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Foster-care providers are offered incentives
Foster-care providers are offered incentives
By LAURA BAUER The Kansas City Star Nine years after private contractors took over, Kansas' foster-care system is twice as expensive and still struggling to move children into permanent homes at a faster pace. So in an attempt to improve a system that in 1996 pioneered private child welfare, the state is raising the stakes for contractors. Starting in July, the state will pay them more money during the first six months a child is in foster care. But that money will be cut more than two-thirds if a child lingers in the system longer than a year. The idea is to cut the average time a child is in the system, which is 23 months, roughly what it was before Kansas privatized services. With more money early on, contractors can tailor services toward individual families, said Richard Wexler, director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, based in Alexandria, Va. “If they're serious about this, they will get serious about offering families the specific help the families need,” Wexler said. “A cookie-cutter service plan is what it has been.” The change, along with three others, comes at a time when some had all but given up on the private system. While other states considering privatization watch Kansas' progress, many child advocates, lawmakers and foster parents complain the state still hasn't gotten it right. Yet hopes lie in the changes. “The bad news is Kansas made seven years of mistakes,” Wexler said. “The good news is it does sound like they've learned from them. … It looks like Kansas is finally getting it right.” Other than the financial incentives, the changes include: • More communication between foster parents and birth parents. • More services for birth parents whose children have been removed from their homes. • Foster-care contractors will continue with a case even after a child is referred for adoption. Currently, the case is sent to an adoption contractor, which some critics say creates a disruption. Officials with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services say the changes in next year's contracts are not to fix anything that is broken. Yet they acknowledge that there always is a need to improve. “I don't think anybody is saying we don't want to get better,” said Sandra Hazlett, director of children and family services for the department. “I think we've learned how to make things better.” In 1996, Kansas turned nearly all its child-welfare duties over to private agencies, which meant contractors would provide services the state once did. The idea was that through incentives and competition between agencies, the system would be more efficient. The goal was to create stronger families and keep children from lingering in the system for several months to years. But state officials say the result was that the system went from costing $70 million a year to more than $140 million. Despite the cost, supporters of private child welfare rave over several outcomes. Safety of children in the system has improved, adoptions are at a record level and fewer children enter the system. Before privatization, “kids waited up to two weeks for emergency shelter placement. Kids were placed at the first open bed,” said Bruce Linhos, director of the Children's Alliance of Kansas, a nonprofit association of private child-welfare agencies. “Family preservation was in only nine counties, and now it's in 105 counties. … I think we have to recognize how far we've come.” Officials with KVC Behavioral Health of Olathe had 778 children in care when it became a contractor in May 1997. As of last May, there were 498, a 36 percent drop. “If you are a child in the system, it's 100 percent better,” said Wayne Sims, president of KVC, which in July will go from serving eight counties to 30, including Johnson and Wyandotte. “In terms of progress that has been made, it has been amazing.” Critics, however, say services have been geared toward the child, not the entire family. They say that delays keep children lingering in the system. In 2004, about 27 percent of children in foster care were moved to permanent homes within six months. In the late 1990s, a year or two into privatization, that number was about the same. “When I think of how privatization was presented, that it was this major breakthrough and it would improve outcomes for kids, it is surprising now,” said Gary Brunk, executive director for Kansas Action for Children, a statewide child-advocacy group. “We still do poorly.” Some foster parents worry the changes could make their jobs tougher and more risky as they are called to work closer with birth parents. Others say that when it comes to financial incentives, they fear decisions will not be made based on what is best for the child. “We look at it from the kids' point of view,” said Johnson County foster parent Joni Haitt. “Sometimes kids need to be in care longer.” Former foster parent Marcy Misak said how long a child is in the system should be judged as a “case-by-case thing,” not something driven by numbers and money, Misak said. “I know time is a factor, and it's expensive for the state,” Misak said. “But is money the issue, or is finding children the right home the issue?” Lisa Snell, director of the child-welfare program at Reason Foundation, a national think tank, said there needs to be oversight as decisions are made. But she does not think incentives will cause contractors to make the wrong decisions for children. “Some kids may be able to move out in a few months,” Snell said. “And that should balance out with the few that are the hard-core cases.” Whatever the outcome, other states will be watching. In Missouri, where private agencies manage 12 percent of children in foster care, officials are considering privatizing more services. “We have no intention to do it overnight like perhaps Kansas did,” said Fred Simmens, director of the children's division of the Missouri Department of Social Services. “But we are learning how to better serve children. Whether it's the public sector or private sector, that's what we're trying to determine.” Simmens said the goal now is to integrate some private services into Greene County in southwest Missouri and gradually add more in the Kansas City area. Some commend Kansas for getting to know its system as it underwent a change more mammoth than any state had experienced before or since. “As the pioneer doing this and doing it so quickly, Kansas did experience traumatic bumps along the way,” said Madelyn Freundlich, policy director for the nonprofit advocacy group Children's Rights Inc. and co-author of a study on privatization of child-welfare services. “But I do believe the state tried to learn from that. They are using data as it is coming in to continually assess, ‘How are we doing? Do we need to make changes to improve things?'” To reach Laura Bauer, call (816) 234-7743 or send e-mail to . First glance • Currently, the average time a child is in the Kansas foster-care system is 23 months, roughly what it was before the state privatized services. • Since privatization began in 1996, the cost to the state has gone from $70 million a year to more than $140 million. http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...l/11128729.htm "Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, For you are crunchy and taste good with catsup." |
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