Walnut Grove that force youth into a paramilitary program that contributes to abusive conditions; and No. 3, create comprehensive standards for juvenile detention centers.

Better Mississippi Report: Although you no longer live in Mississippi, please describe your previous role here in the state as it relates to juvenile justice issues.

Bedi: Previously, I was lucky enough to serve Mississippi’s youth as the co-founder and co-director of the Mississippi Youth Justice Project, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center. In that capacity, I worked with Mississippi’s youth, families, legislators and juvenile justice stakeholders on a number of initiatives that improved Mississippi’s juvenile justice system – including the Juvenile Justice Act of 2005, the Mississippi Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Act of 2006 and several class action lawsuits over conditions. In 2008, I left Mississippi to work in Washington, D.C., for the Justice Policy Institute, a criminal and juvenile justice policy organization. I quickly realized that I missed the work in the Deep South, and I rejoined the Southern Poverty Law Center as a deputy legal director in 2009.

I live in New Orleans and I supervise the work in SPLC’s New Orleans and Jackson offices. I spend a lot of time in Mississippi and work with our amazing Jackson-based staff on reform campaigns throughout the state. It’s great to be home. I spend a lot of time of the road, but I’m energized by my incredible colleagues, (many of them who live here in Mississippi), and the inspiring youth and families we work with and for.

pamReply21. Dec, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Gladiator School

by Pam Kulig on Sunday, November 28, 2010 at 10:26pm

WGYCF, a goldmine of despair, is no place for kids. It’s known as a “gladiator school”. I’ve been supporting an inmate at Walnut Grove for the past 4-1/2 years and have “watched” him grow up and adapt to the depraved and inhumane conditions at this facility he calls home. He’s serving life. He arrived there at age 15. He says the place is like a cancer of the soul.

He says he’s seen and heard things he’ll never forget, things he said no one should ever see, let alone someone his age. He’s never been to high school, yet he longs for his innocence. We talk almost every day. For the past 4 years I’ve experienced through him life at Walnut Grove: violence; the constant THREAT of violence; non-existent and mediocre medical help; sexually charged environment between inmates and female guards; dishonest, brutal and vengeful officers; indifferent captains, majors and wardens; corrupt company officials; cover-ups of inmate deaths; mace attacks; inmates left to burn after the attacks; and the daily fights, stealing and predatory behavior of inmates toward other inmates; loose security; inmate-run zones; gangbanging; shabby visitation schedule and shabby treatment of visitors. And much more. From what I can tell, it’s a warehouse where teenage males with raging hormones are sent for punishment, living in deprivation with nothing to do and no rehabilitative services, anger and resentment bubbling and building like a time bomb.

It’s a recipe for disaster (or more disaster). Rehabilitation? Non-existent. Psychological help? No way, partly because most inmates believe everything they tell the psyche doctor will be held against them and partly because there IS no psyche doctor. Without gang protection or affiliation, an inmate is screwed, literally. Even some of the officers are affiliated. Drugs? as available as on the streets. Contraband? for sex. Weapons?

Most of these kids would make good ironworkers. Yes, Walnut Grove YOUTH facility (correctional n/a), is a really good place to sink millions and millions of taxpayer dollars if you are GEO where half the kids leave without a GED and a new violent criminal mindset making guaranteed repeat customers.

The taxpayers paid $41 million to build a facility that a private company has mined for gold ever since on the backs of the youth of Mississippi (mainly black youth, based on the fact that I can count on two hands the number of white inmates at visitation in a room with at least 100 inmates).

A cellmate of the young man I’ve been helping had a similar experience to the inmate in the complaint who had activated the sprinklers to get medical attention who was then charged with a crime. Apparently necessary destruction of property for medical attention is not an isolated incident. In this case, the cellmate had a severely infected spider bite and was ignored for weeks without the antibiotic treatment he was prescribed.

Unable to walk and vulnerable in GP, he was wheeled to the “hole” because the medical unit was full. Left in the hole for over a week, suffering in 24 hour isolation, in excruciating pain, in fear of losing his leg and no working panic button, he eventually resorted to starting his mat on fire to create smoke to set off the smoke alarm. It worked, the guards came, beat the crap out of him, brought him to medical, and over 2 years later as he was about to go home he received an indictment for 3rd degree arson.

