Kids Are Waiting E-Update - January 2008

Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect nearly $104 billion; Investments in prevention needed

Two reports were released by Kids Are Waiting and partner organization Prevent Child Abuse America this week in Washington, D.C. highlighting the unavailability of most federal child welfare funding for programs and services known to be effective at reducing child abuse and neglect and the economic impact of child abuse and neglect on society.

Total Estimated Cost of Child Abuse and Neglect in the United States by PCAA estimates that the total costs of child abuse and neglect in the U.S. were nearly $104 billion last year. This new economic analysis identifies direct costs including foster care services, hospitalization, mental health treatment, and law enforcement that total more than $33 billion per year. Indirect costs of over $70 billion include loss of productivity as well as expenditures related to chronic health problems, special education, and the criminal justice system.

Time for Reform: Investing in Prevention, Keeping Children Safe At Home by Kids Are Waiting, finds that the current federal child welfare financing structure does not adequately support services and supports that could help keep more children safely with their families. Of the $7.2 billion federal funds dedicated for child welfare in 2007, approximately 90 percent supported children in foster care placements ($4.5 billion) and children adopted from foster care ($2.0 billion). States can use about 10 percent of federal dedicated child welfare funds flexibly for family services and supports, including prevention or reunification services.

At a symposium held at The Pew Charitable Trusts, representatives from the executive and legislative branches, county administration, academia as well as a foster care alumna and a birth parent/advocate all spoke to the importance and need for investing in proven prevention and reunification services that could keep children safe and families together and reduce the use of foster care. Speakers included:

• J. Robert Flores, Administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, US Department of Justice
• Christine Calpin, Acting Associate Commissioner, Children's Bureau, US Department of Health and Human Services
• Eric Brettschneider, Interim Senior Vice President, Community Investment, United Way of New York City
• Jennifer Gibson, Foster care alumna and advocate
• Cheryl D'Aprix, Parent and case worker, Healthy Families New York
• Dr. Ileana Arias, Director, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control
• Dr. Phaedra Corso, Associate Professor, University of Georgia College of Public Health
• Dr. David Sanders, Executive Vice President, Casey Family Programs
• Marc Cherna, Director, Allegheny County Department of Human Services
• Jim O'Hara, Managing Director, Health & Human Services Policy, The Pew Charitable Trusts
• Jim Hmurovich, President/CEO, Prevent Child Abuse America
• Catherine Hildum, Professional Staff Member, Subcommittee on Children and Families, Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Chairman
• Becky Shipp, Health Policy Advisor, Senate Finance Committee 
• Sonja Nesbit, Professional Staff Member, Committee on Ways and Means, Democratic Staff

The symposium and the Invest in Prevention report highlighted an array of local programs achieving good outcomes. Effective front-end services, including family support, family strengthening, and family reunification services, have shown great promise in ensuring the safety and well-being of children. The Nurse-Family Partnership and Healthy Families New Jersey decreased the incidence of abuse and neglect; Renewal House in Tennessee reduced short and long term trauma to children; Allegheny County, Pennsylvania lessened the need to remove children from their families; and Wraparound Milwaukee lowered the costs of care per child. Additionally, the report recommends specific policy options to keep children safe and strengthen families:

• Ensure a sufficient, flexible and reliable federal resource to help support the continuum of services needed by at-risk children and families.
• Reward states for safely reducing the number of children in foster care and achieving all forms of permanence.
• Make all abused and neglected children eligible for federal foster care support.
   

Kids Are Waiting now features stories of foster care alumni, parents, and examples of innovative programs on Website
In 2008, the Kids Are Waiting Website will feature a series of stories from foster care alumni, parents, and other individuals touched by the foster care system. The website, www.kidsarewaiting.org, provides information about the nation's foster care system, including state factsheets, reports and links to key sources of information. In addition, the site highlights innovative and evidenced-based practices developed at the state and local level—services and programs that would be greatly strengthened by federal financing reform to better direct resources to the continuum of services and supports most needed by children and families, including preventive services and support for guardians and adoptive parents.

A Successful Reunification Story

KELLY CATES is the mother of three young children. Because of Kelly's addiction to drugs, her children were placed in foster care with her parents for three years. During the first two years, Kelly had little contact with the children and no contact with her social worker. The agency was ready to terminate Kelly's parental rights. After meeting her, however, the social worker concluded that Kelly was prepared to work with the agency, and she began efforts to reunify the family.

"I thought I couldn't do it," Kelly said. But she successfully completed a long-term intensive outpatient program. Kelly is grateful for her social worker, her counselors, and the services that helped her get her children back. "I had everybody pulling for me," she says.

Kelly understands the importance of providing parents with the resources and supports needed to bring their children safely home and help them remain there. Kelly, for example, needed housing before her children could return home. Her social worker and counselors worked to obtain an immediate Section 8 housing voucher for her - a resource that has become less and less available to other families whose children are in foster care.

