Save state’s most vulnerable through reform of DSHS

Published: Sunday, January 10, 2010

GUEST COMMENTARY / OVERGROWN BUREAUCRACY

Save state’s most vulnerable through reform of DSHS

By Rep. Mike Armstrong

In 1970, under the direction of Gov. Dan Evans and approval of the Legislature, all of the state’s major social services agencies were consolidated under one giant agency — the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). It seemed a good idea at the time as Gov. Evans sought to “unify the related social and health services of state government” under one umbrella.

Over the following 20 years, however, the Legislature found various services could be more efficient, effective and customer oriented if they were separated from the bureaucracy of DSHS. So lawmakers removed several agencies from DSHS, including veteran’s affairs, prisons, services for the blind, the school for the deaf, and the Department of Health, and established them as separate agencies.

Even with those departments removed, DSHS has expanded to become the state’s largest agency, administering divisions dealing with everything from the treatment of drugs and alcohol, welfare assistance and homelessness, to child protective services and programs for the aging and disabled. With more than 19,000 employees and a staggeringly high budget of more than $20 billion, DSHS has grown so large and unwieldy that it has lost its way; so large that it can no longer be effectively managed; such a behemoth that the one-stop shopping idea envisioned 40 years ago has become enveloped so deep in bureaucracy that it can no longer deliver the quality of services our state’s most vulnerable need and deserve.

But so much worse are the cases involving rampant abuse and neglect of those most helpless who were supposed to be under the protection of DSHS. An extensive Seattle television news investigation found that 121 children have died since 2002 — almost one child per month who was beaten, tortured, starved, molested, raped and even murdered. The common tie is that every one of these innocent victims was dependent upon DSHS for their welfare, protection and safety. But bureaucracy got in the way, the state’s largest agency failed them, and kids died. It’s completely inexcusable.

Many good DSHS workers are frustrated with what they recognize as a broken system and have asked me for help. They tell me they work for an agency within an agency within another agency. Each agency has inconsistent rules managed under different entrenched fiefdoms. Each one of these agencies is beset with another layer of management. The right hand rarely knows what the left hand is doing because of the enormous level of bureaucracy. And that’s why there are repeated breakdowns in the system, costing the lives of our most vulnerable and saddling the state with millions of dollars in lawsuits and settlements.

Well-intentioned but superficial efforts by past and present governors to increase accountability through executive orders, or by changing DSHS secretaries, historically have made little difference. On average, a new secretary is appointed to DSHS about every 22 months. Mismanagement deep within continues to outlast the tenure of DSHS secretaries, demonstrating that the problem cannot be solved by one individual appointed by the governor or a few administrative changes. It’s much larger than that.

This antiquated umbrella agency must be reformed completely and systemically from top to bottom if we are to protect the lives of children and our most vulnerable citizens. I believe the most effective way to accomplish this goal is to entirely eliminate DSHS, abolish its bureaucratic fiefdoms, and divide its responsibilities into smaller, more manageable, functional and effective agencies.

During the 2010 session, I will be pushing hard to advance these changes through House Bill 2197. This is a measure I introduced last year which would eliminate DSHS by July 1, 2011 and transfer its responsibilities to four new smaller agencies, including the Department of Economic Services, Department of Medical Assistance, Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, and the Department of Children’s Services. By creating smaller agencies and stripping away the walls of bureaucracy, we can finally get our arms around this beast and work to effectively and efficiently deliver responsive services to the citizens of our state.

Thirty lawmakers, Republican and Democrat, have co-sponsored the bill as a bipartisan effort, and other lawmakers have promised their support because they recognize we can no longer stand idle while children suffer and die.

Good people within DSHS are caught up in a bad system, so I’m not interested in laying blame or pointing fingers. I’m interested in changing the system.

Let us resolve to use this year as the beginning of comprehensive agency reform that is most effective at helping those at risk, providing for our most vulnerable, and saving the lives of innocent children who rely on the state for their protection.



State Rep. Mike Armstrong (R-Wenatchee) serves as ranking Republican on the State Government and Tribal Affairs Committee. He can be contacted at 360-786-7832 or from his Web site, www.houserepublicans.wa.gov/Armstrong.

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20100110/OPINION03/701109951