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| "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe who had so many children... |
As a side not, Georgia lost funding because it had too much fraud going on. The state was also sued by Children's Rights where it had to expend large amounts of funding to make its child welfare system minimally functional.
It's the kind of fiscal and bureaucratic double-bind that has become familiar in Georgia as the economic slump has dragged on: The needs have grown as the means have dwindled.
Tough criminal sentencing laws of years past put more and more criminals behind bars and raised the corrections budget higher and higher, even as much of the money to pay the costs evaporated in the recession. The state legislature passes tougher ethics and disclosure laws -- as the agency charged with overseeing and enforcing them sees its budget and staff reduced to the point of near irrelevance.
But this budgetary Catch-22 is worse, because its victims are Georgia's most vulnerable population -- its children. It's like the ethics conundrum, except with a more poignant and troublesome human dimension: New laws and policies, enacted with the best of intentions and in all good faith, are coming up against budget cuts that threaten to stretch services beyond their capacity for effectiveness.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week that the state Division of Family and Children Services has seen its funding for child welfare services cut 28 percent over the last five years, and stands to lose millions more as federal funding to replace lost state revenue expires.
At the same time, DFCS is seeing its workload increased so precipitously that some caseworkers are quitting and others are getting physically ill from the stress. Some child welfare services, including drug screening and counseling for parents and transportation for children, have been cut back or cut out, and money for others could run out before the end of the fiscal year less than three months from now.
That's tough budget timing when DFCS is trying to be more vigilant about child abuse and neglect, and assigning more at-risk children to foster care. Just in the last year, the state added more than 700 children -- a 10 percent increase -- to foster care rolls, and abuse/neglect investigations have more than doubled.
In Cherokee County, DFCS workers average more than 30 cases each. In Bartow County, "I have caseworkers throwing up because of the stress," Juvenile Court Judge Velma Tilley told the AJC.
The conflict between needs and means is reflected even in the Governor's Office. Gov. Nathan Deal, to his credit, included in next year's budget a 10 percent increase in foster care funding. He also intends to sign a right-minded bill that broadens the circumstances under which adults must report suspected mistreatment of children -- which will increase the DFCS caseload even more.
It's often said that money doesn't always solve problems. True enough, but a critical lack of it never does. In situations like this, it is the problem.
Budget cutting, we're frequently told, is about sharing the pain. It's obvious that some Georgians feel more of the pain than others. That they are children should be to our acute shame.
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Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/04/15/2010873/child-protection-too-many-cases.html#storylink=cpy
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Child protection: Too many cases, too little money
It's the kind of fiscal and bureaucratic double-bind that has become familiar in Georgia as the economic slump has dragged on: The needs have grown as the means have dwindled.
Tough criminal sentencing laws of years past put more and more criminals behind bars and raised the corrections budget higher and higher, even as much of the money to pay the costs evaporated in the recession. The state legislature passes tougher ethics and disclosure laws -- as the agency charged with overseeing and enforcing them sees its budget and staff reduced to the point of near irrelevance.
But this budgetary Catch-22 is worse, because its victims are Georgia's most vulnerable population -- its children. It's like the ethics conundrum, except with a more poignant and troublesome human dimension: New laws and policies, enacted with the best of intentions and in all good faith, are coming up against budget cuts that threaten to stretch services beyond their capacity for effectiveness.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported last week that the state Division of Family and Children Services has seen its funding for child welfare services cut 28 percent over the last five years, and stands to lose millions more as federal funding to replace lost state revenue expires.
At the same time, DFCS is seeing its workload increased so precipitously that some caseworkers are quitting and others are getting physically ill from the stress. Some child welfare services, including drug screening and counseling for parents and transportation for children, have been cut back or cut out, and money for others could run out before the end of the fiscal year less than three months from now.
That's tough budget timing when DFCS is trying to be more vigilant about child abuse and neglect, and assigning more at-risk children to foster care. Just in the last year, the state added more than 700 children -- a 10 percent increase -- to foster care rolls, and abuse/neglect investigations have more than doubled.
In Cherokee County, DFCS workers average more than 30 cases each. In Bartow County, "I have caseworkers throwing up because of the stress," Juvenile Court Judge Velma Tilley told the AJC.
The conflict between needs and means is reflected even in the Governor's Office. Gov. Nathan Deal, to his credit, included in next year's budget a 10 percent increase in foster care funding. He also intends to sign a right-minded bill that broadens the circumstances under which adults must report suspected mistreatment of children -- which will increase the DFCS caseload even more.
It's often said that money doesn't always solve problems. True enough, but a critical lack of it never does. In situations like this, it is the problem.
Budget cutting, we're frequently told, is about sharing the pain. It's obvious that some Georgians feel more of the pain than others. That they are children should be to our acute shame.
Order a reprint
Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/04/15/2010873/child-protection-too-many-cases.html#storylink=cpy
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
1 comment:
Actually too much money available for fraud. So too many kids taken most who shouldn't have been. They cause trouble because they shouldn't be there. Children's Rights sues, GA spends more on keeping them in care. GA is still a very bad parent, so GA kids become criminals and GA has to build jails and metal facilities.
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