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Old June 23rd 07, 03:31 AM posted to alt.support.child-protective-services,alt.support.foster-parents,alt.dads-rights.unmoderated,alt.parenting.spanking
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Default DSS uses new method to protect children: Changes in child-protectiveservices, coming in July, allow social workers and parents to work togetherto benefit children....

DSS uses new method to protect children

Pilot program to be expanded

By CHRISTINA HALE

Staff Writer

http://www.wdnweb.com/articles/2007/...ews/news02.txt

Changes in child-protective services, coming in July, allow social
workers and parents to work together to benefit children, according to
workers with the Beaufort County Department of Social Services.

The North Carolina Multiple Response System, which allows for more
parent involvement in some cases, started with 10 pilot counties in 2002
and will soon be implemented in every county in the state, according the
N.C. Division of Social Services.

Lorre Bowen, program manager for child-protective services, said DSS has
been implementing the program gradually over the last few years.

“The state has been fine-tuning it, and they are more confident in the
concept than they were initially,” she said in a recent interview.

By July, this response system will be applied to all cases in Beaufort
County.

Bowen said the system helps “preserve the family unit” and “empowers
parents.”

Previously, a report of a “low-risk” situation such as a dirty house
meant the child was “pulled out of class, questioned and examined even
before the parents had the opportunity to sit down and speak with us,”
Bowen said. “Now, we meet together and they know why we’re coming.”

DSS Director Jim Harriett said if the parents refuse a meeting, DSS can
still proceed with an investigation.

Scott Cullom, a child-welfare supervisor, said the system is “less
incident focused, and instead deals with the whole picture.”

“Instead of looking into who did what, address the problems in the
family,” he said. During a Child and Family Team Meeting, other
professionals from the community can attend.

DSS in Beaufort County currently has 140 cases open, involving 250
children. Each month, the department receives an average of 60 reports
of child mistreatment and looks into about 40 of them, Cullom said.

The numbers are up this month, Cullom said. “We receive 90 reports and
accepted 61.”

Under the state’s previous assessment approach, one person would go out
and investigate what happened without the parents’ knowledge, gathering
information from neighbors, doctors and school administrators — everyone
but the parents.

If the report turned out to be true, another person would work with the
family to change the problem in that household.

Barry Johnson, a supervisor with child welfare, said with the new
approach, only one person is assigned through the life of the case. “No
matter what the level of maltreatment, all parents were placed on a
central registry in which all counties had access,” he said.

Social workers were required to have two meetings per family per month.
The number of meetings has gone up to one per week for every family. The
amount of time a social worker can spend on one case was extended from
30 days to 45 days.

The state’s new response system will require 150 to 200 additional hours
for DSS employees. “Ninety-minute meetings per family with one meeting
per week and a 15 family case load adds up in a month,” Johnson said.

This will decrease in the long run because families will not be coming
back into the system as much, Johnson said.

“The main difference is that we will focus on educating the parents on
how to resolve the problems,” Harriett said. He called the approach
“more supportive and less punitive.”

Johnson said a statewide 2003-2005 research study of the new response
system said it “didn’t affect the safety of the child.”

Harriett said a misconception is that a child will not be honest in
front of his or her parents. In the less serious cases, such as children
being left home alone “the kids are going to speak right up,” he said.

“In cases of sexual abuse, a child clams up and doesn’t want to talk.
There are telltale signs that let us know something’s not right,”
Harriett said.

If social workers believe the child feels threatened in front of the
parents, DSS can take action immediately.

“If we have to change tracks we can,” Cullom said.

In DSS, “the child comes first, then the goal is to help the family,”
Bowen said.






[[ will wonders never ceased, someone in the system actually Trying to
do what is right for a change?]] FX