Letter: Neglected/abused children more than a budget issue
Recently there has been publicity and several articles about the problems of the Indiana Department of Child Services, including the resignation of the State Director.
I’m sending this letter in an effort to educate the public about this serious problem in Indiana and especially in the five counties that compose Indiana House District 74 (Crawford, Dubois, Orange, Perry & Spencer).
Before one reads further I want to emphasize, in my opinion, the problem does not rest with the local county case managers and directors. The child welfare system is state directed and run. As I understand, all major decisions are made and controlled in Indianapolis. That is why the Governor and State Legislators need to act now to protect our children.
I requested information last year from the Indiana Department of Child Services about the number of children in child welfare/wardship cases in the five counties referenced above. Here are the statistics they provided.
County 6/30/2012 6/30/2017
Crawford 52 102
Dubois 29 141
Orange 24 121
Perry 31 140
Spencer 23 148
—- —-
Total 159 652
In the past five years, Children In Need of Services (CHINS) placements have increased 410% in these five counties. These are not just statistics. These are abused or neglected children; our children, grandchildren, families and neighbors. Many of these children are placed in homes outside their local county and school system and even siblings are split just to find a placement. Foster Homes are lacking and for those who do provide foster care, supportive services are lacking.
The governor says the state is providing “record funding”. So what? Just because record funding is being provided doesn’t mean a problem doesn’t exist.
I believe the Governor and the Indiana General Assembly need to immediately deal with this crisis. If they can’t get it done in the Regular Session that began January 3rd, then a Special Session should be called by the Governor to deal with this crisis. Our children deserve no less.
Larry K. Kleeman
Candidate for State Representative District 74
Is it appropriate for full time working people to become foster parents who have no in home child care? As in my case, I would have to hire day care and I can’t afford it. Are these children qualified for subsidized day care? Just curious. I know the problem is out of control.
Why isn’t it appropriate – if full-time working people can become parents or adoptive parents without in-home child care? I mean, not sure I get your point, but what’s allowed for parents should be the same for foster parents. That said, there’s no easy answer and I’m no expert, but if there’s a clear difference between care – or lack/quality of care – between full-time working foster parents and f-t working regular or adoptive parents without in-home child care and those differences can be cited and identified, maybe it merits a closer look.
Amy Leonard, as a former foster parent, yes it is appropriate for you you work full time and seek qualified child care for the children in your care while you work. If I remember correctly, the state will help with the cost of child care for six months, but after that you would responsible for the cost. The cost of full time would barely he covered by the child’s per diem, so you’d be left footing the bill for everything else the child needs. Which, if you can afford is great. Time wise, you are expected to attend a lot of meetings, court dates, therapy, doctor visits and be available for visits. So it does make it difficult but doable of you have a flexible schedule.
Mr. Kleeman, you paint a vague picture of the problem. Sure it is a problem but not as dire as you paint. According to DCS, most of the abused children are placed with immediate family, parents, grandparents or a close relative. Of the 5 counties you listed 652 placements were made but only 108 of those placements were to non relative foster care. The dire problem is that children are being abused at an alarming rate. We do need to care for them but we can’t just keep spending money on the problem when we don’t address the cause of the abuse.
As a candidate, I would be hesitant to vote for you because you want to spend money on the symptom and not spending money on the cause. The primary cause of placement of abused children is drug/alcohol abuse by the parents. 66% of placements are because of alcohol/drug addiction. What is your solution to fixing the drug epidemic? The other cause of abuse is single parent stress. What are you going to do to reduce single parenting or relief for single parents? Cure the problem and you heal the symptom.
https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/CHINSPlacements201711.pdf
https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/parentalsubabuse.pdf
http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/CV216.pdf
Daryl Hensley, Jasper
I believe with Daryl Hensley That you have to do something about the problem first ! Drugs ,Alcohol And abuse In the counties! The Jail & court house are like revoling doors In and out slap on their wrist & backin trouble !! There is no Justice for Kids Women & men &Elderly ! There Is No Help From the counties or state to provide treatment in house facility’s To help to Stop this epidemic ! So if you want to stop the abuse of Kids , Women ,Elderly & men ,then fight for Better Placement & Education for our society Thanks Mary Jahn
The 1st thing that must be done on the Indiana child care Titanic is get the children in lifeboats. If your so concerned with costs, get this, untreated abused children are twice as likely to end up in prison. This costs an average of 40k a year. Foster care is a bargain ! The gov brags about record high support which is still less than it was 20 years ago factoring in child care cost inflation. Get real.