Work toward thriving, not fractured, families

Work toward thriving, not fractured, families
By REGGIE WILLIAMS, GUEST EDITORIAL
June 23, 2010 12:05 AM Posted in: Editorials

Reggie Williams

Reggie Williams was born in DeLand and raised in DeLeon Springs. He worked for Volusia County government for 29 years, where his last position was director of the Community Services Department. In March 2006, Williams became the district administrator for the Department of Children and Families for Volusia and Flagler Counties. In 2007, DCF reorganized, and his responsibility expanded to St. Johns and Putnam counties.

All of us with families, especially with children, have an inherent concern for their health and well-being. "Don't run with scissors," "Look both ways before you cross the street" and "Don't talk to strangers" are just a few of the common types of guidance we provide our children for their safety.

For the Department of Children and Families, it is one of the fundamental reasons for our existence, and, for many of the people who work here, it is their chosen profession. The department has helped tens of thousands of families over the years to overcome crises and obstacles in their lives to assist them with ensuring the safety of their children. Though only a few of the most severe situations with terrible consequences come to the public's attention through the media, the vast majority of families that interact with the department (and our many community partners) go on to provide a sound environment for their children to grow into healthy and productive adults.

In situations where it is found that risk to a child's safety is very high, the department may find it necessary to remove that child from his or her family until the family can address those issues that threaten the child and make it safe to return the child home. This decision is not taken lightly by the department. It involves the judicial system for oversight and traumatizes both the family and child.

What are the consequences of removing a child from their family?

Studies by two highly respected institutions -- the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Casey Family Program -- show:

· 44 percent of children who were in foster care were later arrested, compared with 14 percent of children who remained with their families.

· More than half of the girls in foster care will become teen mothers, compared to only one-third of other children.

· Children who grow up in foster care are 17 times more likely to be homeless.

Children who grow up in foster care are more likely to commit crimes, abuse drugs, drop out of school and be unemployed.

Regardless of the dismal outcomes of removing children from their families, there are times that removing a child is the only safe option. But we have come to realize that there are times when that act may do more harm than good. In recognizing this fact, the department has begun an initiative in our area to restructure the foster care system as it has existed for many years. We have collaborated with our Community Based Care organizations, which are responsible for foster care, and our community providers, who deliver many of the services to our families. This collaboration and partnership will change processes we have historically used to protect families, improving services. The new system of care will provide better risk assessment, shared decision-making, accelerated and more intensive services for shorter durations, and quicker, more successful conclusions for families.

Some of the specifics are:

· Integrated and expanded substance-abuse and mental-health services.

· Innovative training and expanded services for domestic violence .

· A service decision team that brings together experts from various agencies to assist in planning services for families and to look for ways to keep a family together.

· A family preservation function that provides a safe alternative to removing a child from the family by providing extremely intense services and family interaction. This service is of a much shorter duration than services traditionally delivered when a child is removed.

· An intensive family intervention function that provides extensive services and family interaction for more moderate-risk cases. Again, the duration of this service is much shorter than the traditional in-home service method.

· Use of family engagement practices to encourage families to participate in seeking solutions for themselves.

· An outreach function that will assist families in trouble or crisis even though it is determined that no abuse or neglect was evident with the family.

· Improved processes to stabilize families when children are returned from out-of-home care.

· Improved processes to more rapidly find permanent living arrangements such as relative custody or adoption for children who cannot reunify with their parents.

This is an ambitious undertaking and it will take not only the department's effort but the effort of our entire community to become truly successful. The collaboration we have experienced so far has been phenomenal and we are only at the beginning of this journey.

Over the next six months we will be meeting with groups of people throughout our service area, discussing the planned changes. We will solicit community input and support as to how we can further improve and restructure our system of care. The families we serve are our neighbors, our co-workers and our friends. The most effective approach to helping these children and families is one in which the whole community takes part, so that together, we can significantly improve children's lives.

The News-Journal has invited a variety of local folks to use this space to share their point of view about our greater community, its challenges, and its opportunities for success.

http://www.news-journalonline.com/opinion/editorials/2010/06/23/work-toward-thriving-not-fractured-families.html