Social Justice Asmt

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Capella University *

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5002

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Sociology

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Feb 20, 2024

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Uploaded by edenryan145

1 Reforming the Child Welfare System Exploration of Social Justice Capella University Masters of Social Work Eden Ryan 1/20/2024

2 Reforming the Child Welfare System The National Association of Social Workers' preamble states that one of the purposes of a social worker is “to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty”(NASW, 2021) . Follows is a set of principles, such as challenging social injustice, accepting client differences and treating them with dignity and respect, and emphasizing the value of human relationships-- encouraging the client's natural supports as a way to improve their well-being, or exploring options for improvement in their relationships (NASW, 2021). The child welfare system has been developed to protect children who have faced physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and forms of neglect. In 1997, The Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed. It appears this law was enacted as an initial rule book for families involved in the child welfare system. In TITLE I of the law, it states that all efforts of removal of the children, from the home of the biological parents, should be made prior to out-of-home placement. TITLE I continues to state that a permanency plan needs to be in place upon removal and the children need to be placed in a permanent home, within a timely manner, and provides specific circumstances for why children shouldn't be reunified, such as a parent committing a heinous crime ( Adoption and Safe Families Act , 1997). However, it is not unknown that the child welfare system has been under scrutiny in recent years for failure to provide proper placement for children, extended foster care stays, allegedly removing children from homes for discriminatory reasons, and many other various systemic flaws that have surfaced and publicized via social media and documentaries, which has caused public outcry to reform the child welfare system and better support familial reunification. More parents have spoken up about their struggles with their state's child welfare system, and in my professional experiences, I have observed disparities in the system, which has motivated the purpose for my exploration into this social

3 Reforming the Child Welfare System injustice. The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for the 2021 fiscal year reports that there were 391,098 children in the foster care system as of September 30 of that fiscal year. Per that report, the case plan goal for reunification was for 201,297 of those children. The AFCARS report states that 105,681 case plan goal was for adoption. The average amount of time spent in the foster care system is almost 22 months and the top two reasons for removal were neglect and parental substance abuse ( THE AFCARS REPORT , 2021). Studies have been conducted on parents and their experiences with the child welfare system. These studies were held to help determine what factors could be causing the delay in reunification, impacts of the parents efforts working to get their children back in their custody, potential long-term effects of children being removed from their parents home, and long-term mental/emotional/psychological trauma parents could experience from the child welfare system. Smithson and Gibson (2016) created a qualitative study involving parents who were involved in the child welfare system, in efforts to evaluate their personal experiences with the CPS caseworker, overall management of how their cases are handled, and to determine if any reform or policies need changed within the English CPS system. Not unlike many of the cases heard in the States, the parents experienced various barriers with CPS. For example, it was stated that it seemed like additional requirements/goals needed to be completed and extensions in the timelines repeatedly occurred. Parents reported feeling as if the process was never-ending and it was doing more damage to their family than what may had been done initially (Smithson & Gibson, 2016). Another study involving mothers with substance use disorders, poverty and reunification discovered that a mother, with a substance use disorder and of a lower socioeconomic background is 50% less likely to reunify with her children than families with less SES

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4 Reforming the Child Welfare System risk factors and their children tend to be in the foster care system double the amount of time as others. It was also found that parents with substance use disorders had to complete the most weekly services “over twice the rates of participants with domestic violence, mental health problems, or both domestic violence and mental health problems. Parents with SUDs also had a high rate of unnecessary services offered, at close to 35 percent” (Lloyd, 2018, p.314). At what point is the amount of stipulations to complete, as well as maintaining housing, employment, sobriety, and overall well-being a reasonable feat? In the Adoption and Safe Families Act, there is no definition of “reasonable efforts” to ensure children are returned to their biological parents, which leaves each state and/or local entity to define these efforts independently, and there still does not seem to be clear-cut requirements for what a parent is to accomplish in order to be awarded increased visitations, in-home visits, overnight stays, and eventual reunification. It appears the parental case plan is an open-ended plan that is centered around the next permanency court date, which are marked for 12 months intervals. There does not seem to be any in-between for when a parent completes their required stipulations, where incentivisation can be implemented and promote parent motivation and betterment by exploring shorter time intervals within the case plan to assess what the parent has completed on their case plan. Subsequently, what has been completed and/or accomplished will then correlate with visitation length. Providing the parent with clearer objectives in the case plan, with shorter time intervals in the case plans could improve goal outcomes and reunification, and potentially reduce re-offense of neglect or abuse. While the child welfare system was designed to ensure the safety and well-being of children who have experienced abuse and neglect, research has shown that the parents of these children are often experiencing their own afflictions and are in need of supportive services. Because of the lack of resources, potential childhood experiences and possible lack of guidance, poverty, mental illness and