As a result of her experiences, Kelly is now forming a parent support group to help struggling parents, no matter their circumstances.
 

In Her Own Words: A Former Foster Youth Speaks About the Importance of Prevention, Reunification Services

"When I was eight years old, my sisters and I were removed from our home and placed in foster care in the Utah state system.  Our home environment was unsafe and unstable.  The idea was that we would spend temporary time in care until my mother could be named suitable.  There were three of us. 

My time in care was a brief one, but I remember fully the impact it had on my life.  The three of us girls were separated when removed from my mother's house, two of us placed in foster care, the third in a children's center alone because my foster mother could not care for all three of us. 

I was very fortunate to be placed in a loving young family while my mother jumped through the hoops to regain her parental rights.  I was able to experience normality, a real normal for the first time in my life.  I had clean clothes, new toys, and after-school snacks.  I remember being helped with school work and playing in the backyard pool. 

During the separation, my mother became pregnant with her fourth child.  In turn, she was back on track for a bit.  She got a job, began dating a good man, and rented a house on a quiet suburban street.  We bought a dog; his name was Morgan.  He was very cute.  Things were great during the honeymoon period, as we call it.  We all got along; we went to daycare and spent time in the kitchen together. 

After being reunited, I don't remember ever seeing a caseworker or social worker, and all of the counseling that we had went through ended as soon as we exited care. 

The happy, healthy suburban life didn't last long.  Eventually, we were back to only eating at school, nothing in the refrigerator.  My mother was back to using drugs and we'd moved to three schools in one year.  I remember many nights waiting for my mom to come home, many times wondering if she would come home and pack us up so we could move again.  Her cycle of drug use and rotten boyfriends had come back full swing, and it seemed the only thing that changed for us was that now there were four of us girls. 

The PTA mom had again become a party girl.  I know that the same resources that could have kept us out of foster care in the first place could have saved us after being reunified.  My mother needed addiction treatment, parental classes, and job-skills training.  We all needed family counseling. 

My story could have ended with a new dog on a quiet suburban street; it didn't have to end the same way it began.  My story is just one of thousands like it: children removed from unsafe homes, separated from each other and placed in care, handed back with hopes of impossible promises of how it will be different this time. 

My mother is not a bad woman.  She's just another young mother that needs support, wants change, and doesn't have the resources to do it."  - Jennifer Gibson, age 23, entered the Utah state foster care system when she was 8 years old, after having been removed from her family as a result of abuse and neglect.   As she was growing up, Ms. Gibson found refuge through her acting. With the support of her grandmother, Ms. Gibson has starred in several community theatre productions and participated twice in the Miss Oregon Scholarship Pageant. Through sharing her story, she has been an advocate for abused and neglected children.


Healthy Families NY Keeps Children Safe

"I am a Healthy Families New York graduate. Being part of this program has changed my life. When I got involved with the program, I was at the end of my rope. I was pregnant with my third child, homeless, with no real family support. I was given a Family Support Worker. While pregnant, I had someone to talk to every two weeks. I attended every doctor's appointment, read all the information give to me, and listened to what my Support Worker had to offer. I realized that I was learning how to be a mother all over again. I found an apartment when my daughter was 5 months old and lived in that apartment until recently when I moved into my own house. I truly thank the Healthy Families program for being there for me and my children through some of the roughest times in my life. I went from having no house, no job and no car to having a house, owning my own daycare business and purchasing my first car. I truly thank my Support Worker for believing in me!" M.

Healthy Families New York has made a significant difference in the lives of thousands of children and families. Now provided in 38 communities across the state, the program has a proven track record of better outcomes for families who may have difficulty providing the nurture and care their children need.

A three-year randomized trial evaluation of Healthy Families New York found that parents in the program have more positive parenting skills and attitudes. They are less likely to abuse or neglect their children. In disciplining their children, they are more likely to use appropriate limit setting and less likely to use physical punishment.

What benefits parents benefits their children. Children are healthier, with a dramatic reduction in low birth weight, an increase in the number of mothers who breastfeed their babies, more children receiving needed medical care, and fewer children with somatic complaints like headaches and nausea.

Home visiting programs like Healthy Families New York prevent the pain of child abuse and the necessity of foster care placement from happening in the first place. As one of our Family Support Workers said, "This program is all about helping moms and dads be the best parents they can be."

RECENT RESEARCH

New Casey Family Programs Report on Beliefs, Identity, Mental Health Needs of Foster Youth

A new report by Casey Family Programs titled Mental Health, Ethnicity, Sexuality and Spirituality Among Youth in Foster Care explores the attitudes, opinions, perceptions and experiences of youth in foster care. The report was based on surveys of 188 youth between the ages of 14 and 17 who received foster care services at one of Casey's field offices, and provides policy and practice recommendations designed to more effectively meet the mental health, beliefs and identity needs of these youth.