June 22, 2010
No easy solutions to child welfare issues
Cathleen Graham
Thank you for continuing coverage of issues related to the child welfare system in Indiana. On behalf of IARCCA's 109 member agencies that provide services to abused, neglected and delinquent children, I am writing to comment on "More Hoosier kids put in foster care," June 6.
The article does not reflect the successes the Department of Child Services has achieved since it was fully staffed with additional family case managers in July 2008. The federal data cited were for the time period Oct. 1, 2007, to Sept. 30, 2008. The article and subsequent editorial imply that the reforms were fully implemented and have failed. In fairness to DCS and its staff, the 2009 and 2010 federal reporting years, rather than the 2008 year, should be used to more accurately reflect data related to reform success or failure.
Second, data in IARCCA's Outcome Measures Report for Calendar Year 2009 show there has been progress made by the collaboration between public and private agencies as children exit the child welfare system. The report includes the study of 6,785 children at intake, 5,773 children at discharge, and 2,695 youth at six-month follow-up. Among the findings:
The median length of stay in care outside the child's home is at the shortest length since 2003 for most programs studied.
2009 data reflect the highest reported rates of youth being discharged to relatives from foster care, shelter care and most residential care programs since this was first studied in 2005.
At follow-up, 98 percent of children suffered no new abuse; 91 percent of children sustained positive educational outcomes; 85 percent had no new court involvement; and 20 percent of children were employed.
This progress is being made in the face of significant challenges, as parent unemployment was identified for the first time as one of the top five problems that families face in all programs studied. Rates of youth employment (for youth 16 and older) were at the lowest levels since data collection began in 1998 for foster care, residential care, and transitional living programs.
When the child welfare reforms began in 2005, no one envisioned the current economic challenges that families would face in the past two years.
Third, the article points out that African-American children were removed from their homes at a disproportionate rate, accounting for 29 percent of children removed while making up only 10 percent of Indiana's child population. If this issue is properly addressed in the context of the recommendations of the 2008 Indiana Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services, the rate of child removals from families could be reduced to levels seen in other states.
Finally, we must all recognize that child abuse and neglect are not DCS problems in isolation. Families must have the support within their community to raise their children in a safe environment. When this is not possible, when children's lives are threatened, foster care provides children a safe place to live and to thrive while public and private agencies work with the child's family for a permanent resolution.
There are no easy answers for some of these complex problems, and each child's situation must be carefully assessed so that decisions support the child's safety and best interest.