5 Reforming the Child Welfare System comorbid substance use disorders, and additional external risk factors, it appears that the reports of neglect and removal of the children are being expedited and placed into the foster care system causing further constraints on the parents and more emotional and mental tolls on the familial unit—adding trauma into all the family members' mental state. When claims of neglect or abuse are unsubstantiated, children remain in the foster care system without proper placement for months or years, the child welfare system mishandles the removal of children or improperly investigates claims—essentially, the system fails the children, the parents, and/or the entire family-- there are actions that can be taken to receive compensation for mental duress, punitive damages, gross negligence, and violation of civil rights, but it is no easy feat and is uncommon. Reformation of the child welfare system has been attempted nationwide, on a state by state basis. Class action lawsuits are one way that reform has been initiated. “Class action lawsuits are a nontraditional litigation procedure that permits a representative to begin a lawsuit or defend against on on behalf of a larger class of individuals sharing similar situations” (Lee et al., 2019, p.283). These lawsuits can result in what is known as a consent decree—this is not an admission of guilt or responsibility-- however, contacts both parties in an agreement. The agreement entails a course of action detailing how the defendant is to remedy the determined problem and the plaintiff is to ensure the defendant follows through with the the agreement. As of 2016, 13 states had pending, or were implementing, consent decrees or a type of reformation plan. In 2012, 70 class action suits were pending or were in action, in 30 states(Lee et al., 2019). Another approach that can be taken to assist to reform the child welfare system is developing parent advocacy programs. If the system is supposed designed to promote reunification and allocates ample funds into supplying children the resources they need for advocates and therapies, as well as the

6 Reforming the Child Welfare System foster care placement funding, funding should be allocated for parents to have an advocate who assists them through the process. The Parent Partner Program through the Capacity Building Center for States (2016) provides an in-depth program design, manual, and sustainability plan for any agency wanting to create a mentoring program for parents. The program is led by advocates, themselves, who were previously involved in the child welfare system, who then guide the parent and mentor them through their journey. It would be highly beneficial if more programs for parents were created and utilized to empower the parents and encourage change. Allocating more funding towards programs such as these, rather than incentives for adoptions may make an incredible change within how society and the welfare system views the parents involved in the system, as well as decreasing out-of-home placements and children entering the foster care system (Capacity Building Center for States, 2016). As social workers, the ethical principles provide a philosophy for to be mindful us when serving clients. The child welfare system has a reputation of not following the same principles. Studies have shown that parents have felt unheard, judged, and trapped in the cycle of completing tasks with no results or plan of reunification. Histories of substance use and low socioeconomic status are directly linked to being less likely to be reunified with children as opposed to higher SES status. Lack of clear stipulations or requirements for reunification in case plans, unreasonable amounts of goals, and extremely long placements in foster care all greatly impact the family members and add extra strain on the children and parents. While there is adequate funding for children in foster care, there is little funding allocated for the parents and supportive sources to ensure they receive the services and advocacy needed, and the parent is often left to their own finances to fund services for their needs—yet are required by the child welfare system. In certain circumstances, action can be taken to promote reform, in the acts of class action lawsuits and exploring parent advocacy programs, or creating a parenting program within a local agency that provides advocacy for the parent. Without a large uproot

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7 Reforming the Child Welfare System and alterations in law, it is unclear if a broad, nationwide change in the child welfare system can occur. Little by little, state by state, change can happen. More advocates pushing for familial reunification need to continue to trudge forward for the children and their parents and helping professions need to continue to instill hope in these families. Like the Sam Cooke song goes, “A change is gonna come”.

8 Reforming the Child Welfare System References Adoption and Safe Families Act , House of Representatives and Senate (1997). https://www.congress.gov/112/plaws/publ34/PLAW-112publ34.pdf Capacity Building Center for States. (2016). Parent Partner Program Navigator: Designing and implementing parent partner programs in child welfare. Children’s Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Lee, J. Y., Gilbert, T., Lee, S. J., & Staller, K. M. (2019). Reforming a System That Cannot Reform Itself: Child Welfare Reform by Class Action Lawsuits. Social Work , 64 (4), 283–291. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swz029 Lloyd, M. H. (2018). Poverty and Family Reunification for Mothers with Substance Use Disorders in Child Welfare. Child Abuse Review , 27 (4), 301–316. https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2519 NASW. (2021). Code of Ethics . National Association of Social Workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English Smithson, R., & Gibson, M. (2016). Less than human: a qualitative study into the experience of parents involved in the child protection system. Child & Family Social Work , 22 (2), 565–574. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12270 THE AFCARS REPORT . (2021). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/afcarsreport28.pdf

9 Reforming the Child Welfare System

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