Advocates for families of children who have been removed from the home met with DHHS officials recently to discuss concerns that Nebraska is too quick to remove children, and that families' rights are being abused. Those are relatively common complaints about Nebraska's child welfare system. Indeed, trying to decrease the number of children in out-of-home foster care is one of the reasons why Nebraska has moved toward privatizing services.
I'll repeat a request I've made before: show me the cases. The family advocates like to cite numbers -- e.g. that Nebraska removes 7.5 of 1,000 kids compared to a nationwide average of 3.4 per 1,000 -- but rarely, if ever, do they cite real circumstances. I have no doubt -- none -- that Nebraska gets some of these cases wrong. I don't doubt for a second that some kids shouldn't have been removed, or they shouldn't have been out of the home for as long as they were, or that a family's rights were abused. But come on, Family Advocacy Movement (and others)! Numbers alone aren't going to get you anywhere. Surely you can find a handful of families willing to share their story. Let's hear about them.
It's not just a marketing strategy. If they can't cite actual situations then why should I or anyone else believe them? Given the lack of evidence they've presented, it's just as easy to argue that the numbers represent Nebraska's activism on behalf of children while other states are willing to let them languish in terrible home situations. Some people argue exactly that.
I'm not in a position to know who's right and who's wrong. My perspective is limited to my tiny little window into the state's child welfare system. Our lone case has its fair share of errors that have benefited and hurt various parties. I have seen evidence of one case in which the children arguably went back home too soon; on the flip side, I haven't yet seen evidence of kids removed when they shouldn't have been. Again, I'm limited in how much of the system I can observe.
To get back on point, I know the Family Advocacy Movement and others like them are presenting a message that needs to be heard. Well, not just heard but acted upon. However their message right now is very weak. They've got a lot of work to do if they're going to convince anyone that their numbers are anything more than just, well, numbers.
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Playing devils advocate because the article is very vague, but how do you know that examples weren’t provided during the meeting?
I’m not saying they weren’t. I’m saying those examples need to be shown to us, regardless of what’s going on with DHHS.
I’ve only been part of the child welfare system for 18 months, but in that time it’s become oh-so-painfully obvious that substantive change is not going to come from within. Change, if it’s going to happen, must first be demanded by the public. DHHS, Governor Heineman, et al. need to feel painful pressure from the state’s voters and media. The Unicameral is taking small steps—and kudos to them for that!—but it’s nowhere near enough.
The big steps are up to us. But we aren’t going to get excited until the numbers turn into faces. Which families are being unjustly torn apart? Which children are stuck in horrible situations? The stories are out there. They need to be told.
In an ideal world, yes, the change would come from us. We don’t live in an ideal world.
I’ve dealt with the system a lot through my life. Crappy parents, irresponsible siblings. My best friends in school were kids who were at Christian Heritage Home (before they switched to a private school) The stories I’ve collected through the years gives me the understanding of how screwed up the system is and an appreciation for change. Unfortunately, we are a society that simply does not see this as an issue worth getting riled up about. We would rather invent a tax to fund an Arena vs. funding foster care reform. Imagine what changes we could make to the kids with $35 million.
This system is not pretty. It’s not glamorous and I have found, that unless it touches your life in personal way, it’s not “your” problem. Unlike you, I don’t think the stories would make a difference. How many stories have we read about the inadequacy of the system and the death of a child due to that inadequacy? Yeah sure, it gets folks all pissed off while the story is fresh… but eventually the majority of society forget about it and move on.
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