Fern5827
August 25th 03, 06:09 PM
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children is outdated, and serves the
BUREAUCRACY, and not the children who LANGUISH IN FOSTER CARE, rather than in
kinship, or family care.
Since children should be placed with family, foster carers must realize that
family will not stand for the previous LONG DELAYS in placement of children.
http://www.nwanews.com
Officials: Interstate compact outdated
BY TRACI SHURLEY
Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003
To fix a system critics call "outdated" and "illogical," Arkansas officials are
pushing for changes to nationwide policies on out-of-state placements of foster
children.
The regulations are intended to ensure the safety of the country’s 500,000
foster children when they are placed with relatives or adoptive parents who
live out of state. Instead, inefficiency and a lack of accountability have too
often created delays of months and even years, child-welfare advocates and
authorities complain.
And while these children wait to be moved to their new home, they take up
desperately needed spots in the fostercare system. "They languish in foster
care when they could be in appropriate placements," said Connie Hickman-Tanner,
director of the juvenile courts division of the Administrative Office of the
Courts. "That’s the drive for me, is that they should be in appropriate
placements when they can be."
In one case, an Arkansas judge wanted to place a baby born to a drug-addicted
mother with the child’s grandparents in Georgia. Instead of spending his
first few years with his new family, the baby remained in an Arkansas foster
home for three years, waiting for the proper paperwork to be completed.
All 50 states have individual laws that govern their participation in the
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, complicating efforts to
streamline procedures.
In Arkansas, more than 300 foster children likely will be placed in new homes
under the compact. For many, however, such placements will take longer than
they should, advocates say, which has prompted some states, including Arkansas,
to call for changes to the compact. "It was a real innovation when it was
enacted, but that was before our society got so mobile," said Lisa McGee, an
attorney for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
RED TAPE While the agreement provides for cooperation, it doesn’t assure it.
No fan of the Interstate Compact, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Mark Hewett
offers a scenario to point out its weaknesses. If a grandmother who "lives
closer to the courthouse than I do," but still across the Oklahoma border,
wanted her Arkansas grandchild placed with her, Sebastian County human services
officials would have to contact their state office in Little Rock. That office
would then contact the state human services office in Oklahoma. The Little Rock
office, in turn, would contact the grand- mother’s local human services
office and request a home study.
The inspection and paperwork must take the same circuitous route back and each
step could take weeks or months, Hewett said. Though guidelines encourage
officials in Oklahoma to respond to a request for a home study in 30 days,
there’s no guarantee they will. "You have to go 1,600 miles round trip just
to get a home study on a family member that lives two miles from the
courthouse," Hewett said.
The obligation the states share with each other doesn’t end after the home
study is completed.
Besides requiring the outside state to conduct a home study, the compact also
requires social workers in other states to visit Arkansas children there.
Children and the officials trying to place them often end up "stuck in a
holding pattern" while they wait for another state to act, said April Shy, an
attorney ad litem — representing children’s interests — in Washington
County. A judge in Arkansas can do little when there are delays getting a home
study completed in another state, she added. "They’ve got their own stuff
they’re dealing with, so I think a lot of it gets put on the back burner. It
would be natural to make sure your own are done first," Shy said.
Shy doesn’t blame those in other states, but a better system should be
developed, she said.
Many of the complaints about paperwork delays could easily be solved by relying
on technological advances like e-mail and fax machines, said Thomas Chapmond,
executive director of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory
Services. Though home studies from out-of-state requests require extra work for
Texas social workers, Chapmond said they also realize "it’s also a blessing
that we can go to another state to do it for us."
IMPROVING THE SYSTEM More often than not, the compact works, said Dennis Eshman
of the American Public Human Services Association. He does, however, believe
complaints about bureaucratic delays are valid. McGee and Tanner have come up
with a list of solutions they say will help in the short term. Those
suggestions are being considered by a task force formed by the American Public
Human Services Association, which includes representatives from Oregon, Iowa,
Utah and Pennsylvania. "We’re going to kind of add and subtract to [the
compact], and that will go out to juvenile judges," Department of Human
Services director Kurt Knickrehm said. The intent is to clearly state what
needs to be changed in a "rather antiquated" system, he said. "Everybody’s
having the same issues. It’s just a matter of where on the priority list it
is," said Knickrehm, adding that for Arkansas officials it’s a "big" concern.
Some of Tanner and McGee’s recommendations include: Requiring monthly reports
from states on the number of overdue compact reports and a stronger commitment
to disciplining workers who let paperwork languish. Setting up a system where
judges in the two states involved in a case share responsibility for the
child’s safe placement. Changing policies to let information flow directly
from local office to local office.
Creating some type of monitoring to enforce the compact’s provisions also
would help, said Harry Gilmore, deputy compact director for the Oregon
Department of Human Services. "So it’s not just the two states fighting it
out," Gilmore said.
Efforts to permanently change the compact are still in the initial stages, but
most in Arkansas agree the outlook is more positive than ever.
Besides the task force studying change, the American Bar Association Center on
Children and the Law is also reviewing options. Proponents of reforming the
compact want to know if it’s possible to pass a federal law to update all the
state’s Interstate Compact procedures simultaneously.
Eshman believes the task force will be useful in deciding how the compact can
be improved. He doesn’t expect it to take long. "We certainly would not want
it to take years," Eshman said. "We would hope that some this can be done in
months."
Hewett said he isn’t picky about how official go about fixing the compact, he
just wants it done. "We get so wound up in the bureaucratic process that we
really lose sight of helping the children and doing what’s best for the
children."
