First the child is institutionalized, his “care” in the hands of rotating shift staff. Then the child is uprooted again to spend a couple of weeks with total strangers.
All the while, waiting in the wings, is someone ready to comfort this child and cushion the blow of substitute care: grandma. But grandma is denied custody for weeks on end.
When a willing grandparent comes forward in such cases, 49 states avoid needless delay. One state keeps the child waiting for weeks: Utah.
And now, rather than simply admit they made a huge mistake, Utah officials have resorted to scare tactics.
At issue is the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act. This federal law added a time-consuming extra layer of background checks for all prospective foster parents, including relatives. States already were required to do lots of background checking before making placements. So the federal government said that, rather than force children to languish for weeks in institutions, states could place children with relatives while these extra checks are completed.
But Utah jumped the gun and changed state law to prohibit such placements. We know of no other state which did that, and neither does the Utah Division of Child and Family Services.
DCFS director Duane Betournay has admitted this was a mistake, and said he would ask the Legislature to undo the error. But when pressed to act immediately instead of waiting until next year, Betournay and his boss, Executive Director of Human Services Lisa-Michele Church, contradicted themselves and started claiming the extra checks are needed to keep children safe.
That is not true. In fact, it is the delays that endanger children's well-being and even their safety.
Every decision in child welfare involves balancing risks. Placing a child with grandma before new checks are completed creates a slim chance something might be overlooked. Sadly, that risk has been exaggerated in the minds of some by widespread prejudice against extended families. That bias may explain why Utah uses kinship care at one of the lowest rates in the nation.
But research shows that kinship placements are not just more stable and better for children's well-being, they also are, on average, safer than what should properly be called “stranger care.” Indeed, several studies have found alarming levels of abuse of children in foster homes with strangers and in institutions, rates of abuse far higher than reflected in official figures that involve agencies investigating themselves.
Furthermore, no matter how well-meaning the staff may be and how hard they try, institutionalization for weeks at a time can devastate young children emotionally. And it is emotional harm that often is the most crippling of all.
So while DCFS keeps children in limbo for weeks because of the tiny chance a child might be harmed by grandma, hundreds of children are definitely harmed by their needless confinement to shelters.
DCFS' response to its blunder is contradictory. Officials admit they delay placements only because they misunderstood the law. Then they turn around and claim they're doing it to keep children safe.
George Orwell had a term for that: doublespeak.
It's time to stop the doublespeak, put the children first and let Utah's grandparents take care of their grandchildren as soon as they step forward.
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* RICHARD WEXLER is executive director of the nonprofit National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation
Richard
Wexler
DCFS: Wrong
