Working with State Legislators on Systems Integration

1. Working with State Legislators on Systems Integration Steve Christian National Conference of State Legislatures

2. Outline of Presentation • Overview of state laws connecting child welfare (CW) with use of alcohol and other drugs (AOD) • Background on state legislators • Barriers/opportunities to engage state legislators

3. State Laws Connecting Child Welfare and Substance Abuse • Definitions of child maltreatment • Drug-exposed newborns • Giving child dangerous drugs • Exposure to meth labs • Reporting of drug-exposed newborns or pregnant women who use AOD • Evidentiary laws • Drug use as evidence of neglect

4. State Laws Connecting Child Welfare and Substance Abuse • Special treatment of CW cases involving substance use • Requiring court involvement • Requiring more stringent investigations • Grounds for TPR/not requiring reasonable efforts to reunify • Parent has history of drug use and refused treatment

5. State Laws Connecting Child Welfare and Substance Abuse • Assistance/training/information for caregivers of children prenatally exposed to AOD • Foster/adoptive parents • Kinship caregivers • Coordination of initial responses to meth-endangered children by CW and law enforcement • Establishment of performance measures (e.g., percentage of CW clients getting needed treatment)

6. State Laws Connecting Child Welfare and Substance Abuse • CW/AOD service integration/coordination • Require statewide plan for integration: IL, MD, OH • Prioritize services for parents of children in foster care: MI, NY • Create special CW treatment funds: AZ • Require demonstration or innovative programs: MN, PA • Creation of managing entity for provision of AOD services to CW clients: FL • Funding for integration strategies (e.g., family drug courts, AOD specialists in CW agencies (FL))

7. State Legislators’ Ideological OrientationSource: Pew Center on the States (2003)

8. State Legislators’ Policy Priorities (Other Than Balancing Budget)Source: Pew Center on the States (2003)

9. Influences on State Legislators’ Policymaking DecisionsSource: Pew Center on the States (2003)

10. Barriers to Engagement of Legislators External Barriers • Budget shortfalls • Competing policy priorities • Fragmented committee structure • Legislative turnover • Short sessions/part-time legislators • Limited capacity for ongoing oversight • Agency restrictions on legislative contact

11. Barriers to Engagement of Legislators (cont’d). Internal Barriers • Agencies & Courts • Fear of micromanagement • Defensiveness • Legislatures • Mistrust of executive/partisanship • Unfamiliarity with CW and AOD issues • Unfamiliarity with status/concerns of tribes • Tribes: mistrust of state government

12. Strategies to Engage Legislators • Institutional strategies • Joint standing committee hearings • Task forces/select committees • Standing oversight committees • Results hearings • Engaging individual legislators • Use data • Address constituent concerns • Connect with personal interests • Draw business parallels

13. Strategies to Engage Legislators (cont’d) • Engaging individual legislators (cont’d) • Keep focus on desired results • Give them credit • Develop strong bipartisan champions • Be honest • Show how CW policy trends address conservative criticisms • Link CW/AOD to education, health, poverty • Invite them to court, site visits