Katz: 'We should not be satisfied' with state's care of children

Katz: 'We should not be satisfied' with state's care of children | The Connecticut Mirror

Joette Katz told state lawmakers Tuesday she plans to cut bureaucracy and make it easier for relatives to care for neglected children as steps toward ending 20 years of federal court supervision of the Department of Children and Families.

"We should not be satisfied with the department's current way of doing business," the former state Supreme Court justice told a panel of lawmakers during her confirmation hearing at the state Capitol.

Just two weeks on the job as acting commissioner, Katz came to the Capitol with a long list of what needs to change at DCF. For starters, she said the central office staff--361 of 3,456 full-time employees--has to be trimmed.

"It's not about laying off people, it's about better utilizing these very talented people," she said.

Reducing some of the bureaucracy at DCF, Katz says will give the caseworkers dealing directly with children the ability to make more decisions. Right now, she said, staffers need five to seven signatures to approve many actions.


DCF nominee Joette Katz

"My goal is to create five mini-DCFs" across the state, she said.

Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said he has long heard complaints about the DCF bureaucracy.

"DCF is often identified as the most hierarchical agency," he said.

Eight commissioners before Katz have failed to reform the state's $867 million bureaucracy enough to end federal court supervision. U.S. District Court Judge Christopher F. Droney last September rejected the previous administration's request to end oversight, saying the state is still falling short of their responsibilities to meet children's needs.

The court monitor's most recent quarterly report on the agency shows the state is still far from reaching numerous benchmarks, such as reducing the number of children in large group homes and recruiting and retaining enough foster parents to meet demand.

Katz said she will soon propose relaxing the rules imposed on relatives who want to care for family members in their homes. Two regulations that too often disqualify children in DCF custody from being placed with their relatives, she said, are minimum requirements for the size of bedrooms and limits on the ages of children who sleep in the same room.

"I just read a file over the weekend that made my hair on fire," she said about a woman whose granddaughter is in DCF custody, but her home didn't pass the DCF inspection. "If you're the grandmother, you are the best person for this child."

A report by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's transition team also addressed the problem. "DCF regulations and practice are barriers to kinship care; resulting in the number of DCF children living in relative foster care to fall well below the national average," the report said.

The state is required by a federal court consent decree to find and notify family members of a child who has been taken into DCF custody. The agency has met that requirement for the last five years, but advocates say far too few children are actually placed with relatives.

Katz was also asked by lawmakers whether she intends to close Riverview Hospital, which houses about 215 children with psychological issues at any given time at a cost of $2,188 a day, according to their most recent report.

"I don't see it on this year's agenda," Katz responded. "We are still talking about children in crisis... When we have providers in place can I finally nail that coffin closed."

Child advocates and Katz say if the state begins closing institutions before other facilities are available, more children would be sent out of state.

Katz told lawmakers Tuesday there are currently 367 children living out-of-state, and she said she intends to figure out how to bring more of them home.

"It's absolutely essential we get as many of those children back," Katz said.

During her first full day on the job last week, she said sent an email to all the state's providers to ascertain what type of services they have room to provide and what she needs to do to get them to serve children with problem sexual and arson behavior, which are those that are sent out of state.

"It not just about bringing them back," she said. "We have to have a place for them. If it were just about the beds they would be here."

Following the 90 minute questioning of Katz, lawmakers on the panel unanimously approved her nomination. She is not expected to face any opposition in getting her final confirmation vote in the state Senate.

"People from both sides of the aisle feel like it's a whole new day for this troubled agency," Child Advocate Jeanne Milstein said following the hearing.

Her confirmation may be a breeze, but Katz told the lawmakers she faces huge battles in the near future.

"I am going to need some legislative buy in for my ideas," she said. "I am not worried about being criticized, what I am worried about is having the tools and ability to do this job."

Both Malloy and advocates have said the issues that face DCF do not stem from the lack of money, as was the problem outlined in the original class-action lawsuit filed in 1989 on behalf of "Juan F" and other children in state custody. Since then the agency's budget has increased significantly.

Katz told the panel she promises not to ask for more money from the state for the next two years.

"I understand there is no more money, nor will I be asking you for more money," she told the Sen. Anthony Musto, D-Trumbull, the co-chair of the Human Services Committee and the vice chair of the Select Committee on Children.

Musto said he wants DCF to devote more money to programs to prevent children from ever needing to enter DCF care in the first place.

"It does cost some money and that was the big hang up," he said, noting that these programs are his "biggest priority."

Katz said she completely supports these programs and said she intends to ask the "financial wizards" in her agency to start finding savings by reorganizing and to seek every new revenue opportunity from philanthropists and the federal government to direct more money for these preventative programs.

"It costs a lot less to pay someone's electric or heat bills than to take five children out of their home and place them in foster care" because their parents have been determined to be neglecting them, she said.

Workers in case of starved baby in Philly are fired

Workers in case of starved baby in Philly are fired - Philly.com: "The caseworker who said she visited 2-month-old Quasir Alexander in a city shelter and pronounced him 'healthy and well' two days before he died of starvation has been fired by the contractor the city hired to help the family.

A supervisor who oversaw the case also was fired.

'Lutheran Children and Family Service has completed the initial phase of an internal review, and based on the facts developed in that review, we have terminated the supervisor and caseworker handling the Williams case,' the agency said in a statement to The Inquirer Tuesday night. It said it was 'fully cooperating with all relevant authorities so that the facts can be fully and properly vetted.'"