MORE ARKANSAS NEWS FROM TODAY'S ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
BUREAUCRACY, and not the children who LANGUISH IN FOSTER CARE, rather than in
kinship, or family care.
Since children should be placed with family, foster carers must realize that
family will not stand for the previous LONG DELAYS in placement of children.
http://www.nwanews.com
Officials: Interstate compact outdated
BY TRACI SHURLEY
Posted on Monday, August 25, 2003
To fix a system critics call "outdated" and "illogical," Arkansas officials are
pushing for changes to nationwide policies on out-of-state placements of foster
children.
The regulations are intended to ensure the safety of the country’s 500,000
foster children when they are placed with relatives or adoptive parents who
live out of state. Instead, inefficiency and a lack of accountability have too
often created delays of months and even years, child-welfare advocates and
authorities complain.
And while these children wait to be moved to their new home, they take up
desperately needed spots in the fostercare system. "They languish in foster
care when they could be in appropriate placements," said Connie Hickman-Tanner,
director of the juvenile courts division of the Administrative Office of the
Courts. "That’s the drive for me, is that they should be in appropriate
placements when they can be."
In one case, an Arkansas judge wanted to place a baby born to a drug-addicted
mother with the child’s grandparents in Georgia. Instead of spending his
first few years with his new family, the baby remained in an Arkansas foster
home for three years, waiting for the proper paperwork to be completed.
All 50 states have individual laws that govern their participation in the
Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, complicating efforts to
streamline procedures.
In Arkansas, more than 300 foster children likely will be placed in new homes
under the compact. For many, however, such placements will take longer than
they should, advocates say, which has prompted some states, including Arkansas,
to call for changes to the compact. "It was a real innovation when it was
enacted, but that was before our society got so mobile," said Lisa McGee, an
attorney for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
RED TAPE While the agreement provides for cooperation, it doesn’t assure it.
No fan of the Interstate Compact, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Mark Hewett
offers a scenario to point out its weaknesses. If a grandmother who "lives
closer to the courthouse than I do," but still across the Oklahoma border,
wanted her Arkansas grandchild placed with her, Sebastian County human services
officials would have to contact their state office in Little Rock. That office
would then contact the state human services office in Oklahoma. The Little Rock
office, in turn, would contact the grand- mother’s local human services
office and request a home study.
The inspection and paperwork must take the same circuitous route back and each
step could take weeks or months, Hewett said. Though guidelines encourage
officials in Oklahoma to respond to a request for a home study in 30 days,
there’s no guarantee they will. "You have to go 1,600 miles round trip just
to get a home study on a family member that lives two miles from the
courthouse," Hewett said.
The obligation the states share with each other doesn’t end after the home
study is completed.
Besides requiring the outside state to conduct a home study, the compact also
requires social workers in other states to visit Arkansas children there.
Children and the officials trying to place them often end up "stuck in a
holding pattern" while they wait for another state to act, said April Shy, an
attorney ad litem — representing children’s interests — in Washington
County. A judge in Arkansas can do little when there are delays getting a home
study completed in another state, she added. "They’ve got their own stuff
they’re dealing with, so I think a lot of it gets put on the back burner. It
would be natural to make sure your own are done first," Shy said.
Shy doesn’t blame those in other states, but a better system should be
developed, she said.
Many of the complaints about paperwork delays could easily be solved by relying
on technological advances like e-mail and fax machines, said Thomas Chapmond,
executive director of the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory
Services. Though home studies from out-of-state requests require extra work for
Texas social workers, Chapmond said they also realize "it’s also a blessing
that we can go to another state to do it for us."
IMPROVING THE SYSTEM More often than not, the compact works, said Dennis Eshman
of the American Public Human Services Association. He does, however, believe
complaints about bureaucratic delays are valid. McGee and Tanner have come up
with a list of solutions they say will help in the short term. Those
suggestions are being considered by a task force formed by the American Public
Human Services Association, which includes representatives from Oregon, Iowa,
Utah and Pennsylvania. "We’re going to kind of add and subtract to [the
compact], and that will go out to juvenile judges," Department of Human
Services director Kurt Knickrehm said. The intent is to clearly state what
needs to be changed in a "rather antiquated" system, he said. "Everybody’s
having the same issues. It’s just a matter of where on the priority list it
is," said Knickrehm, adding that for Arkansas officials it’s a "big" concern.
Some of Tanner and McGee’s recommendations include: Requiring monthly reports
from states on the number of overdue compact reports and a stronger commitment
to disciplining workers who let paperwork languish. Setting up a system where
judges in the two states involved in a case share responsibility for the
child’s safe placement. Changing policies to let information flow directly
from local office to local office.
Creating some type of monitoring to enforce the compact’s provisions also
would help, said Harry Gilmore, deputy compact director for the Oregon
Department of Human Services. "So it’s not just the two states fighting it
out," Gilmore said.
Efforts to permanently change the compact are still in the initial stages, but
most in Arkansas agree the outlook is more positive than ever.
Besides the task force studying change, the American Bar Association Center on
Children and the Law is also reviewing options. Proponents of reforming the
compact want to know if it’s possible to pass a federal law to update all the
state’s Interstate Compact procedures simultaneously.
Eshman believes the task force will be useful in deciding how the compact can
be improved. He doesn’t expect it to take long. "We certainly would not want
it to take years," Eshman said. "We would hope that some this can be done in
months."
Hewett said he isn’t picky about how official go about fixing the compact, he
just wants it done. "We get so wound up in the bureaucratic process that we
really lose sight of helping the children and doing what’s best for the
children."
MORE ARKANSAS NEWS FROM TODAY'S ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE