Protecting children
A recent study criticizing Indiana for removing endangered children and placing them in foster homes at a higher rate than the national average places a welcome spotlight on child welfare. But Hoosiers should not assume that the state is removing too many children from a dangerous home life.
The National Coalition for Child Protection reported that in 2007, Indiana moved children into foster care at a rate of 4.86 per 1,000 children, about 23 percent above the national average. The increase coincides with a phenomenal increase of 800 child welfare caseworkers Gov. Mitch Daniels hired after creating a separate Department of Child Services division headed by former Marion County Judge James W. Payne.
Daniels created the separate division and hired the additional caseworkers in the wake of some highly publicized child deaths in the Indianapolis area.
While the data deserve further scrutiny, the report should be put into context. The group that issued it, for example, is generally critical of foster care and many states’ child welfare practices.
Payne points out that caseworkers’ recommendation to remove children from a home must be backed up by a judge. Critics of the system argue that too many parents have inadequate legal representation and that judges are inclined to side with welfare workers. That is not true in Allen County, where parents who meet criteria are frequently appointed knowledgeable lawyers, and judges weigh all the factors in determining the child’s best interests.
System works
Indeed, just last week the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled on a case in which Allen Superior Court Judge Charles Pratt denied a request from the Department of Child Services to terminate parental rights. The appeals court overturned Pratt’s order and permanently removed children from the home.
Consider that many of the foster parents are not strangers to the children but other family members – aunts, grandparents, older siblings – so many children do remain with close family members. And many foster care situations are short term before children are reunited with one or both parents.
The National Coalition cites the April death of a 7-week-old Indianapolis baby in foster care. The death was indeed a tragedy, but consider the number of children who die while in the custody of a parent. Allen County has seen far too many in recent months and years.
Indiana law requires that children be reunited with parents unless that arrangement poses a danger, and the entire system is geared toward keeping children with parents if possible.
“If anything,” said Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards, the Department of Child Services “is too conservative in removing children from the home, and they are that way because there is an extremely high burden that they have to meet to remove children.”
Richards deals with such cases as prosecutor and has spent much of her legal career representing children in harmful situations.
Problems continue
Still, many issues remain with the state’s child welfare system. The implications of placing 800 new caseworkers – many inexperienced, looking into the safety of a child’s home life for the first time – have never really been studied. More caseworkers mean more investigations, and that means more work for the courts and the lawyers who represent parents and their children at a time when every court in the state is facing new pressure to cut its budget.
The role of parents’ substance abuse continues to be a major factor in children being removed from homes. And growing economic concerns will likely mean fewer parents who are able to provide proper nutrition and housing for children. All of this means the number of children removed from homes may increase, not drop.
Protecting children from neglectful or abusive parents is a key role of the state. Any report that reminds taxpayers of the responsibilities placed on the child welfare system is worth considering.
But rather than worry about judges sending too many kids to foster care, Hoosiers and their leaders should continue to work on the societal issues that cause abusive situations and ways to finance the court system that must fairly judge where children should live.
•A woman has been charged with running “escort services” out of a Canterbury Green apartment. •People who have been charged with running a poker game out of Three Rivers Apartments are moving through the courts.