Make Me The National Child Welfare Commissioner

For those scratching your heads, asking of what relevance does a military report have to do with child welfare, allow me to opportunity to put you out of your misery.

When reading this document, just replace "military/defense operations" with "child welfare services" and "Iraq and Afghanistan" with "United States".  Here is a sample of how it will work:

Federal reliance on contractors to support child welfare services and child protection missions during contingency operations stands at unprecedented levels.  Over the course of the past nine years, contractors have at times exceeded the number of foster care children in United States.

Total spending through contracts is correspondingly large.   While there is no central federal source for definitive data on contracts and grants regarding contingency operations, the Commissioner's conservative estimate is that since October 2001, at least $177 billion has been obligated on contracts and grants to support child welfare services in the United States.

Given the magnitude of the mission to protect children and money at risk, losses from waste, fraud and abuse represent a significant cost.  While the impact on the mission cannot be readily quantified,  misspent dollars runs into the tens of billions.

 

Make me the National Child Welfare Commissioner.

Billions Wasted on Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan