State to upgrade child welfare
Deal with advocate group pledges more staff, homes
Crocker Stephenson
The Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin officials have agreed on a plan intended to fix persistent problems in Milwaukee County's state-run child welfare program, a national children's advocacy group announced Wednesday.
The group, Children's Rights, cited the November death of 13-month-old foster child Christopher Thomas as evidence of continued weaknesses in the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare.
Officials with the bureau and the state Department of Children and Families declined to comment on the agreement Wednesday.
The agreement resulted from months of negotiations between the state and Children's Rights, which in 1993 filed a class-action lawsuit charging that the Milwaukee County child welfare system failed to protect children in foster care
In 1998, the state took control of the county's foster care program, creating the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare. A settlement with Children's Rights was reached in 2002 mandating a complete overhaul of the child welfare system.
The state is still not in full compliance with several provisions of the 2002 settlement.
"Although the Milwaukee child welfare system has made some important improvements under the court order mandating its reform, the tragic case of Christopher Thomas put a very harsh spotlight on some critical areas in which it is still failing to adequately protect abused and neglected kids," said Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children's Rights, which is based in New York.
For example, the settlement requires that at least 90% of the children in the bureau's custody have no more than three out-of-home placements, to keep children from the dispiriting experience of being bounced from foster home to foster home.
But according to bureau statistics, only 76% of the children in out-of-home care were in three or fewer placements during the first six months of 2008. During 2007, the rate was 75%. During 2006, the rate was 73%.
The plan announced Wednesday will implement programs to improve placement stability.
The 2002 agreement requires that no more than 0.60% of the children in the bureau's custody be the victims of substantiated abuse or neglect by a foster parent or by the staff of a licensed facility.
Children in kinship care, such as Christopher Thomas and his 2-year-old sister, are not counted in this measurement.
Without counting children in kinship care, 0.93% of the more than 2,600 Milwaukee County children in the bureau's custody suffered abuse or neglect during 2007. The rate for 2008 is not yet available.
The agreement seeks to reduce maltreatment and neglect of children in group homes, residential facilities and foster homes. It would also shorten the time children spend in the system, and increase staff support.
Among the plan's key provisions, the bureau must:
• Increase the number of foster homes from fewer than 700 to 875 by the end of 2009.
• Assess placements and services needed by children in state custody and develop a foster home recruitment and retention plan.
This plan, according to Children's Rights, must include specific strategies to increase support for foster parents at all stages of recruitment, licensing and placement of children in their homes.
• Add staff to help quicken placement of children in permanent families.
The bureau must create new "relative coordinator" positions to support unlicensed providers of kinship care and create new "permanency consultant" positions to expedite the placement of children with families. A total of 11 new positions would be created.
• Improve mental health assessment and crisis services for children.
The bureau must make sure that all children entering foster care receive initial health screenings, including mental health assessments and follow-up services.
• Improve training for caseworkers and judges who preside over child welfare hearings.
"With this agreement," Robinson Lowry said, "the state has made a commitment to take every reasonable step to ensure that the children in its custody remain safe, and that every child child's stay in foster care is as short as possible."