(published
in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May, 22 2005)
Private
organizations can do better with children
By Kurt Senske
Special to the Star-Telegram
A guest
column by F. Scott McCown in the May 15 Weekly
Review might have left most people thinking that
the Texas Legislature was on the verge of turning
over all the state's abused and neglected children
to cold-hearted, bottom-line-focused corporations.
The reality is much different.
The
"private corporations" in question that
support the privatization of children's protective
services include organizations such as Lutheran
Social Services, the Lena Pope Home, Buckner Baptist
and Catholic Charities -- social service organizations
that took in, sheltered, fed and clothed unwanted,
abused and neglected children decades before the
state's child welfare system came into being.
Each
one of our organizations is indeed a "corporation"
-- a 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization.
In
Texas, more than 70 percent of the children in
foster care are already cared for by private agencies.
We
have the organizations' experienced staff and
lengthy track records of caring for children.
Yet McCown erroneously contends that no private
corporations have the ability to provide the services,
that start-up costs would be significant and that
we do not have staff trained for case management.
Our
agencies are prepared to expand services, and
we have highly experienced caseworkers -- most
with tenures that exceed that of average state
caseworkers.
McCown
also claims that the proposed legislation "calls
for the firing of about 1,700 child protective
caseworkers." That, too, is misleading. The
legislation does not mandate "firing"
anyone.
Certainly
if case management is transferred to private agencies,
that would eliminate the workloads for Child Protective
Services caseworkers. Under the proposed legislation,
CPS will be refocusing its resources on investigating
cases of abuse and will be hiring hundreds of
investigators. It isn't unreasonable to assume
that many of those new investigators will come
from the ranks of current caseworkers.
Nor
does the legislation put private corporations
in charge of prosecuting allegations of abuse
or determining a child's legal status. These are
responsibilities that we believe should remain
with the state.
However,
I was most offended by McCown's continued disparagement
of the work of private agencies in his suggestion
that the "Children's Division of Enron"
will be awarded contracts to care for our state's
abused children.
Inadequate
foster care reimbursements do not cover our costs
for providing services. We rely on generous donors
and the community to make up the difference. There
is no profit margin, so no for-profit corporation
is going to enter the field! And invoking the
name of "Enron" in this discussion is
a shameful, cheap shot aimed solely at turning
public opinion against privatization.
We
believe that privatization is the right thing
to do because it will better serve the abused,
neglected and troubled children of Texas.
Under
the current case management system, caseworkers
who have more than 70 children in their caseloads
are making decisions about the kids' futures.
Though they are supposed to see the children monthly,
it is typical for children in an LSS foster home
to not be visited by their CPS caseworkers for
months at a time.
It
is not unusual for a child to have several different
caseworkers while he is in the state's conservatorship,
because caseworkers burn out and leave their jobs.
Yet CPS caseworkers -- not the agencies that are
providing care 24/7-- make decisions about a child's
future.
We
believe that it is in the best interests of the
children that private agencies that are providing
direct-care services have input on what happens
to them.
Those
decisions include whether a child should remain
in a foster home, be moved to another placement,
have parental rights terminated so they can be
freed for adoption, or be reunified with parents
or other family members. It is logical -- and
right -- that those who are responsible for the
daily emotional, physical and social needs of
the children should have a role in those decisions.
McCown
and I do agree on this point: Our system is underfunded.
Child-placing
agencies have united to urge the state Legislature
to implement much-needed reforms, including privatization
of case management, and to adequately fund the
system so that those reforms can truly protect
and care for the state's abused and neglected
children.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kurt
Senske is chief executive officer of Lutheran
Social Services, which cared for more than 2,600
abused and neglected children in foster homes
and residential treatment centers in 2004. www.lsss.org
Return
to Top
