Foster Children at Risk

At any time there are more than four thousand children in the foster care system in the state of Arkansas . The state spends, on average, $1.2 million per month to provide basic services for these children. In addition, the Federal Government matches state spending three dollars for every dollar spent by the state. Responsible for directly overseeing care for these children are the Department of Family Services Case Workers. The state has authorized a total of 648 case workers to be employed to insure these children receive the needed care and services. Normally there is a 16 to 23 percent vacancy rate for case workers in Arkansas . This translates into 103 to 149 caseworker vacancies at any one time. DCFS (Department of Children and Family Services) has set a standard of no more than 15 cases to be assigned to an individual case worker. The latest numbers available showed the statewide average was more than double that number at 33. Recently in Boone County a single case worker was assigned a total of 85 cases. In the first fiscal quarter of 2007 the number of potential adoptive homes dropped, the number of children coming into foster care rose, and recruitment of new foster parents was below expectations. The problem is getting larger and the size of the problem is preventing the state from supplying basic needs to these children.

Reports of maltreatment are reported to DCFS from a number of sources. Doctors, nurses, teachers, daycares, and calls to the hot line. When a report is received it is categorized as either a priority one, which indicates the child may be in immediate danger, or a priority two which is considered less urgent. Investigations for all priority one cases are to begin within 24 hours while priority two case investigations must be begun within 72 hours. In each of these instances the state has set a 95% compliance rate as their goal. In addition, the goal is to complete 90% of all investigations within 30 days of receiving the original report. During the first fiscal quarter of 2007 the DCFS was able to begin 93% of the priority one cases within 24 hours, but did far worse with Priority two cases of which only 85% were begun within 72 hours. The work load allowed only 61% of investigations to be completed within 30 days of receiving the complaint, well short of the departments' goal of 90%.

A child can be brought into foster care for a number of reasons. Physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse, parents' incarceration, or parents manufacturing drugs in the home. However the child comes into care, it is considered vital they receive a timely medical evaluation. In cases of suspected maltreatment, this evaluation is required to be done within 24 hours of the child being taken into custody. In all other cases the evaluation must take place within 72 hours. This is followed up by a comprehensive medical assessment to be completed within 60 days. These evaluations are considered vital in order to provide appropriate care for the child. Often when a child is taken into custody the biological parents are either unable or unwillingly to offer any information concerning the child's medical condition or history. If the child has allergies, asthma, AIDS, or is on medication, the foster parents will often be unaware of this condition unless revealed by the medical evaluation, or the child is able to inform them. DCFS has set a goal to complete 95% of these evaluations on time. Thus far DCFS has been unable to achieve this goal. In the first fiscal quarter of 2007 only 81% of the 72 hour assessments were completed on schedule. The 24 hour category faired slightly better at 90%, but still feel short of the 95% goal. The state fell well short of the 95% goal for the 60 day evaluations by completing only 76% on schedule during the first fiscal quarter of 2007.

The DCFS case workers are the direct contact between the foster child and the court system. The case workers are responsible for making certain the child is receiving all the services ordered by the court, and the foster home is in compliance with state standards. To achieve these goals, the case workers are expected to visit with a minimum of 85% of their cases on a monthly basis. Originally these visits were to take place in the homes of the foster parents, but this policy was later modified. Case workers may either visit the foster home, or visit with the child in a separate environment such as during a family visitation at the DCFS offices. Even with the relaxed requirements, only 63% of children in care were visited by a case worker on a monthly basis during the first fiscal quarter of 2007. The percentage of visitations dropped 13 percentage points from the first month of the quarter until the third month of the same quarter. Without visitation, it is considered difficult for case workers to properly inform the court of all conditions affecting the child.

The initial goal of DCFS is to reunite children with their biological parents as quickly as possible. While in state care it is considered in the best interest of the child to remain in a single foster home during their stay in order to prevent a number of psychological problems. During the first fiscal quarter of 2007, 79% of children returned home within 18 months of coming into DCFS care. This was the lowest percentage during any of the previous four quarters. An alarming 9% of children had been placed in ten or more foster homes during their stay in state custody. Other problems persist in the system as well. At the end of the first fiscal quarter DCFS reported a total of 73 children were on runaway status from the foster care system, the majority of which were female. Children not placed in potential adoptive homes after the biological parents' rights had been terminated stood at 358 children at the end of the quarter. This represented the largest number of children not in adoptive homes during the past four quarters. The number of available adoptive homes also dropped during the quarter by 33. Of 24 goals set by DCFS for their adoption recruitment plan in 2005, only 8 were completed by the beginning of 2007. Possibly the most alarming statistic shows 9% of children reunited with their families are abused again within 12 months of the reunification. This is a total of 146 instances of repeated maltreatment. DCFS considers this a good number.

The problem is a large one, and it continues to grow. The easiest group to blame for the department not achieving these goals are the case workers. This is an unfair assessment however when the average case worker has more than double the recommended number of cases. It was recently approved for the department to hire an additional 61 case workers but the state is having difficulty finding candidates to fill these positions. During the 86^th General assembly we contacted Governor Beebe's office as well as members of the House committee on aging, children & youth, legislative and military affairs. Governor Beebe's reply was to suggest we take this problem to the legislature with no mention of concern or plan of action. Two members of the committee responded. Representative Breedlove [D] form District 67, said he was interested in addressing the concerns. Chairperson of the committee, Linda Chesterfield [D] of District 36, said she would be interested in holding hearings and or sponsoring responsible legislation to deal with the problem. To the best of our knowledge, no such hearings were held and no new legislation was introduced to help with this problem.

Stays in foster care in Arkansas are considerably shorter than the national average. Children returned to their biological homes within 30 days of removal stood at 14% in Arkansas while the national average was at only 5%. Only 17% of cases in Arkansas remain in foster care beyond 36 months while the national average is ten points higher at 27%. This could reflect either positively or negatively on the state's performance. Considering the statistics listed above, only 61% of the case investigations are completed within 30 days and only 76% of medical evaluations are completed within two months of the child coming into foster care. These numbers would indicate cases completed and resolved within 30 days should be rare, yet Arkansas is well below the national average. In fact, Arkansas , without meeting any of their primary goals, is 2.8 times better than national averages. Is this efficiency on the part of DCFS, or are the cases being rushed to completion due to the overwhelming workload? If the current statistics hold true, of the 4,422 children in foster care, as many as 400 will be abused a second time after being reunited with their families. It should be mentioned that abuse cases are broken down into three primary categories. During the first fiscal quarter of 2007 60% of the cases were classified as neglect, while 22% were physical abuse. Sexual abuse made up the remaining 32% of the abuse cases during the quarter. The number of sexual abuse cases in the state was up by 20 cases from the previous quarters. If the statistics hold true, this would indicate a possibility of 126 children being sexually abused a second time after being removed from the foster care system.

The problem is a large one, and the stakes are as high as possible, the safety of our children. There are no easy solutions, no waving of the magic wand to remedy the dangers. Any solution will require a great deal of hard work, dedicated leadership from concerned citizens, the Governor's office, the legislature, and the court system. Are our current leaders up to the task? Are they willing to tread into these dark waters and force change, to take a hard stand for the benefit of the children, the innocent victims of abuse, neglect, and abandonment? Will the leaders step up, or be one more group of people in these children's lives who were suppose to be there for them, suppose to protect them, watch over them, but instead allowed the maltreatment to continue? Time will tell, unfortunately, time is a commodity many of these children simply do not have.

Source: Adoption Recruitment Plan FFYS 2005-2009, Quarterly Performance Report 1^st Quarter SFY 2007 (July 2006-September 2006)