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

Facts and Factoids

The Campaign to Discredit Child Safety and Permanence as the

Appropriate Child Welfare Policy

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, orNational estimates of 3,000,000 cases of

abuse and neglectA “growing problem”

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)

More than half of all abuse and neglect reports are false

• Factoid

50 to 60 % of child abuse and neglect reports are false

Fact

An unsubstantiated report is not the same as a false report

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

The CAN Pyramid

1. 3,000,000 reports

2. 2,600,000 investigations

3. 990,000 substantiations

4. 200,000 removals

Of children reported 6% are removed

Of investigations, 7.6% removed

Of substantiations, 20% removed

There is a Foster Care Panic

• Factoid

The foster care system is bursting at the seams because there are so many removals

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

The Crises Afflicting Child Welfare Agencies can be Solved

by:

•More money

•More staff, fewer caseloads

•More training

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

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.