Put the 'welfare' in 'child welfare': Next time, the kid stays put.

Put the 'welfare' in 'child welfare'

By Elisa Cramer

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, August 24, 2007

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion...acol_0824.html


Next time, the kid stays put.

That's right, the next time investigators respond after a call to the
child abuse hotline, the parents will be the ones taken away by
strangers. The parents will be questioned by officers, nurses and
caseworkers. The parents will face the fear of not knowing whether or
when they ever will return to anything familiar.


Next time, why should the kid have to give up his bed, his brothers and
sisters, his toys and his pet?

The two men in charge of child welfare in Palm Beach County know they
are fantasizing when they talk about such a system. But that inside joke
Alan Abramowitz and Ron Zychowski share highlights their more serious
point: Removing a child from a home is traumatic to the child - always -
and can lead to problems, often crime and teen pregnancy.

Nowhere is that more obvious than in Florida. Social workers, probation
officers and juvenile judges all recognize the pipeline from dependency
on the state as a parent to delinquency. The Florida Department of
Children and Families too often feeds Florida's Department of Juvenile
Justice.

Of the five largest states, Florida has twice the demand for child
welfare services but spends half the money. "We see more children in
Florida on a monthly basis," Mr. Zychowski said, "than any other state."

Finding out why - and trying to reduce that number - is part of Mr.
Zychowski's mission as the interim CEO of Palm Beach County's private
foster care agency, Child and Family Connections.

The state prefers the term community-based care to private. But it's not
a euphemistic idea Mr. Zychowski embraced as a DCF administrator a
decade ago. "Over my dead body," he said, was his reaction. Now, on loan
to Palm Beach County from the foster care agency he's credited with
turning around in Volusia and Flagler counties, he said, "I actually
believe community-based care represents our best chance to really do
this well."

After 25 years in the Army and eight years in DCF's regional and
district leadership, including a stint in St. Lucie County, Mr.
Zychowski landed 21/2 years ago in Volusia County, where the problems
were "strikingly similar" to Palm Beach County's: "People couldn't tell
me with any definitive information where we were financially. We weren't
producing (positive) outcomes for kids. We had no focus around a mission
and what we wanted to do. ... There was no sense of leadership. Staff
needed to be trained, and no one was there to train them."

Now, Volusia is one of the few counties where child welfare officials
say "community-based care" is working.

That's why Mr. Abramowitz, Palm Beach County's interim DCF
administrator, put Mr. Zychowski on a review team to do a clean sweep of
Child and Family Connections, from its $3 million deficit to its
"unacceptable" rate of children remaining in out-of-home care for longer
than 12 months. Child and Family Connections' board then hired Mr.
Zychowski this month.

The two promise to inject common-sense changes that focus, Mr. Zychowski
said, on: "What are you getting done today for children?"

To start, CFC's board needs financial experts, not just do-gooders. Both
DCF - with five district administrators in five years - and CFC - with
two CEOs and too many CFOs - have had too much instability. Also, more
services to families are needed to emphasize literacy, day care, jobs
and parenting, not the usual scolding. "People need to be approached to
improve their quality of life," Mr. Abramowitz said, "not to be told,
'Don't abuse your child.' "

In a SuperNanny-type approach, DCF, CFC, the Children's Services Council
of Palm Beach County and other truly community-based organizations plan
to teach parents how to better cope, then step away and let them try new
parenting skills on their own, while keeping a safety net behind them to
help them sustain the improvements.

In Volusia, it took just seven months, Mr. Zychowski said, to see
significant improvement. It's not as amusing a fantasy as "haul off the
parents, not the kids." But this enlightened approach to child welfare
is a dream Palm Beach County finally should realize.





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 THOUSANDS 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...