Family Preservation and Reunification: How Effective a Social Policy?

1. Family Preservation and Reunification: How Effective a Social Policy? Richard J. Gelles, Ph.D. Professor and Dean School of Social Policy & Practice University of Pennsylvania

2. Facts and Factoids The Campaign to Discredit Child Safety and Permanence as the Appropriate Child Welfare Policy

3. The Epidemic of Child Abuse • Factoids: A cluster of homicides or gruesome cases of abuse and neglect, abandoned babies, or “home alone” cases, or kidnappings, sparks interest in child abuse and neglect. • Stories begin with the claims of: An epidemic, or National estimates of 3,000,000 cases of abuse and neglect A “growing problem”

4. Facts • 3,000,000 is the number of reports • Substantiated cases are about 1,000,00 per year • Reports flat since 1992 • Substantiations and Recognized cases have declined since 1996 • Child Fatalities Have Increased (slightly)

5. More than half of all abuse and neglect reports are false • Factoid 50 to 60 % of child abuse and neglect reports are false

6. Fact An unsubstantiated report is not the same as a false report

7. Children are Removed from their Homes Needlessly • Factoid: Child welfare agencies are much to quick to remove children from their homes, especially minority and poor children

8. The CAN Pyramid • 3,000,000 reports • 2,600,000 investigations • 990,000 substantiations • 200,000 removals Of children reported 6% are removed Of investigations, 7.6% removed Of substantiations, 20% removed

9. There is a Foster Care Panic • Factoid The foster care system is bursting at the seams because there are so many removals

10. Fact • Eighty percent of substantiated reports do not result in a removal • Nationally, the number and rate of removals has been constant for a decade • The growth of the foster care populations is fueled by too few children existing, not more children entering • The Foster Care Population is declining

11. Children are in Danger in Foster Care Factoid: Children are more likely to be killed or injured in foster care than in their own homes

12. Fact • Comparing the injury and death rate of children in foster care to the injury and death rate of children reunified with their caregivers, the rate is lower in foster care than among reunified children.

13. Eureka, It Works!!!!!!! • Factoids: Intensive Family Preservation Services reduce placements, reduce costs, and keep children safe. Intensive Family Preservation Services could reduce placements, reduce costs, and keep children safe if there were more money for services or if the services were implemented properly

14. It Works (continued) • Family Group Conferencing: • Reduces child maltreatment • Reduces domestic violence • Decreases disproportionate numbers of children in out of home care • Promotes the well-being of children and family members

15. Fact • There are no scientifically valid studies that support any of the above claims • Nearly all of the published claims have appeared in reports issued by the foundations that funded the programs, none have been made in appropriately peer reviewed professional journals.

16. The Crises Afflicting Child Welfare Agencies can be Solved by: More money More staff, fewer caseloads More training

17. Fact • The child welfare systems’ annual expenditures exceed $20 billion • No increase in staffing or decrease in case loads has produced measurable improvements. • Child welfare systems use the least experienced, most poorly paid workforce armed with the lowest level of technology. • Little effort has been expended to find the center of gravity of the system and intervene at that level

18. Other Popular Factoid • There is no such thing as a non adoptable child. • Adoptions are very fragile and are prone to break up, further harming the child. • Neglected children do not need to be removed from their homes, they would be better off if left at home. • There is a state or local child welfare system doing it right.