More Hoosier kids put in foster care State bucks national trend geared toward helping keep more families together

More Hoosier kids put in foster care
State bucks national trend geared toward helping keep more families together

By Tim Evans
Posted: June 9, 2010


It is among the most devastating and gut-wrenching decisions government can make: taking a child away from his or her parents.
As child welfare experts understand more about the lasting effects of such a decision, social workers have sought new ways to support troubled families and keep children in their homes.



That is one of the likely explanations for the most recent federal data that reveals a 7 percent drop in the number of U.S. children removed from their homes -- the most significant one-year decline in a decade.
But that's not the case in Indiana.
According to that same data, the number of Hoosier children removed and placed in foster care has climbed to an all-time high, 9,375 -- a 22 percent jump in removals from 2007 to 2008. That means the Indiana Department of Child Services is removing, on average, about 180 children per week.
During the same period, only Illinois had a higher one-year increase -- and Illinois, despite its larger population, removes significantly fewer children than Indiana.
And the trend in Indiana does not appear to be waning: Preliminary data indicates DCS removed about 5 percent more children in 2009 than it did in 2008.
Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, calls the Indiana data a "dismal" sign that reforms launched in 2005 have not improved the state's troubled child welfare system.
Wexler's organization, which advocates for stronger efforts to keep families together whenever possible, compiles an annual review of removal data as part of its work monitoring the performance of child welfare systems.
"No state moved backwards farther and faster than Indiana," Wexler said of the removal data. "This means the big accomplishment of the whole Indiana reform effort in recent years has been to give Indiana the same lousy system -- only bigger."
Ann Houseworth, DCS spokeswoman, said in a written response to questions from The Indianapolis Star that several factors contribute to the situation in Indiana. They include an increase in the number of caseworkers in the field, a growing number of reports of abuse and neglect, and economic factors that place stress on families.
(2 of 5)

She also said that DCS is continuing efforts to develop community partners who can assist struggling families, and working to place more children in the care of relatives.
But state data show that back in 2004 -- before Indiana's reforms started -- DCS left 28 percent of children in their own homes. In 2008, it dropped to 26 percent. And while relative placement increased from 14 percent to 16 percent during that time, foster placements also grew -- from 40 percent in 2004 to 43 percent in 2008.

Child welfare experts, including Wexler, agree it is necessary to remove some children to protect them from serious neglect or abuse. But the large and growing number of removals in Indiana worries Wexler. Separation can be extremely traumatic to children -- worse, some research has shown, than the effects of neglect, which is the source of 83 percent of the Indiana removals.
What's more, Indiana continues to fare poorly in what is considered one of the most important indicators of how well a child welfare system is performing: children who suffer repeat maltreatment within six months after a state intervention.
The Indiana repeat maltreatment rate for 2008 is basically the same as it was in 2004, before the reform project was launched, and remains worse than the national standard set by the federal government. In 2008, that translated to 506 repeat victims -- almost 10 children every week.
Removing children also is costly. Indiana spends more than $70 million a year to house the children who will, on average, remain in the state's care for about 600 days.
Poverty as a problem
Since 1999, the number of Hoosier children removed from their families has increased every year except for 2001 and 2006, and the number taken in 2008 is nearly double the number removed in 1999, according to the data.
Based on Indiana's child population, DCS removes children at a rate of 5.9 per 1,000, which is the 10th highest rate in the U.S. and 59 percent higher than the national average.
More than 80 percent of removals in 2008 were in cases involving neglect, which Wexler and other experts say often is rooted in poverty.
(3 of 5)

Cari DeSantis, interim executive director at the American Public Human Services Association, said many states have found that a large number of neglect cases "can be addressed without removing the children."
DeSantis, who formerly served as cabinet secretary for the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, said the national drop in foster care placements reflects that trend.

