Barriers to Transparency and Accountability

Children's Bureau Express, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families publishes an online digest of policy findings and recommendations for the subject matter of child welfare.

The site provides the opportunity to participate by inviting public suggestions with an email address: cb_express@childwelfare.gov

So, I engaged. Here is the email I sent:

Why is a governmental entity making policy and policy recommendations based upon publications that are not fully accessible to the public? Limited critical discussions in the field of child welfare, as everything is centralized in the field of social work, along with having the public "pay a toll" to access the source, leads one to believe the data are suspect.

I await your response to engage in critical discussions.

In the spirit of democracy, celebrating dissent, I will be publishing the entire discussion with Children's Bureau Express (if they even respond), because a theory is only a theory if it is allowed to be robustly tested and stand the test of time.

So far, Freedom of Information Act exclusions and exemptions have hog-tied critical analyses of child welfare policy in the United States.