A jury convicted him and the judge, while admitting Walnut Grove wasn’t fit for anyone, gave him the max, 3 more years at Walnut Grove. Among the many things that didn’t seem to matter were his medical intake form which we obtained for trial that noted he was severely allergic to spider bites having spent 2 weeks as a child hospitalized and an employee at Walnut Grove who falsely testified that the panic buttons worked fine.

The result of WCYCF unchecked negligence is that a $25 mat cost the taxpayers another $33,000 and this young person 3 more years in maximum security prison. That’s on top of the $10,000 it cost to defend him and who knows how much to prosecute him. The judge and jury took it out on him and the taxpayers, not the facility at fault. I had heard from other inmate accounts that spider bites were rampant that year and many inmates had infections that they took care of themselves mainly by having other inmates squeeze the pus out in the showers while they screamed in agony. That’s because immediate medical care was non-existent. This is the WGYCF that I have been exposed to and have been dealing with for over 4 years. This is a place that has contempt for the inmates, contempt for their visitors and contempt for basic human decency.

When I go down there I see kids sitting at those tables, not adults that look like kids. I don’t see menacing hardened criminals. I see young people and kids. Some of the kids are small, immature and I shake my head in disbelief, I just can’t imagine what in the hell they are doing there. They still have baby faces, don’t even shave, are short, seem to be only interested in the pile of snacks and candy piled up on the table in front of them.

I’m puzzled and confused. These kids wearing stripes and MDOC shirts look like they haven’t taken a shower in weeks. Kids whose whole bodies fit into their Daddy’s arms, who look like they are going to cry when they leave. I say to myself, WTF? Is this the best we can do? Whatever these kids have done to society, society has done worse to them and this is the lesson they have learned at Walnut Grove.

http://www.myspace.com/savebrettjones Walnut Grove Survivor Brett Jones-5 1/2 years and counting-actually innocent

pamReply21. Dec, 2010 at 2:21 pm
October 23- Visit to Walnut Grove and the New Stip Search Policy

It’s been four long months since Brett had a visitor. I try to see him every season. Tis the season, so over the meandering river and through the woods I go, past the prairies, farms, and fields of Illinois Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi, an overnight in the birth place of the King, and on into the deep South to the sleepy hollow called Walnut Grove. At the end of a winding road, beyond the Fish House, nestled in the tall trees and surrounded by a double row of fences topped with a halo of razor wire stands Brett’s home. It’s a gated community.

Every visitor is greeted personally by The Devil in Blue with a Shotgun. She’s a small white woman, a white helmet of hair, who drives a small white truck with a spinning light on the top. Believing it’s strictly a privilege to go beyond the razor wire, she works the gate like St. Peter. Swift consequences are handed down for any perceived disobedience. She forewarns, she’ll shoot any kid in stripes who tries to escape. I don’t doubt she’s a dead eye.

The Devil likes to have fun and the fun starts right away. The games are always different and of course seasonal. In the summer she enjoys herding the visitors-grandmothers, infants and small children alike-into the broiling hot parking lot to wait in the drenching heat. The shade is only a few steps away at the entrance, but baking us in the sun is much more fun.

If anyone wrongly speaks, we start all over back in our cars, or worse, banished from the premises. What crime have we committed? The Devil only knows.

In the fall, when the parking lot is nice and cool it’s a different game. Instead of lining us up in the cool parking lot, The Devil orders us to sit in our hot cars. Anyone who dares step out of their vehicle is quickly ordered back in faster than you can say Mississippi justice. Eventually, 20 minutes after we are supposed to be inside visiting, she signals that we can leave our cars. Hundreds of anxious people, infants, children, grandmothers, grandfathers, moms, dads, girlfriends, friends, sisters and brothers pour out into the parking lot.

Everyone jockeys for position in a line that will move slower than a clipper ship on a windless day. Running of course is against the rules and equals either back to the car, to the back of the line, or total banishment. The Devil watches in glee. See, The Peoples aren’t allowed to bring anything into the party and since boys love sweets it takes a long time to check everyone for pies, cakes and cookies. I’ve never seen a happier person than The Devil.

See, this is the only place of its kind in the land of Mississippi so people come from all over hill and dale to enjoy a few short hours with a loved one. I come from over yonder 900 miles, due north as the crow flies, so become anxious when I see rare visitation minutes senselessly ticking away in the parking lot. Where’s the sympathy Devil?

