Arizona appears poised to repeat CPS mistakes
Richard Wexler
Aug. 21, 2007 12:00 AM
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/articles/0821wexler21.html
Four days after she first took office, Gov. Janet Napolitano made a
mistake that has haunted the state's vulnerable children ever since.
Sure that children were dying because Child Protective Services workers
were bending over backwards to keep families together, the governor told
CPS workers to: "Err on the side of protecting the child, and we'll sort
it out later."
Four-and-a-half years later, they still haven't sorted it out.
By October 2004, the number of children torn from their parents each
year had soared 40 percent, the largest two-year increase in the nation
at that time. Sadly, such foster-care panics are common in the wake of
high-profile deaths of children known-to-the-system or media pressure or
commands from politicians. In Arizona, it was all three.
But the real reason children known-to-the-system sometimes die, has
nothing to do with coddling families. It happens because undertrained,
underprepared workers with too many cases don't have time to investigate
any case properly.
Add far more cases and there is even less time - so more mistakes are
made in all directions. That's why, in state after state, foster-care
panics have been followed by increases in child-abuse fatalities. It
happened just that way in Arizona. By 2005, both total child-abuse
deaths and deaths of children previously known to CPS set records.
But, in one respect, Arizona is unusual. In most states, after a couple
of years, everyone calms down. Some states even learn from the
experience and embrace safe, proven programs to keep families together.
That spares children the agony of needless foster care and gives workers
more time to find children in real danger.
But in Arizona, every time there's a chance the panic will abate,
something starts it up again. Most recently, it has been reaction to a
series of deaths of children, allegedly at the hands of their parents,
in Tucson. (Similar deaths of Tucson foster children in 2005 got far
less attention.) All these deaths happened even though Pima County
already was taking away children at a rate 50 percent above the state
average.
But instead of learning from the mistakes of four years ago, Arizona
appears poised to repeat them.
Fifteen thousand children are, in effect, pleading with state leaders
not to let that happen. They are the children whose cases were examined
in the largest, most comprehensive study ever done comparing foster
children to comparably maltreated children left in their own homes. It
found that the foster children were more likely to be arrested, get
pregnant and wind up unemployed.
That's because most parents who lose their children to foster care are
not the sadistic brutes whose horrible deeds rightly make headlines.
On Monday, my organization released a report in Phoenix with 14
recommendations for breaking the stalemate in Arizona child welfare. The
recommendations include a compromise on child welfare funding and a call
for a fully transparent system. It's a way, at last, for Arizona to
"sort it out."
The writer is executive director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform in Alexandria, Va.
CURRENTLY CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES VIOLATES MORE CIVIL RIGHTS ON A
DAILY BASIS THEN ALL OTHER AGENCIES COMBINED INCLUDING THE NSA / CIA
WIRETAPPING PROGRAM....
CPS Does not protect children...
It is sickening how many children are subject to abuse, neglect and even
killed at the hands of Child Protective Services.
every parent should read this .pdf from
connecticut dcf watch...
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com/8x11.pdf
http://www.connecticutdcfwatch.com
Number of Cases per 100,000 children in the US
These numbers come from The National Center on
Child Abuse and Neglect in Washington. (NCCAN)
Recent numbers have increased significantly for CPS
*Perpetrators of Maltreatment*
Physical Abuse CPS 160, Parents 59
Sexual Abuse CPS 112, Parents 13
Neglect CPS 410, Parents 241
Medical Neglect CPS 14 Parents 12
Fatalities CPS 6.4, Parents 1.5
CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES, HAPPILY DESTROYING HUNDREDS OF INNOCENT
FAMILIES YEARLY NATIONWIDE AND COMING TO YOU'RE HOME SOON...
BE SURE TO FIND OUT WHERE YOUR CANDIDATES STANDS ON THE ISSUE OF
REFORMING OR ABOLISHING CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES ("MAKE YOUR CANDIDATES
TAKE A STAND ON THIS ISSUE.") THEN REMEMBER TO VOTE ACCORDINGLY IF THEY
ARE "FAMILY UNFRIENDLY" IN THE NEXT ELECTION...
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