ParentingBanter.com - View Single Post - Maryland, Family ties: A study showing that keeping children athome, even if there are problems, is better than putting them in foster care...

**Greegor**

It took an MIT egghead to figure this out?

On Jul 17, 3:01 am, fx wrote:
Family ties
Originally published July 16, 2007http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-ed.foster16jul16,0,94293...

A study showing that keeping children at home, even if there are
problems, is better than putting them in foster care reinforces the
importance of family ties and the need to view foster care as the
exception, not the norm, when dealing with troubled families. That's a
lesson that Maryland is now trying to apply - and wisely so - after too
many years of bad practices.

The recently released study, by a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, examined 15,000
cases in Illinois from 1990 to 2002, one of the largest studies of the
effects of foster care. The research showed that in cases on the margin,
where children could have been kept with their families or placed in
foster care, the long-term results were better for those who remained
with their families. As they grew older, they had fewer teen births,
were less likely to become juvenile delinquents and were more likely to
hold jobs as young adults.

Clearly, it is not safe to leave a child with abusive or neglectful
parents. And children who are victims of abuse or neglect are
traumatized whether they stay in their homes or are removed. But child
advocates rightly note the importance of maintaining a child's
connections to familiar people and places. And the study ably bolsters
the principle that those connections should be severed only when
absolutely necessary.

That principle hasn't been followed well in Maryland, where the foster
care population has increased from about 4,300 in 1987 to more than
10,000 today. Failure to recruit and retain enough foster care families
has meant that too many children wind up in group homes, making it
difficult, if not impossible, to maintain meaningful ties to family and
neighborhood.

The system is long overdue for reform, and state Human Resources
Secretary Brenda Donald promises major changes. She is emphasizing the
importance of place to the well-being of children. That's why she wants
to redirect system resources and work with other departments to provide
more services, such as mental health counseling and drug treatment, to
help families stay together in their homes and provide safe care for
children. She would also increase the number of foster and kinship
families in order to keep children who must be separated from their
parents in other family homes instead of group homes.

That is certainly the right vision - but more experienced supervisors
and better technology will be needed to implement it. Ms. Donald should
push for those essential changes sooner rather than later so that she
and her department can move as quickly as possible to strengthen rather
than weaken the family ties that bind.

CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NATIONAL
SECURITY AGENCY/CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....

CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.

every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf

http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com

Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS

*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*

Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5

Imagine that, 6.4 children die at the hands of the very agencies that
are supposed to protect them and only 1.5 at the hands of parents per
100,000 children. CPS perpetrates more abuse, neglect, and sexual abuse
and kills more children then parents in the United States. If the
citizens of this country hold CPS to the same standards that they hold
parents too. No judge should ever put another child in the hands of ANY
government agency because CPS nationwide is guilty of more harm and
death than any human being combined. CPS nationwide is guilty of more
human rights violations and deaths of children then the homes from which
they were removed. When are the judges going to wake up and see that
they are sending children to their death and a life of abuse when
children are removed from safe homes based on the mere opinion of a
bunch of social workers.

BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...