I noticed the decor in the lobby had changed slightly since the last time I was there. The pictures on the wall had changed. Gone were the colored pictures of the wardens, majors and captains who work at the facility. Even Epps, the Big Boss, was gone. Black and white photographs of eight smiling white guys now hung there. Ahh, the hosts of this evening’s soiree; pleased to meet you. As I stood in a sea of sadness where no one was smiling, I wondered what they were so happy about. Maybe they had just seen the quarterly reports; proof that other peoples’ disasters and devastation equal sparkling profits for them. Illegal aliens, war on drugs, and crime sure make these guys all smiley faced.

As I stood there in a gold mine of despair, the photographs on the wall reminded me of a song from the children’s tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “hi- ho, hi- ho, it’s off to work we go…..”, and there they were- Dopey, Sleazy, Doc, Happy, Creepy, Crappy and Greedy- la,la,dee,da, la,la,dee,da, hi- ho, hi- ho.

Past the pictures, beyond the wall, through the sliding gate, lives the Prince. The Prince of Walnut Grove. I feel safe. He carries himself like a warrior; his face as serious as a soldier guarding the tomb of the unknown. Proud and strong and tall he stops to give me a warm hug before he takes his seat on the opposite side of the table. He’s not smiling but he seems happy. He informs me that I’ve woken him from his sleep. It’s so good to see him.

The room starts to fill to over-flowing. Soon we can’t hear. Children are everywhere. Children of the children who live there; brothers and sisters of the children who live there; daddies, mommas, step-dads, step-children, grandparents and God-parents of the children who live there. A little girl with beads in her hair sitting next to me grows restless in her seat and starts to dance as she sits there. The Prince does the party-boy dance with her from across the table. It made her giggle. It made me smile. Her little brother wore a t-shirt with hot rods on the front and wrestled with a big bottle of soda as he sat on the table facing his big brother with his feet dangling over into his lap. He sat that way for hours.

Enjoying candy, bakery, snacks and pop together, they seemed like a happy family. Next to me on the other side, were a grandmother and a teenage girl who were visiting the boy sitting next to Brett. Occasionally, he and Brett would lean together and talk. I think it was some kind of insider business.

Brett’s caretakers come over to say “hi”. Most are friendly, some are not. He points out one hugely obese caretaker wondering the room in black rubber gloves. The Prince says he’s the one who conducts the strip searches. I looked over; he definitely didn’t look friendly. The new rule is that every inmate who enters and leaves the visitation room is strip searched.

Brett is very squeamish now about getting visits because he doesn’t like that guy violating him. This could be the reason for the warrior look when he comes in. He’ not guarding the tomb of the unknown, he’s guarding his ass. Since most of the inmates are minors, we both agreed it’s just a little creepy. A reasonable person knows it’s highly unlikely that an inmate will want to stick anything up his butt during visitation especially when most everything and anything can be brought in through the back door by the caretakers. And it’s pretty impossible to stick anything up one’s rear with all the cops swarming the room. Plus every visitor goes through a metal detector and a pat down before entering. At the end of visitation they hold the visitors until every inmate has been strip searched so that if anything is found, the visitor of that inmate can be charged with a crime. This started when GEO took over…it must be those new smiling white guys’ idea. Maybe that’s why they are smiling; it can’t be straight money that makes these guys happy.

We talked for 3-1/2 hours. It’s funny how the voice I hear on the other end of the phone doesn’t match the voice in person. It’s strange how Brett sits so still for all that time never appearing restless. He remarked that free world people move strangely, their bodies so free flowing. He says we move without purpose. I think he means we move freely without every movement needing purpose. We eventually talked about the copy of the AG’s response to our appeal which he had just received the day before.

It depressed him. He felt discouraged and defeated. He said it repeated the same old wrong and twisted facts that they referred to as “chilling”. There was hurt in his eyes. I told him those same wrong facts have been argued over and over at every stage. His lawyer has said they keep arguing the facts because they can’t argue the law. She said what’s chilling is the jury never heard the facts. I agree, chilling indeed. He told me about his job and that he cleans the place from top to bottom every week. Who would have thought concrete could shine like marble. He takes extreme pride in his job. He does all kinds of maintenance around there. When something is broken, he fixes it.� He gets privileges for working so he works as much as he can. Very few in there carry as much time as he does. He struggles with that every day. He does his time honorably, like a man; he’s fought to survive since he was barely 15 years old.