"In those jurisdictions where the numbers are not coming down," she said, "it often has to do with a lack of capacity to provide support in a family setting."
To address that shortage in Delaware, she said the state shifted funding from foster care to support services.
Wexler thinks DCS workers too often follow what he believes is a misguided mentality that it is better to "err on the side of the child" -- even when there is not a serious threat. He said that approach protects the agency and individual workers from negative publicity that can crop up when DCS fails to intervene and a child is injured or dies.
"That 'better safe than sorry' mentality leaves children unsafe," Wexler said, "and can really harm them because it underestimates the emotional devastation of being ripped from your family and stuck in the home of a stranger."
It also clogs the system with children that Wexler said shouldn't be there. That limits workers' ability to properly investigate reports and help families work through their troubles.
"When you look at states known for keeping children safe," he said, "they take children at rates much lower than in Indiana.
"A child in Indiana is nearly three times as likely to be taken from her or his parents as a child in Illinois. Does anyone seriously believe Indiana children are three times 'safer' than those in Illinois?"
Wexler said the situation can't be explained solely by the state's new reforms or its doubling of caseworkers.
In Utah, which served as a model for the Indiana reforms, removals fell from 2007 to 2008 and the rate of removal is 2.3 per 1,000 children, compared with Indiana's rate of 5.9.
(4 of 5)

Unpleasant experience
Indianapolis parents Malcolm and Alethia Watson have been fighting for two years to clear their names -- and reclaim their family -- after DCS alleged they neglected one of their children. Their children were returned in May, and the case is set to be closed Thursday -- but not without a lot of residual damage.
While the children were in the state's care, one was abused in a foster home. The incident prompted DCS to revoke the foster parent's license.

"I just pray to God I never have to deal with DCS again," Malcolm Watson said. "They come into people's lives and literally destroy them. This whole thing could have been addressed without taking our kids."
Watson said their problems started when his wife took one of their sons to the hospital in 2008 because he wasn't gaining weight and seemed to be sick all the time. Someone at the hospital reported the family to DCS for possible neglect.
Despite their efforts to seek medical treatment for the boy, Watson said, DCS decided they were neglecting the child. So they took the boy and his brother. And, since DCS had removed the two children, when Alethia Watson gave birth to a daughter last June, DCS took her, too, directly from the hospital.
The agency's apparent concern, Watson said, was that his wife was unfit to care for the children. That determination was made primarily on the fact she has difficulty following written instructions, such as recipes.
During the course of their two-year ordeal, Watson said he and his wife underwent psychological evaluations and completed parenting classes.
"We complied with everything they put down in front of us," he said, "but they always had something else for us to do."
What the family really needed, though, was a little help specifically addressing their limited -- and easily correctable -- needs.
And they finally got it. But not from DCS.
Help came from the family rights group, Honk For Kids, and a pair of nurses from the Marion County Health Department who had already been working with the Watsons. They pushed to find alternate methods for teaching Alethia Watson key information about caring for her children and pulled together a network of volunteers to help with child care.
(5 of 5)

Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for Honk For Kids, said the Watsons are like many families the group encounters: caught up in a system that appears more intent on punishing parents, rather than helping them.
Making changes
Houseworth said the number of removals in Indiana is "higher than desirable" but defended the work of DCS.

"If any child cannot safely remain in his or her home," Houseworth said, "it is our legal duty to place that child in a safe, stable environment."
As part of the continuing reform effort, Houseworth said officials are implementing a management by data approach "so we can better understand our challenges." The agency also has recently established a centralized reporting hotline that officials hope will ensure a more consistent review and response to reports of abuse and neglect. Previously, calls were routed to individual county offices, where responses often varied widely.
And, she said, when DCS does need to remove children the agency is placing more children with relatives.
"DCS recognizes the need to keep children in familiar surroundings and now utilizes relative placements as the first option," she said. "The DCS involvement, once intruding, is less intrusive."
She also said that DCS is continuing efforts to develop community partners who can assist struggling families, and working to place more children in the care of relatives.
But state data show that back in 2004 -- before Indiana's reforms started -- DCS left 28 percent of children in their own homes. In 2008, it dropped to 26 percent. And while relative placement increased from 14 percent to 16 percent during that time, foster placements also grew -- from 40 percent in 2004 to 43 percent in 2008.


