If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Child Welfare Agencies in denial as children pay price of panic byRichard Wexler
Agencies in denial as children pay price of panic
Originally posted on July 19, 2007 http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs..../70718084/1015 if the people in charge of child welfare in Southwest Florida were as good at running the system as they are at making excuses for its failings, the region would have the safest children in the state. But they’re not. Children are not even as safe as they were a year ago. That’s because of the foster-care panic, the huge sudden surge in children torn from their families, that swept through the region in the wake of the death of Michelle Fontanez. Although the panic was supposed to prevent another such tragedy, it did not stop the death of Zahid Jones. Indeed, the panic may have contributed to that death, by so overloading workers that they lacked the time to investigate the Jones case properly. But far more telling than horror stories are key safety measures for all children in the system. Since the panic began in District 8, those measures have stayed the same or worsened. That means all those children needlessly taken from everyone they know and love are suffering for nothing. Furthermore, while District 8 still takes children at a rate below the state average, it takes children at a rate more than double the rate in Miami — yet Miami does far better at keeping children safe. Some officials say the increase in removals is due to increased population growth. But when my organization compares removals of children we compare rates of removal — the number of children taken for every thousand impoverished children. That means the surge in removals far outpaces population growth. BAD CALL BY DCF Department of Children and Families District Administrator Harry Propper says the fact that caseworkers suddenly started taking vastly more children after Michelle Fontanez died doesn’t mean the workers are panicking. Propper insists it couldn’t be that these workers were terrified of having the next such case on their caseload. It couldn’t be that this fear was reinforced when, months later, a News-Press editorial declared that the agency would be “crucified, and rightly so” if workers left another child in danger in her or his own home. There is no penalty for needlessly sundering hundreds of families. No, Propper apparently believes that at the very same moment the Fontanez case hit the papers, workers suddenly discovered a massive increase in child abuse. Propper also tells us an overview of district performance is useless; one can measure performance only by looking at decisions for individual children. In fact, you need both. Trying to measure progress without an overview is like trying to find your way out of a labyrinth without a map. But one also can learn a lot from individual cases. Take, for example, the case of Amber Bellemore. Bellemore succumbed to drug addiction. But despite a University of Florida study showing that even children born with cocaine in their systems do better with birth mothers able to care for them than when placed in foster care, DCF and the Children’s Network failed to offer a drug treatment program where Bellemore’s children could live with her. Nevertheless, while the children were in foster care, Bellemore did everything right. She got what treatment was available and passed all her drug tests. Yet DCF and the Children’s Network held her children in foster care for one reason only: She couldn’t afford a good enough place to live. So her children joined the 30 percent of America’s foster children trapped in foster care solely because their families lack adequate housing. Chances are we would know none of this if not for the fact that, at first, the children were placed with a great aunt Bellemore warned was unsuitable. The great aunt left one of the children in a sweltering car while shopping. Now, instead of simply helping Bellemore find housing, DCF and the Children’s Network traumatized the children again by throwing them into another foster home. BETTER WAY A comprehensive new study tells us that by doing so DCF and the Children’s Network dramatically increased the chances of these children becoming unemployed, pregnant and delinquent. Another study puts the odds of them doing well after foster care at only one in five. In contrast, this same study suggests, the odds that they will be abused in foster care itself are at least one in three. If the human cost to these children isn’t enough, consider dollars and cents: Warehousing three children in foster care costs taxpayers far more than a rent subsidy and help with a security deposit. Unlike most states, Florida, to its great credit, negotiated a waiver allowing it to bypass restrictions on federal child welfare funds. Large amounts of money normally reserved for foster care can be transferred to safe, proven alternatives — including housing assistance and family drug treatment. So instead of complaining about not getting more money from Tallahassee, DCF and the Children’s Network should get to work shifting funds from foster care to better, safer alternatives. Harry Propper himself put it best, in another context: “If you keep doing the same things over and over and getting a bad response,” he said, “you need to change.” —Richard Wexler is Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. NCCPR’s reports on Florida child welfare are available at www.nccpr.org. CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA 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 CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON... 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... |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Child welfare system needs dose of sanity By RICHARD WEXLER | fx | Spanking | 0 | July 19th 07 08:53 AM |
Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform: Child ProtectiveServices routinely took children from their parents with no due process. | fx | Spanking | 0 | July 7th 07 05:24 PM |
Legacy of Roska case is child welfare system reform: Child ProtectiveServices routinely took children from their parents with no due process. | fx | Foster Parents | 0 | July 7th 07 05:24 PM |
Paying the price of panic in Texas foster care | Honkey Dorie | Foster Parents | 1 | July 3rd 06 04:00 PM |
| ACS NY "Child welfare agencies get bad press" | Kane | Foster Parents | 17 | June 7th 04 03:47 PM |