Child Sexually Abused in Foster Care

Legally Kidnapped

Video: The Watch List: The medication of foster children | Need to Know

Video: The Watch List: The medication of foster children | Need to Know


January 7, 2011
Nearly one in every 10 American children is diagnosed with a mental health disorder. Often the treatment prescribed is medication, and often the medication is heavy-duty — so-called antipsychotic drugs.

In this report, you’ll see that foster care children are prescribed drugs at a rate much greater than that of other kids. Concern over their well-being — not to mention the amount it costs to treat them — has prompted the Government Accountability Office to investigate potentially abusive prescribing practices in America’s state foster care systems. The GAO findings are expected to come out later this year.

Need to Know correspondent Shoshana Guy went to Texas to investigate overuse of psychotropic drugs in foster children, as well as that state’s efforts at reform.

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Federal officials deny DHR claim for foster care money which was supposed to be used for In Home services to prevent foster placement

Federal officials deny DHR claim for foster care money - baltimoresun.com

Federal officials won't reimburse Maryland's Department of Human Resources for nearly $10 million in foster care-related expenses that the state had expected to recoup, according to a legislative audit released Wednesday.

The funds would have paid Maryland for in-home, "pre-placement" services, provided to children with the aim of preventing them from being removed to foster care placement.

The U.S Department of Health and Human Services denied the claim because DHR did not have a process to document that the children it served were in imminent risk of entering foster care, the auditors stated in the report.

Advocates ask for RI foster care suit to proceed

Advocates ask for RI foster care suit to proceed - Boston.com

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A lawsuit alleging that Rhode Island's foster children are routinely neglected and abused should move forward, the advocates who brought the case say in new court papers.


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The lawsuit alleges that the state's foster care system is broken, with caseworkers who are saddled by excessive caseloads and children in state custody who are at risk of harm and are shuffled from home-to-home without having their needs met. About 2,300 children are in the state foster care system, the advocacy group says.

WHAT IS A “CHINS”?

NAMI NH
State branch of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Provides education, support, and advocacy for people with serious mental illnesses and their ...
www.naminh.org/ - Cached - Similar

WHAT IS A “CHINS”?
What a CHINS Is:
CHINS (“child in need of services”) is a legal process governed by state
statute (RSA 169-D) that helps to address specific behavioral problems
of children under the age of 18, specifically, a child who is expressly
found to be:
• Habitually, willfully, and without good and sufficient cause, truant
from school; OR
• Habitually running away from home; OR
• Repeatedly disregarding the reasonable and lawful commands of
his/her parents, guardian or custodian and placing himself/ herself
or others in unsafe circumstances; AND
• Is expressly found to be in need of care, guidance, counseling,
discipline, supervision, treatment, or rehabilitation as a consequence
of one or more of the preceding behaviors.
Additionally, a CHINS petition may be filed when a child has
committed willful repeated or habitual conduct constituting offenses
that would be violations (but not felonies or misdemeanors) under the
Criminal Code of this state if committed by a person 17 years of age or
over, OR willful repeated or habitual conduct constituting offenses
that would be violations or misdemeanors (but not felonies) under the
Motor Vehicle Code of this state if committed by a person 16 years old
or older. (Note: Only a law enforcement officer or prosecutor should
file a CHINS petition under these sections.)
What a CHINS Is Not:
A CHINS petition is NOT appropriate in any of the following
situations:
• Emancipated Minors: If a minor received an emancipation decree
in another state, NH will give legal recognition to that court order
(RSA 21-B:2). Emancipated minors are therefore not subject to
CHINS proceedings brought by their parent/ guardian/custodian for
disobedience or running away from home.
• Delinquent Acts: “Delinquent” means a person who has committed
an offense before reaching the age of 17 that would be a felony or
misdemeanor under the Criminal Code of this state if committed by
an adult (RSA 169-B:2, IV). Delinquent acts cannot be included in
a CHINS petition [RSA 169-D:5, IV; In re James N., 157 N.H. 690
(2008)]).
• Excluded Offenses: Violations of any of the following laws are
excluded by state statutes (RSA 169-B:32 & 169-D:22) from
juvenile CHINS or delinquency proceedings: Motor vehicle laws by
persons 16 years of age or over; aeronautics; boat navigation; fish
and game; alcoholic beverages; fireworks; tobacco. These excluded
offenses are subject to adult court prosecution, not juvenile court.
When is a CHINS appropriate?
A CHINS petition may only be filed by a parent/guardian/custodian
when the following conditions have been met (RSA 169-D:5, III)
• The child and family have sought to resolve the expressed problem
through available community alternatives,
• The problem still remains, AND
• Court intervention is needed to resolve the problem
►
AMI NH has developed several publications on the topic of mental illness for consumers, family members, caregivers and the legislature. For more information, click on the title of the desired topic.
Children/Adolescents
CHINS ~ a guide for families on the CHINS legal process
Parent/Caregiver Guidebook ~ for parents and caregivers of children/adolescents with serious emotional disorders
Reclaiming Our Future ~ A Pathway For Treating Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders in NH's Adolescents and Young Adults
Adults
Hope and Help ~ a NAMI NH guide for consumers with information on recovery and resources
Mental Health Matters ~ a NAMI NH publication on the status of mental health services and supports in New Hampshire
Older Adults
Older Adult Guidebook ~ for family members and caregivers of older adults with mental illness