He’s made more out of nothing than anyone I know. Confined to an 8×10 concrete box he’s accomplished more than some people who have the world at their feet. I’ve been told I’m his ray of sunshine. He calls me “citizen soldier”. Yes, were shining the light and the hope is that the liars, cheaters and bluffers will be held accountable.

As we sat there, Brett pointed out his enemies in the room. He’s been there longer than most and has acquired enemies. He pointed out his worst enemy. He didn’t look so bad to me. I suggested we go sit out in the sunny courtyard to get away from them. He said the tables had bird poop on them so I wouldn’t want to sit there. So we stayed inside. His enemies didn’t look menacing at all compared to the strip search dude. I would have risked sitting in bird turds to get away from that guy.

We shared a Dr. Pepper and a bag of Skittles, pretzels and Sweetarts. (I gave the rest of my quarters to a little boy in the lobby on the way out. He smiled and quietly thanked me. I wish I could have given him more). I told Brett in the future he should ask for Vitamin water since he helps fill the vending machines. He said, no, we were lucky to have bottled water. He said The Peoples want soda. But I need vitamins because that place is so draining. Except for him of course, he’s life-giving. I feel a certain sense of happy fulfillment when I visit him. All too soon the lights flash.

It’s time to say goodbye. We avoid goodbyes, we just say see ya later. He tells me to have a safe trip back. I give him a hug and he’s gone. He disappears back into the secret gulag where he’s been non-existent since 8th grade. Hated and forgotten by society he’s grown up like an orphan in the Warsaw ghetto. Carrying a sentence that would break a Spartan, he isn’t even close to being broken. In fact, he gives me strength.

As I leave I tell him everything will be okay and try not to look back. I look forward, towards the gate. Back in the lobby I tear up. There are those dwarfs again. Maybe a picture of Jesse Jackson or Martin Luther King or Honest Abe or Clarence Darrow or Jesus Christ would be enlightening. Ahh, well, it’s no secret justice, hope, faith and love don’t inspire these creatures; disaster, devastation and destruction are their compass.

Have a nice day and come again. Pam-zilla

Read more: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=157371497&blogID=540679466#ixzz15OJGoRKU

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The plaintiffs (children) ask for improvements in the following areas:

Lower Caseloads for DHS workers and supervisors.

Education and training for agency employees, foster parents and adoptive parents.

Monitoring of the safety of children in state custody.

The original plaintiffs were nine children who are alleged to have suffered in DHS placements. The case has since become a class-action lawsuit with thousands of children in DHS custody as plaintiff

How many states have caseloads that are just too high to provide a realistic safety net for the children they support? How many states need more training and education for the agency employees, foster parents, and adoptive parents?

Without educating judges, court workers, and criminal justice people, this nation is still on the path to maintaining excessive prison populations and disastrous school performance among the population of abused and neglected children.

This is the tip of the iceberg. Legislators in many states ought to be finding money to make these changes without class action lawsuits. To think that we are a nation forced to sue on behalf of abused and neglected children because legislators did not see the need to provide the services or resources to keep children safe shows a deep failure within our system.

To those social workers and supervisors that will be made to look bad as this case becomes news; you need to stick together and make your arguments clear and concise. Support each other and recognize that it is a glaring fault of an uncaring institution that would make the people doing the hard work look bad when failure is almost guaranteed as resources are stretched too thinly. Stick together, support each other, and make your arguments to the public. The size and scope of this problem has become too large to keep buried and silent.

America’s child protection systems need help at many levels. Like all of us, social workers do the best they can with the resources they have.

Children need this victory. They will have more resources and support if the case is resolved fairly (& maybe legislators will see the wisdom of avoiding class action lawsuits and vote for more child friendly programs).

There needs to be more money for training and services.

Without it, abused and neglected children will continue to become preteen moms & felons and lead dysfunctional lives in and out of our institutions, costing our nation a multiple of what we might have spent saving them with the price of training and services when they were young.

America is on trial here. Oklahoma is not the only state to abandon its abandoned children.

Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=14&articleid=20100708_14_A1_Marcia556191

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It is painful to know that children who come from trauma and abuse, are now finding fewer services, more burdened staff, less resources, and inevitably, less chance of finding help in many communities.

