There were some pretty significant child welfare-related stories in the news this week, starting with the departure of Bobby Cagle from LA County DCFS. You can also read about it here. Running the nation’s largest child welfare system is a tough job, and I imagine that after 4 years, Bobby needed a break. After all, the average tenure of a child welfare director is only 22 months, and he’s been running child welfare systems in Georgia and LA for over 7 years straight.
Here and here you’ll find an interesting
hit pieceseries from a USA Today collaboration regarding children in state custody being placed in psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTFs). The article basically concludes that none of these children need PRTF and are just being “warehoused” there with no justification. If you read between the lines, I think what you’ll see is a conflict between state agencies, providers, and insurers over what “medical necessity” for behavioral health treatment means, as well as an illustration of the need for a more comprehensive system of care with appropriate step-down services and facilities.Studies show physicians too often don’t pick up on abusive injuries to children, so it’s frustrating to see situations such as this one, where the allegations are that an overzealous pediatric abuse specialist caused unnecessary pain for a lot of families. I’m sure we all remember the story of the boy who cried “wolf”; still, physicians and emergency room personnel are one of our best lines of defense against repeat child abuse.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has rescinded a rule protecting the ability of faith-based organizations that do not work with LGBT families to serve foster and adoptive youth and families. I’d be interested in opinions on whether Fulton v. Philadelphia made that issue moot.
Michigan is seeking to reform foster care. Read about it here.
New Hampshire’s first State Child Advocate is stepping down after her four-year term.
Florida has picked a provider to take over in the Tampa Bay area for Eckerd Connects, following scandals over children sleeping in offices with potential criminal charges.
In international news, the UN Refugee Commission is teaming up with the Juconi Foundation to create foster homes for unaccompanied migrant children and youth who, I would imagine, are mostly coming into Mexico from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. There’s a great need for foster care in the developing world, as most children are still housed in institutional group homes and “orphanages.”
Finally, it looks as if Pennsylvania’s child welfare system has an alignment problem. They expanded the categories of mandated reporters, and reports (but not substantiations) spiked, overwhelming the system according to this article. I’ll write more about alignment later this week.
That’s the news for the day! You may now return to your regularly-scheduled online holiday shopping.
If you enjoy reading this newsletter, I hope you’ll consider making a voluntary contribution for the 2022 edition. Your paid annual subscription of $50 — less than $1 a week — keeps the heat on me to produce! And please encourage others to subscribe, whether free or paid!