Lawsuit could hurt state’s foster care

Lawsuit could hurt state’s foster care
POINT OF VIEW Keeping families together is vital
BY RICHARD WEXLER The Oklahoman Published: December 6, 2009

Pity the vulnerable children of Oklahoma, trapped between a state agency that routinely lets them be abused in its care and some lawyers who mean well, but don’t have a clue how to stop it.

MultimediaPhoto
view all photos The horror show that is Oklahoma foster care is aptly symbolized by the foster parent who justified abusing foster children by declaring: "If you don’t beat them down, they will run all over you.” Less well known: The Oklahoma Department of Human Services declared the complaint against this foster parent "unconfirmed.”

The group that calls itself Children’s Rights (CR) deserves credit for bringing this case and many others to light through its lawsuit against DHS. It has helped keep these horrors in the news. That, in itself, may force some change for the better. But the lawsuit itself is likely to accomplish nothing and, if CR’s recent track record is any indication, it may even do harm.

That’s because the lawsuit ignores the issue that drives everything else, something made clear in a comprehensive performance audit of DHS from Hornby Zeller Associates, commissioned by the Oklahoma House of Representatives. Repeatedly, that report warns that "Oklahoma removes too many children from home.”

My organization’s data confirm that Oklahoma tears apart families at one of the highest rates in the nation, more than 50 percent above the national average, and double or triple the rate in states widely regarded as, relatively speaking, models for keeping children safe.

This hurts children in every possible way. Even when foster homes are not abusive — the majority are not — the inherent trauma of needless removal can destroy a child’s psyche for life.

One recent study of foster care "alumni” found they had twice the rate of post-traumatic stress disorder of Gulf War veterans and only 20 percent could be said to be "doing well.” A second study, of 15,000 typical cases, found that even maltreated children left in their own homes with little or no help fared better, on average, than comparably maltreated children placed in foster care.

Wrongful removal also overloads the system, stealing workers’ time from finding children in real danger who really should be taken from their homes.

The Hornby Zeller report insightfully dissects the reasons for Oklahoma’s obscene rate of child removal and offers some smart, specific solutions.

But Children’s Rights is silent on this. And the group’s recent track record is alarming: Its settlement in Michigan led that state to cut funds for prevention and family preservation in order to hire more workers to take away more children. So unless CR changes its approach, its lawsuit is likely to leave Oklahoma with the same lousy system only bigger.

If CR can’t get past its bureaucratic take-the-child-and-run mind-set and propose a settlement that emphasizes safe, proven programs to keep families together, then it should drop its suit and go away — before it makes things even worse.

Wexler is executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, www.nccpr.org.

My organization’s data confirm that Oklahoma tears apart families at one of the highest rates in the nation, more than 50 percent above the national average.



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