Seema points out that a Hawaii program that had serviced 4000 families now services 100, South Carolina now has caseload ratios as high as 60 to 1 in some regions & that nearly half of the abused children murdered in Texas have been investigated by Child Protective Services.

I did know most of the financial problems facing the people and programs created to help abused and neglected children. I also know that eliminating those programs will not save communities any money*.

I did not know that children raised in families with incomes under $15,000 are 22 times more likely to to be abused and I am well aware of the dismal standing of certain states when it comes to how they treat children.

*The articles underlined herein give several perspectives on the near sightedness that has unfortunately captured otherwise clear thinking policymakers for many years now. Until a longer view is adopted, America’s prisons will remain full, its schools troubled, and its streets unsafe.

Seema Jilani’s Article;

By SEEMA JILANI, McClatchy Newspapers
Last update: May 28, 2010 – 6:09 PM
We doctors are a cynical bunch. The novelty of the white coat expires after a short time treating drug addicts, combative schizophrenics and patients whose idea of “how-do-you-do” is threatening a lawsuit. This is to say nothing of conducting pelvic exams, bosses with God complexes and extracting a baseball bat that got stuck up someone’s backside when he “fell on it.”
Few things shock us, but cruelty to children is one of them.

Behind closed doors, we even pontificate on the need for strict contraception laws. “Birth control should be sprayed into the air,” we muse. “If people want children, they should pass drug tests and home evaluations.” Another of our suggestions is that the government should lace fast food with trace amounts of contraceptives, so that people who eat it occasionally are unaffected, but those who exist on it are sterilized.

Bitter? Maybe. Harsh? Absolutely.

The inconceivable becomes plausible, however, after you see a 9-month-old boy test positive for mommy’s crystal meth and shaken baby syndrome render a 6-month-old girl blind, or after treating the burns on a young girl who was dipped in boiling oil and the cigarette burns on her sister’s back in the shape of a marijuana leaf. When a 13-year-old boy dies from heat stroke because he was chained to a tree overnight, “Proposition McSterilization” starts to make sense.

Three million reported cases of child abuse and neglect result in 2,000 deaths in the United States annually, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Since 2001, 30,000 American children have been killed in their own homes, taken their own lives or been murdered in their own neighborhoods, according to Every Child Matters, a child advocacy group.

Why does the United States lead the world’s richest democracies in child abuse fatalities, with death rates three times higher than Canada’s and 11 times higher than Italy’s?

Now the nation’s and the states’ financial crises are leading to budget cuts to child services in more than 40 states. In Hawaii, Every Child Matters reports, funding for a child abuse reduction program was slashed so much that two years after serving 4,000 families, it can afford to serve only 100. In South Carolina, five state-run homes for children were closed. Child Protective Services is severely understaffed, with caseload ratios as high as 60 to one in some regions.

Nearly half of all the Texas children who are killed by abuse belonged to families that had been investigated by Child Protective Services. In order to keep families united, CPS attempts to place children with safe family members. While its motives are admirable, CPS should put a higher priority on protecting children from monsters than it does on keeping families together.

The single best predictor of child abuse is poverty. Children raised in families with annual incomes of less than $15,000 are 22 times more likely to be abused. One in five American children, more than 14 million, live in poverty.

Budget cuts are taking a toll in California, too. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed discarding the state’s welfare-to-work program, effectively eliminating aid for roughly a million children.

If the most prosperous country in the world can afford to fight two wars, battle terrorism in far-off lands and bail out Wall Street, why can’t it offer its most vulnerable and voiceless citizens anything but bureaucratic red tape?

Seema Jilani is a Houston physician who specializes in pediatrics. A version of this commentary was published in the British newspaper the Guardian. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

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I would like reader comments on the style and substance of this article and appreciate receiving information from you about youth programs, policy, and data.

Budget cuts could put Family Drug Court in jeopardy

Posted: Mar 17, 2010 2:56 PM CDT
Updated: Mar 18, 2010 9:20 PM CDT

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HONOLULU (Hawaii News Now) – As lawmakers go over the state budget, judiciary officials are watching closely. Employees are worried more cuts could put its 11 treatment courts in jeopardy.

The courts go beyond the criminal system to help people suffering from mental illness, abuse or addiction. Here’s a look at one court that helps not just patients, but their children as well.

