Director defends agency Frank Castano says Children and Youth does not focus on foster care.

Posted: 1:00 AM
Director defends agency
Frank Castano says Children and Youth does not focus on foster care.

By Jennifer Learn-Andes jandes@timesleader.com
Luzerne County Reporter

Luzerne County Children and Youth Director Frank Castano said an implication that the county is trying to keep kids in foster care is false because both the county and state have been focusing heavily on getting children back in their homes or adopted.

Castano said the statistics don’t lie.

There were 733 children removed from their homes due to alleged neglect or abuse in the county in November 2008. As of April 30 this year, there were 533.

Statements made by local attorney Jim Hayward this week created the impression that the county is unnecessarily placing children in foster care.

Hayward, who plans to file a federal lawsuit on behalf of parents who had children removed from their homes, said Friday that the statistics are irrelevant to him because he has many examples of parents with children who languished in foster care for no reason.

“I have one client who had a child who was placed in 17 different foster homes,” Hayward said.

County officials say the reduction in foster care placements stems largely from the county’s participation in two initiatives aimed at preventing children from getting bounced around in foster care and institutions.

As part of one of these programs, run by the state Department of Public Welfare, the county was challenged in 2008 to reduce outside placements 20 percent by the end of 2010.

The county has already surpassed that goal, with a reduction of roughly 31 percent.

This program – the “National Governors’ Association Initiative to Safely Reduce the Number of Children in Out-of-Home Care” – covers both delinquent and dependent children.

Delinquency involves juveniles who get into trouble with the law, while dependency refers to juveniles removed from their homes due to alleged abuse and neglect.

In addition to the reduction of 200 dependent children, the number of delinquent juveniles was also lowered, from 107 in November 2008 to 47 this April, Castano said.

County officials have largely credited Court of Common Pleas Judge David Lupas for the reduction in juvenile delinquent placements. Lupas has placed fewer juvenile offenders in outside facilities compared to predecessor Mark Ciavarella, who faces charges as part of the federal corruption probe. Lupas took over juvenile court from Ciavarella in May 2008.

Luzerne is among 16 Pennsylvania counties participating in the welfare department initiative and was chosen in large part because its outside placements exceeded the statewide average, state officials have said.

High-ranking state welfare official Richard Gold personally visits Luzerne County once a month to review cases with a team of county employees and providers involved in child placements, said state welfare spokesman Michael Race.

“They discuss the rationale for placement and go through cases in great detail to discuss whether each case is being handled in the best possible way and in the best interest of the child,” Race said.

Gold, deputy secretary of the welfare department’s Office of Children, Youth and Families, has publicly cited Luzerne as an example of a county that has made strides in getting children back in their homes or adopted, Race said.

“He’s been impressed with the steps Luzerne County has taken,” Race said.

Luzerne County lowered foster care placements, in part, by requiring Children and Youth caseworkers to use a more in-depth safety assessment to determine if children should be removed from homes due to suspected abuse or neglect, said county Human Services Director Joe DeVizia.

The county has also worked with counseling agencies to provide more intensive family therapy, he said.

Parental substance abuse is still a “major issue” preventing children from returning home, DeVizia said, estimating that more than 300 children are stuck in placement solely because their parents must obtain treatment for drug and alcohol addictions.

“We’re really trying to give parents the tools to get their kids home,” he said.

The county is also participating in the Supreme Court’s “Permanency Practice Initiative,” which was created by state Supreme Court Justice Max Baer.

The number of dependant children in foster care and institutions statewide has gone from 21,500 three years ago to 15,700 around the start of this year, thanks largely to the program, Baer said Friday.

County judicial systems were operating in bubbles throughout the state, unaware of proven strategies to keep or return children to their homes are get them into alternative permanent homes faster.

“It’s not fair to the children. We take them in for physical safety and ruin their lives. All over the United States there was a serious recognition that the number of kids in foster care was a terrible problem,” he said.

Sandy Moore, who oversees the permanency initiative through the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, said Friday that Luzerne and other participating counties are using the following techniques:

• Search engines to help locate relatives who may want to take care of children if they must be removed from a home.

• Meetings of people close to a child removed from a home – parents, relatives, a pastor, a coach – to come up with a recommended plan to care for that child. The team’s feedback is recommended to the judge overseeing the child’s placement. In the past Children and Youth agencies came up with these plans, usually without feedback from people close to the child, Moore said.

• Training for providers who are involved with Children and Youth cases on how to recognize positive qualities of clients in the system, rather than dwelling mostly on their shortcomings.

• Court reviews of cases held every 90 days instead of the six months required by law.

• Periodic roundtables to identify barriers that keep children in foster care and discuss solutions.

Moore said the 90-day reviews have had a dramatic impact because it forces the court and all parties involved in the case to “keep on track.”

Keeping or returning children to their home is always the main goal, Moore said.

“When that is not possible, the next option is to get children to another safe, loving permanent home,” Moore said. “One of our mantras is that no child should grow up in foster care.”

Jennifer Learn-Andes, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 831-7333.

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