Child Protective Service Solutions?

 

Update: Robert Garrett from the Dallas Morning News on November  12, 2006 reported on the state of affairs for the privatization of foster care services in Texas.  The state legislature has all but finished abdicating the responsibility of foster child placement from the Child Protective Services agency to the private sector.  This was done as a reaction to a very terrible 2004, in which four high profile child abuse deaths occurred; all of which had CPS caseworkers involved in the months leading up to the murders.  CPS cited overwhelming case loads and under funding as key reasons for the failure.  Private foster care firms, which can receive million dollar contracts from the state, indicated that they can place foster children in foster homes more efficiently than a state run agency.

Well now it seems that this tactic is backfiring, as the state is now entrusting the placement of almost 80% of foster children to private firms.  This time, the high profile case centers around 3 year old Christian Nieto, who died in the care of a foster parent that was clearly under qualified to care for foster children, as she was wrought with financial, legal, and health problems.  This foster placement was arranged by the private firm Mesa Family Services, who overlooked these very serious issues.   Worse yet, she may have actually murdered the boy, and is currently in custody with a capital murder indictment.

This is another tough blow for a very troubled Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, which is still experiencing high case worker turn around, despite increasing the overall number of caseworkers, increasing pay, and implementing a new 12 week training program for caseworkers, which is double the training of what used to be offered.  As I stated below, case loads were overwhelmingly high for workers and compared to the case loads of other states. 

The state has many questions to answer before handing off the remainder of the foster placement responsibilities by 2011.  It seems that there is no easy way around this.  Even if we allow private companies to do the foster care legwork for us, the state will still need to provide manpower to provide oversight for these companies.  These private foster care placement firms are going to concentrate on their bottom line instead of the well-being of the foster children.  And in this case, the stakes could not be higher.

But still, we need to look at the overall reasons why child abuse even exists in today's society.  Fundamentally it is this: lack of parenting education and support systems mixed with a violent culture.  The enormity of the problem seems impossible to get your arms around, but other industrialized countries have done it.  We just need to decide that it is worth the investment. - ses

Two-thousand four was a sobering year for the children of Texas . We were repeatedly reminded that the main agency that protects the rights of children, Child Protective Services (CPS), was failing. The reminders came every couple of months; just as soon as one tragedy began to fade from our thoughts, another one viciously materialized. Devontae Williams, Amber Rose Pacheco, Andrew Brian Pineda, Michael Russell; these voices from the past chilled our souls and made us want to throw up our hands in futility. How could this happen? Why does it seem to be all happening at once? How can we possibly get a handle on this situation? What can we do to fix the Child Protective Service of Texas? Indeed, how do we fix the entire Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS)? If you recall, the Adult Protective services did not have a good year, either.

 

In the subsequent months, fingers began to point. Government officials, including the Texas Governor put blame on CPS, ironically as they simultaneously planned to cut funding to DFPS. It was found that one-fourth of children who died from abuse had been visited by CPS, yet they failed to follow-up and were then unable to bring the children to safety. The frequency of the high profile case created an image of an agency spiraling out of control. After the smoke cleared, and people had time to address the core of the issue, progress started to be made.

They all realized that CPS had way too much on its plate. The caseloads per CPS worker were way above national averages. So in response, they increased funding to the Service to hire 100+ new case workers, and provide incentives to veteran workers. It was a typical response to an agency breakdown, throw money on it.

The state legislators are trying to find a solution, and it seems to us that this is a step in the right direction: privatization of a portion of the Service's workload so they can concentrate on the more pressing issues (Privatized CPS: Is it a way out? Dallas Morning News 1-2-05 ).

A number of private agencies shore up the rest of the cases, which are also regulated by the CPS.  It is a major part of the Service's operation, and it competes directly with resources allotted for abuse investigations. These private agencies argue that they can do the job more efficiently, citing the fact that they don't have all the red tape of a large bureaucracy

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This would free up CPS to concentrate on the matter of identifying children at risk for death from child abuse, which is a task that they appear to be effective at doing. They just don't have the time and resources available for crucial follow-up.

  At the center of this tragic predicament are the CPS workers that have been publicly criticized for not performing their insurmountable duties. In a recent opinion column written by Jane Donovan, a community educator for the Collin County Children's Advocacy Center , she praises the work that CPS workers do for the state of Texas"

"Allow me to tell you. Dedicated professionals who believe they can change the world; many not much older than those they endeavor to protect. They are optimistic college graduates encouraged by youth and a desire to save children, willing to forgo the additional $10,000 they could earn as starting teachers.

"And there are the veteran workers, those who have dedicated their entire professional lives to Texas children, despite uphill battles. They stave off public criticism, recognizing they may not share confidential details that might clarify their actions. They endure exhaustion to make sure necessary paperwork is completed so at-risk children can be placed in safe environments.

 

"They search ceaselessly for foster placements that are few and far between. They deal with embattled, angry families and cross thresholds you and I would not approach. They continue to fight the good fight as funding is slashed and numbers of cases increase "(DMN – Collin County edition. October 27, 2004 ).

 

So basically they are planning to outsource the labor-intensive process of foster care. This in turn would decrease caseload for CPS workers, allowing them to spend more time on each case. This is not to say that the private agencies will get the job done. The article in the January 2 DMN told of two other states that have implemented privatized foster and adoptive services and ultimately failed, but not before soaking up lots of funding. It was even pointed out that it was a private agency that gave the nod to Mercury Liggins to take on foster children. You know the rest of that story, they ended up abandoned in the country of Nigeria , fending for themselves.

 

To ultimately answer the question of CPS requires you to look at the even bigger picture of child abuse. How and why it happens, and who you can identify being at risk. Child abuse is the ultimate endpoint of the violence in our culture. Exposure to violence begets violent behavior. This basic predisposition is acted on by stressors such as poverty, substance abuse, and multiple births. A triggering event, such as crying, colic, temper tantrum, or toilet accident – all normal events in child rearing – releases the abusive act.

 

As you can see, the problem is the sum total of many other problems in our society. Is there an entity that can be put in place can help? We believe there is. The American Academy of Pediatrics – Counsel on Child and Adolescent Health proposes the creation of home visitation programs to all families with children. Their main premise is this:

 

“…many families have insufficient knowledge of parenting skills and an inadequate support system of friends, extended family, or professionals to help with these vital tasks. Home-visitation programs offer an effective mechanism to ensure ongoing parental education, social support, and linkage with public and private community services.” (Pediatrics Vol. 101 No. 3 March 1998, pp. 486-489)

 

These programs have been successfully implemented in other industrialized countries except the US . They provide this free service to all, irregardless of income level. It is a service that could potentially pay for itself for each child by the time they are four years old, especially when you count up all the money spent on ER visits by children. But more importantly, home visitations by nurses or other allied health care professionals can provide social support and education to parents, not only increasing the overall health of our children, but could potentially interrupt the cycle of child abuse and family violence.

 Created January 2, 2005.  Updated August 7, 2006