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12157057

Selected Recent Publications and Data Briefs

This subsection provides links to selected publications and briefs that include data relating to youth violence and related topics released or published within the past 12 months.

Children’s Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey. (PDF 884 KB)
Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U. S. Department of Justice.
Crime in the United States. 2008.
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice.
Electronic Media and Youth Violence: A CDC Issue Brief for Researches. (PDF 11.1 MB)
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009. (PDF 2.1 MB)
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Available at:
Juvenile Arrests 2008. (PDF 760 KB)
Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice.http://www.safeyouth.org/scripts/statistics/statistics_data.asp

2010 Florida CSC State Policy Program
Early Childhood System of Care: A Proven Investment Strategy

During these tough economic times, states are discovering what early childhood experts have known for decades – policies that promote healthy development throughout a child’s early years create a foundation for later school achievement, economic productivity, responsible citizenship, and successful parenting.

States that support and invest in early childhood systems of care are seeing first-hand the positive outcomes in their communities. Juvenile crime rates drop. Gang violence is diminished. Child abuse and neglect is reduced. Children and their families are healthier and more self-sufficient. Students perform better in school.

Children are prepared to succeed. Early childhood systems also contribute to global economic outcomes, including a bigger and more qualified workforce, healthier communities, and a thriving consumer market. http://www.thechildrenstrust.org/fcsc-state-policy-program

Chicago;CBS2 investigation suggests Steinmetz and BEST high schools may be counting ghost students to inflate budgets.

Florida;NAPLES — Katalina Legros counts her blessing that she was able to take her newborn home when she left Gulf Coast Hospital after giving birth seven weeks ago.

The 39-year-old Naples resident knows the heartache all too well that mother and baby don’t always go home at the same time.

She’s got the Healthy Start Coalition of Southwest Florida to thank that both she and her baby, Mariah Legros, are healthy and her delivery went without a hitch.http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/apr/09/state-budget-cuts-could-threaten-lee-collier-healt/

Indiana;Indiana budget cuts target special needs kids
The Associated Press
Sunday, April 4, 2010 | 12:21 a.m.

Cash-strapped Indiana wants to scale back services for special-needs children placed in foster care.

The state would cut payments for hundreds of children with medical or emotional problems by moving them into cheaper care for children without special needs.

The move is part of a plan to cut $56 million from spending on the 10,000 children in state care. It follows a planned 10 percent cut in payments to foster parents. Many parents who receive up to $100 a day to care for special-needs children would be paid less than $25.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/apr/04/indiana-budget-cuts-target-special-needs-kids/

North Carolina Gang Violence Prevention;

http://seventeenb.org/pdfs/Stokes_09_10Community_Based_Youth_Gang_Violence_Prevention_Program_Agreement__GANG_ASSESSMENT.pdf

Dept of Justice Youth Gang Prevention and Intervention Program
http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/grants/solicitations/FY2010/YouthGangPrevention.pdf

Virginia, Governor’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act grant programs are intended to supplement the SADFSCA funds that flow directly from the Virginia Department of Education to every local school division for youth substance abuse, gang involvement and violence prevention programming.

For this award cycle, grants will be awarded to programs which emphasize prevention of gang involvement, realizing that early initiation of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use is a risk factor for youth gang involvement. In addition, community needs assessments regarding youth substance abuse, gang activity and violence may seek GOSAP SADFSCA funds. Projects in the following four categories will be funded:

http://www.gosap.virginia.gov/SDFSCA/announcement2010-2011.htm

National news;POVERTY DURING EARLY CHILDHOOD MAY LAST A LIFETIME
Children raised in poverty in their first five years are more likely to feel its effects well into adulthood.

By Jessica Marshall | Mon Feb 22, 2010 12:29 PM ET

According to the researchers, the earlier poverty intervention efforts begin within a child’s lifetime, the better the chances of that child overcoming the effects of poverty when he or she becomes an adult.
Getty Images
THE GIST:

Poverty during early childhood is correlated with lower adult income.
Childhood poverty causes lasting effects on the brain and on the way DNA is expressed.

Because early childhood is so important, researchers advise policies to address these problems should focus on the youngest children.

http://news.discovery.com/human/poverty-children-income-adults.html

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amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

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As a guardian ad-Litem, I have seen plenty of cases where unsavory family members and other questionable practices become the only available answer to a family that cannot find daycare.

