DCFS cannot stop its work while policy-makers debate its mission

DCFS cannot stop its work while policy-makers debate its mission
By Karen Crompto
Voices for Utah Children is deeply concerned about a number of the
child welfare bills likely to be considered during the current
legislative session, many of which are a direct result of the Parker
Jensen case last year. The phrase "parents' rights" makes a good sound
bite, but it ignores the essential issues of parent responsibility and
child protection. Policy-makers are clearly faced with policy dilemmas
regarding how the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), other
government entities and the community at large respond to child abuse
and neglect. In the 10 years since the state was sued for failing to
protect children (David C. v Leavitt), the government role in child
protection and the parameters of that role continue to be debated.
Voices for Utah Children recommends that before sweeping changes are
made either to DCFS or child welfare policies, a comprehensive review
be undertaken that answers these questions:
* How should the role of DCFS be framed, its efforts focused and its
decision-making improved?
* What prevention and treatment resources can we offer to families to
complement the protections DCFS can provide to children and also keep
families together?
* What will it take to make lasting improvements in the child
protection system?
* How will any legislation affect Utah's ability to exit the David C.
lawsuit? The cover of People magazine in December 1997 showed the
frightened face of a 2-year-old named Peter who was on his way to a
New York City shelter after violence broke out in his home. Rather
than give a wrenching account of Peter's experiences, it focused on
the unseen adult holding Peter's hand -- one of the child protection
caseworkers described as "the last line of defense for America's
children." Responding to calls from doctors, police, teachers and
grandparents who believe a child has been mistreated, caseworkers
knock on doors, ask personal questions, look inside refrigerators and
check children's bodies for bruises and burn marks. They have the
power to take children temporarily from their homes and parents, if
the risk of harm appears severe. They also have the discretion to
determine that nothing serious happened, or that it is safe for the
child to remain home while the parents are urged to change. The stakes
are high. Overestimating the degree of danger could needlessly shatter
a family and rupture the child's closest relationships.
Underestimating the danger could mean suffering or even death.
Compared to the schools that most of us attended, and to the police
departments we see in our communities and on TV dramas, DCFS is a
mysterious agency. We know it is there to tackle the nightmare of
child abuse and neglect that most of us cannot bear to think about.
Few of us want to know the details. But, without public attention to
those details, there cannot be a consensus on the expectations,
boundaries, powers or budgets that should frame government efforts to
protect children from harm by their parents or caretakers. The spread
of substance abuse among parents, rates of domestic violence and
family breakup, deepening pockets of poverty and cuts in government
services have intensified family problems and reduced options for
helping. In 2003, 19,632 children were reported to DCFS as possible
victims of child abuse or neglect -- a 21 percent increase in the
number of reports made just 10 years ago. Expected to straddle two
core values of our community -- the protection of children and respect
for the privacy of the family -- DCFS is accused of both unwarranted
interference in private life and irresponsible inaction when children
are truly threatened. Because children's lives are at stake, DCFS
cannot stop its work while the public debates its mission or
identifies which interventions might help which families. This plane
must be fixed while it flies through the air. Against this backdrop of
controversy, Voices for Utah Children encourages the Legislature to
carefully tackle the challenge of child protection. Before proposals
for restructuring Utah's approach to child protection, a careful
review should be conducted that places DCFS practices in a historical
context, considers the dimensions of the child maltreatment problem,
the anatomy of government funding and the help that community-based
programs and kin caregivers can offer vulnerable families.
-----
Karen Crompton is executive director of Voices for Utah Children
http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Feb/02012...nta/134311.asp
Defend your civil liberties! Get information at http://www.aclu.org, become a member at http://www.aclu.org/join and get active at http://www.aclu.org/action.