Child welfare experts, including Wexler, agree it is necessary to remove some children to protect them from serious neglect or abuse. But the large and growing number of removals in Indiana worries Wexler. Separation can be extremely traumatic to children -- worse, some research has shown, than the effects of neglect, which is the source of 83 percent of the Indiana removals.
What's more, Indiana continues to fare poorly in what is considered one of the most important indicators of how well a child welfare system is performing: children who suffer repeat maltreatment within six months after a state intervention.
The Indiana repeat maltreatment rate for 2008 is basically the same as it was in 2004, before the reform project was launched, and remains worse than the national standard set by the federal government. In 2008, that translated to 506 repeat victims -- almost 10 children every week.
Removing children also is costly. Indiana spends more than $70 million a year to house the children who will, on average, remain in the state's care for about 600 days.
Poverty as a problem
Since 1999, the number of Hoosier children removed from their families has increased every year except for 2001 and 2006, and the number taken in 2008 is nearly double the number removed in 1999, according to the data.
Based on Indiana's child population, DCS removes children at a rate of 5.9 per 1,000, which is the 10th highest rate in the U.S. and 59 percent higher than the national average.
More than 80 percent of removals in 2008 were in cases involving neglect, which Wexler and other experts say often is rooted in poverty.
(3 of 5)

Cari DeSantis, interim executive director at the American Public Human Services Association, said many states have found that a large number of neglect cases "can be addressed without removing the children."
DeSantis, who formerly served as cabinet secretary for the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, said the national drop in foster care placements reflects that trend.

"In those jurisdictions where the numbers are not coming down," she said, "it often has to do with a lack of capacity to provide support in a family setting."
To address that shortage in Delaware, she said the state shifted funding from foster care to support services.
Wexler thinks DCS workers too often follow what he believes is a misguided mentality that it is better to "err on the side of the child" -- even when there is not a serious threat. He said that approach protects the agency and individual workers from negative publicity that can crop up when DCS fails to intervene and a child is injured or dies.
"That 'better safe than sorry' mentality leaves children unsafe," Wexler said, "and can really harm them because it underestimates the emotional devastation of being ripped from your family and stuck in the home of a stranger."
It also clogs the system with children that Wexler said shouldn't be there. That limits workers' ability to properly investigate reports and help families work through their troubles.
"When you look at states known for keeping children safe," he said, "they take children at rates much lower than in Indiana.
"A child in Indiana is nearly three times as likely to be taken from her or his parents as a child in Illinois. Does anyone seriously believe Indiana children are three times 'safer' than those in Illinois?"
Wexler said the situation can't be explained solely by the state's new reforms or its doubling of caseworkers.
In Utah, which served as a model for the Indiana reforms, removals fell from 2007 to 2008 and the rate of removal is 2.3 per 1,000 children, compared with Indiana's rate of 5.9.


Unpleasant experience
Indianapolis parents Malcolm and Alethia Watson have been fighting for two years to clear their names -- and reclaim their family -- after DCS alleged they neglected one of their children. Their children were returned in May, and the case is set to be closed Thursday -- but not without a lot of residual damage.
While the children were in the state's care, one was abused in a foster home. The incident prompted DCS to revoke the foster parent's license.

"I just pray to God I never have to deal with DCS again," Malcolm Watson said. "They come into people's lives and literally destroy them. This whole thing could have been addressed without taking our kids."
Watson said their problems started when his wife took one of their sons to the hospital in 2008 because he wasn't gaining weight and seemed to be sick all the time. Someone at the hospital reported the family to DCS for possible neglect.
Despite their efforts to seek medical treatment for the boy, Watson said, DCS decided they were neglecting the child. So they took the boy and his brother. And, since DCS had removed the two children, when Alethia Watson gave birth to a daughter last June, DCS took her, too, directly from the hospital.
The agency's apparent concern, Watson said, was that his wife was unfit to care for the children. That determination was made primarily on the fact she has difficulty following written instructions, such as recipes.
During the course of their two-year ordeal, Watson said he and his wife underwent psychological evaluations and completed parenting classes.
"We complied with everything they put down in front of us," he said, "but they always had something else for us to do."
What the family really needed, though, was a little help specifically addressing their limited -- and easily correctable -- needs.
And they finally got it. But not from DCS.
Help came from the family rights group, Honk For Kids, and a pair of nurses from the Marion County Health Department who had already been working with the Watsons. They pushed to find alternate methods for teaching Alethia Watson key information about caring for her children and pulled together a network of volunteers to help with child care.
(5 of 5)

Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for Honk For Kids, said the Watsons are like many families the group encounters: caught up in a system that appears more intent on punishing parents, rather than helping them.
Making changes
Houseworth said the number of removals in Indiana is "higher than desirable" but defended the work of DCS.

"If any child cannot safely remain in his or her home," Houseworth said, "it is our legal duty to place that child in a safe, stable environment."
As part of the continuing reform effort, Houseworth said officials are implementing a management by data approach "so we can better understand our challenges." The agency also has recently established a centralized reporting hotline that officials hope will ensure a more consistent review and response to reports of abuse and neglect. Previously, calls were routed to individual county offices, where responses often varied widely.
And, she said, when DCS does need to remove children the agency is placing more children with relatives.
"DCS recognizes the need to keep children in familiar surroundings and now utilizes relative placements as the first option," she said. "The DCS involvement, once intruding, is less intrusive."
Cari DeSantis, interim executive director at the American Public Human Services Association, said many states have found that a large number of neglect cases "can be addressed without removing the children."
DeSantis, who formerly served as cabinet secretary for the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Their Families, said the national drop in foster care placements reflects that trend.



"In those jurisdictions where the numbers are not coming down," she said, "it often has to do with a lack of capacity to provide support in a family setting."
To address that shortage in Delaware, she said the state shifted funding from foster care to support services.
Wexler thinks DCS workers too often follow what he believes is a misguided mentality that it is better to "err on the side of the child" -- even when there is not a serious threat. He said that approach protects the agency and individual workers from negative publicity that can crop up when DCS fails to intervene and a child is injured or dies.
"That 'better safe than sorry' mentality leaves children unsafe," Wexler said, "and can really harm them because it underestimates the emotional devastation of being ripped from your family and stuck in the home of a stranger."
It also clogs the system with children that Wexler said shouldn't be there. That limits workers' ability to properly investigate reports and help families work through their troubles.
"When you look at states known for keeping children safe," he said, "they take children at rates much lower than in Indiana.
"A child in Indiana is nearly three times as likely to be taken from her or his parents as a child in Illinois. Does anyone seriously believe Indiana children are three times 'safer' than those in Illinois?"
Wexler said the situation can't be explained solely by the state's new reforms or its doubling of caseworkers.
In Utah, which served as a model for the Indiana reforms, removals fell from 2007 to 2008 and the rate of removal is 2.3 per 1,000 children, compared with Indiana's rate of 5.9.
(4 of 5)

Unpleasant experience
Indianapolis parents Malcolm and Alethia Watson have been fighting for two years to clear their names -- and reclaim their family -- after DCS alleged they neglected one of their children. Their children were returned in May, and the case is set to be closed Thursday -- but not without a lot of residual damage.
While the children were in the state's care, one was abused in a foster home. The incident prompted DCS to revoke the foster parent's license.

"I just pray to God I never have to deal with DCS again," Malcolm Watson said. "They come into people's lives and literally destroy them. This whole thing could have been addressed without taking our kids."
Watson said their problems started when his wife took one of their sons to the hospital in 2008 because he wasn't gaining weight and seemed to be sick all the time. Someone at the hospital reported the family to DCS for possible neglect.
Despite their efforts to seek medical treatment for the boy, Watson said, DCS decided they were neglecting the child. So they took the boy and his brother. And, since DCS had removed the two children, when Alethia Watson gave birth to a daughter last June, DCS took her, too, directly from the hospital.
The agency's apparent concern, Watson said, was that his wife was unfit to care for the children. That determination was made primarily on the fact she has difficulty following written instructions, such as recipes.
During the course of their two-year ordeal, Watson said he and his wife underwent psychological evaluations and completed parenting classes.
"We complied with everything they put down in front of us," he said, "but they always had something else for us to do."
What the family really needed, though, was a little help specifically addressing their limited -- and easily correctable -- needs.
And they finally got it. But not from DCS.
Help came from the family rights group, Honk For Kids, and a pair of nurses from the Marion County Health Department who had already been working with the Watsons. They pushed to find alternate methods for teaching Alethia Watson key information about caring for her children and pulled together a network of volunteers to help with child care.
(5 of 5)

Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for Honk For Kids, said the Watsons are like many families the group encounters: caught up in a system that appears more intent on punishing parents, rather than helping them.
Making changes
Houseworth said the number of removals in Indiana is "higher than desirable" but defended the work of DCS.

"If any child cannot safely remain in his or her home," Houseworth said, "it is our legal duty to place that child in a safe, stable environment."
As part of the continuing reform effort, Houseworth said officials are implementing a management by data approach "so we can better understand our challenges." The agency also has recently established a centralized reporting hotline that officials hope will ensure a more consistent review and response to reports of abuse and neglect. Previously, calls were routed to individual county offices, where responses often varied widely.
And, she said, when DCS does need to remove children the agency is placing more children with relatives.
"DCS recognizes the need to keep children in familiar surroundings and now utilizes relative placements as the first option," she said. "The DCS involvement, once intruding, is less intrusive."
Unpleasant experience
Indianapolis parents Malcolm and Alethia Watson have been fighting for two years to clear their names -- and reclaim their family -- after DCS alleged they neglected one of their children. Their children were returned in May, and the case is set to be closed Thursday -- but not without a lot of residual damage.
While the children were in the state's care, one was abused in a foster home. The incident prompted DCS to revoke the foster parent's license.


"I just pray to God I never have to deal with DCS again," Malcolm Watson said. "They come into people's lives and literally destroy them. This whole thing could have been addressed without taking our kids."
Watson said their problems started when his wife took one of their sons to the hospital in 2008 because he wasn't gaining weight and seemed to be sick all the time. Someone at the hospital reported the family to DCS for possible neglect.
Despite their efforts to seek medical treatment for the boy, Watson said, DCS decided they were neglecting the child. So they took the boy and his brother. And, since DCS had removed the two children, when Alethia Watson gave birth to a daughter last June, DCS took her, too, directly from the hospital.
The agency's apparent concern, Watson said, was that his wife was unfit to care for the children. That determination was made primarily on the fact she has difficulty following written instructions, such as recipes.
During the course of their two-year ordeal, Watson said he and his wife underwent psychological evaluations and completed parenting classes.
"We complied with everything they put down in front of us," he said, "but they always had something else for us to do."
What the family really needed, though, was a little help specifically addressing their limited -- and easily correctable -- needs.
And they finally got it. But not from DCS.
Help came from the family rights group, Honk For Kids, and a pair of nurses from the Marion County Health Department who had already been working with the Watsons. They pushed to find alternate methods for teaching Alethia Watson key information about caring for her children and pulled together a network of volunteers to help with child care.

Dawn Robertson, spokeswoman for Honk For Kids, said the Watsons are like many families the group encounters: caught up in a system that appears more intent on punishing parents, rather than helping them.
Making changes
Houseworth said the number of removals in Indiana is "higher than desirable" but defended the work of DCS.


"If any child cannot safely remain in his or her home," Houseworth said, "it is our legal duty to place that child in a safe, stable environment."
As part of the continuing reform effort, Houseworth said officials are implementing a management by data approach "so we can better understand our challenges." The agency also has recently established a centralized reporting hotline that officials hope will ensure a more consistent review and response to reports of abuse and neglect. Previously, calls were routed to individual county offices, where responses often varied widely.
And, she said, when DCS does need to remove children the agency is placing more children with relatives.
"DCS recognizes the need to keep children in familiar surroundings and now utilizes relative placements as the first option," she said. "The DCS involvement, once intruding, is less intrusive."

Call Star reporter Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100609/LOCAL/6060373/1001/news