The child pays, the family suffers, and the community bears the burden of troubles that arise as the stresses and chaos build in our neighborhoods.

The return on investment of subsidized daycare is high. Allowing parents to work, children to learn and thrive in healthy environments is what gets young kids prepared to enter school and do well. The first step in becoming a healthy citizen.

Marketwire

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Determined-Stop-Childcare-Cuts-Parents-Deliver-Giant-Budget-Cookie-Finance-Minister-1136426.htm

Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC)

Mar 23, 2010 12:53 ET
Determined to Stop Childcare Cuts, Parents Deliver Giant “Budget Cookie” to Finance Minister

WINDSOR, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – March 23, 2010) – A dozen Windsor area daycare parents delivered a giant “budget cookie” to Ontario MPP Dwight Duncan’s office today asking the Finance Minister to “chew this over” before finalizing a budget they fear may contain up to $63.5 million in cuts. The cookie was decorated with what the parents say are “all the numbers the Minister needs” including how many centres will close and how many spaces will be lost if proposed cuts are in Ontario’s 2010 spring budget.

At stake, these parents say, is $63.5 million for 7600 subsidies that help families access affordable child care in Ontario.

The pizza sized cookie delivered today to Duncan’s Windsor constituency office was decorated in coloured icing that read: “budget cookie” all around the edge.

The centre of the cookie, also decorated with icing, read “7600 spaces” and “300 centres” indicating how many child spaces will be lost and how many centres are expected to close if Duncan allows the $63.5 million in cuts to find their way into his Thursday budget.

“This is about ensuring spaces for children,” said one of the parents, Shannon Porcellini, “and it’s about parents who rely on subsidies to work and retrain and child care centres that need funding to remain viable.”

Porcellini also cited research by economist Robert Fairholm predicting 3,480 jobs could be lost by parents who can’t go to work because of a loss of daycare spaces if the cuts proceed and a further 3,030 in job losses in the child care sector.

The loss of subsidies comes at the same time as 4 and 5 year olds are being transferred from community based child care into the school system under the province’s early learning plan this coming September.

The removal of over 35% of the children they care for will cause centres to close across the province.

The government’s own analysis estimates that in this year alone 48% of child care centres will be affected.

For background information about child care in Ontario please see www.childcareontario.org.

For more information, please contact
Shannon Porcellini
519-562-1572

Related Articles;

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED474512&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED474512

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032503477.html

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]]> http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/03/25/the-importance-of-daycare-dc-la/feed/ 0 http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/03/17/the-ghost-of-christmas-future/ http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/03/17/the-ghost-of-christmas-future/#comments Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:38:58 +0000 Mike Tikkanen http://www.invisiblechildren.org/?p=1553 Comparing these same indicators in other developed nations the results are very different. ]]> This generation has it in for American children. By all significant indicators, U.S. youth will not be as educated, financially well off, live as long, or be as healthy as their parents. Comparing these same indicators in other developed nations the results are very different.

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)

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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.

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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.

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

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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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Become part of KARA’s email network by sending a request to join to; amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

Become part of KARA’s email network by sending a request to join to; amy.rostronledoux@yahoo.com

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

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Kansas budget cuts and layoffs have created a backlog that appears to be growing dramatically.

Budget cuts hurting state child health program

By Marshanna Hester http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/feb/01/budget-cuts-hurting-state-child-health-program/

Almost all developed nations have affordable health care. Why are we unable to provide health care even for America’s children?

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2010
Budget cuts hurting state child health program

By Marshanna Hester
Forty thousand Kansas children depend on a state program for health insurance, but the state program is failing to do its job because of budget cuts.

Now some parents are worried how their children are going to get the care they need.

“I just couldn’t believe the state would cut a program for Kansas kids,” says Harold Stultz, a dad with children on Healthwave.

Like thousands of Kansas parents, Harold Stultz, who’s self-employed depends on state program Healthwave to provide health insurance for his children, including 12-year-old Keenan.

So when Keenan hurt his knee wrestling, Stultz assumed he had insurance. He was wrong.

“They said they had everything they need, but due to the economy and cutbacks they couldn’t process the applications.” says Stultz.

“I figured if it happened to me it happened to a lot of other people,” says Carmetti Klein a mom with children on Healthwave.

She’s right. Klein, just like Shultz, assumed her children were covered. She sent in her application on time, but learned it wasn’t processed.

“I got on the phone and told them I needed this processed,” says Klein.

The state’s not denying there are problems, so why are there delays? A spokesperson says he could: “verify that the delay in processing applications is due to a shortage of resources and manpower. We understand that many parents are frustrated at the delays in processing applications. This has been a problem since the recession really hit in Kansas in late 2008 and early 2009.”

It’s only getting worse because of the economy. The need is growing and applications are up dramatically.

Until his application is processed, Stultz will have to find money to treat his son’s knee. So far, that’s about $6,000.

‘It just upsets me that there are more people in my situation,” says Stultz.

Kansas provides low-cost health insurance to children who meet the following criteria: they must be under the age of 19, not covered by Medicaid, have a family income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level and who are not eligible for state employee health insurance.

The state says it is taking proactive steps to speed up processing, but it’s just now putting those into effect and it’s going to take time.

A specific number of pending applications is unavailable, but it is said to be a sizeable amount.

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When the truth is not reported, the critical problem is not perceived and no steps are taken to correct the underlying core issues. Things can only get worse until the system is destroyed.

Operating on false information forces people to make choices based on lies, causing more terrible results and disruption and eventual failure in what was a functioning system (education, social work, courts, or any other institution).

What would have been accomplished had these people succeeded in hiding the failure rate of Georgia’s students?

The next generation of students would be lacking in knowledge and critical thinking skills (just like the adults responsible in the tampering, but a hair less intelligent). Would they continue the convention of hiding critical information from the community?

When would the system implode?

Let this be an example of why systems need to be transparent.

Bad results are good BECAUSE we see them and can do something about them.

Not teaching 21st century American children how to learn, read, and compete in school is a disaster at many levels. Not supporting educators, parents, children, and public policy in this endeavor has cost us greatly as a nation. http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2009/03/02/kara-action-group-manifesto-for-early-childhood-education/

A stark example of no (or false) reporting comes from my state, MN.

When I wrote the book, INVISIBLE CHILDREN in 2004, there were 897 cases of reported child sex abuse in the state. Obviously, not a huge issue (897 out of about 5 million people = l/10,000th).

But it was not true. If it were true, I personally knew of about fifty children that year that had been sexually molested, some terribly (2 of which had been suicidal) and I was only one of about five hundred guardian ad-Litems in the state.

If the crime is not reported, there simply is not a significant problem and the public will not respond for funding, or programs, or support for families to address the issue. What is not seen as a problem will not be dealt with.

For instance; I have observed the same man that kicked the 7 year old girl so hard that she went into convulsions (after 4 years of sexually abusing her) to be still in the family 11 years later abusing other very young children.

Children in this nation at this time are having a hard time getting the attention they need and we are not telling the truth about their conditions.

Not educating children is a terrible failure for any community. Not keeping children save from the trauma of sexual abuse is criminal.

We are living in a time of (not uncommon) of political chaos.

Texas just refused almost a billion dollars it could have used to help its students read at grade level (they don’t).

Each state needs to police itself and at the very least, back off on the politics when it comes to the children.

Protect them. Educate them. “what we do to our children, they will do to our society” Pliny, 2500 years ago.

Here are articles related to this discussion that will give perspective to the commonality of child sex abuse and programs that deal with it;

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/02/01/20-of-western-australia-child-abuse-is-sex-abuse/

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/01/24/crimes-against-children-study-new-hampshire-university/

http://www.invisiblechildren.org/2010/01/22/national-center-for-prosecution-of-child-abuse/

According to Geography Matters – Child Well-Being in the States Georgia ranks 42nd in infant mortality, 43rd in birth to teen moms, & 46th in child abuse deaths.

Georgia has ranked between 41st and 45th for many years among the states in education.

http://www.startribune.com/nation/84190787.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMEaPc:UiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

http://mlb.msg.com/article/0cPh4sU7rxeoO

http://www.epistle.ws/Georgia.html

http://www.everychildmatters.org/National/Resources/Geography-Matters.html

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Click here to join our Linked in online discussion about at risk children

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If this article strikes you, please forward it to your groups and news organizations.

These conversations need to be had if things are to improve for children in this nation.

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