Gov "outraged" over child welfare deaths, plans 18 month study

Yesterday a report from the Colorado Department of Human Services blamed the death of 13 children in 2007 on the state's fractured and dysfunctional child welfare system.

13 children. In one year. Dead. All because the system that is supposed to protect then is badly broken. Clearly something dramatic needs to be done but the issues are complicated. As the Post article states,

The review was done to determine whether, in those 13 cases, something was missed or could have been done differently and might have saved a child's life.

"In several cases the answer for me was yes," said Karen Beye, executive director of the state Department of Human Services.

"There were children who died in large metropolitan counties, and in small rural counties, in counties that are rich in resources and counties with very few resources," Beye said.

In three of the 13 cases, county departments didn't collect enough information from callers reporting suspected abuse before they decided not to investigate those claims.

In six of the cases, reviewers could not determine whether county workers had checked to see if the family had a history with the child-welfare department.

In one case, a referral was not entered into the computer for four months

There are no easy answers in a situation like this. It is imperative that policy makers make the correct decisions when they choose a new path for the state's child welfare system. The governor has appointed yet another commission and they won't report back for 18 months. That puts their report due at a date sometime in late 2009. In a crisis of this magnitude, where estimates put the death toll at 160 children in just the last 5 years, isn't it imperative to fix the system in a timely manner? 18 months is not a timely manner.

The governor claims that he is "outraged" by the deaths and I have no reason to doubt him. I believe he is truly outraged. I only wish his outrage would be met by quicker and more decisive action. You can have your blue ribbon commission, but give them 180 days to come back with a proposal. The people who serve on these commissions are all involved in the field that is being studied. Indeed they are specifically selected for their expertise. They know the jargon, they know the players, they know the issues. In short, the learning curve is not great. This blue ribbon panel should be able to hit the ground running and deliver a report in significantly less time than 18 months. In the time it takes the commission to report back somewhere around 20 kids will die, based on the available statistics.

To be fair the governor has taken a few immediate steps,

Ritter said the Department of Human Services is immediately expanding training to county social workers, and said he has asked for $475,000 from the legislature to hire six new child protection workers to provide oversight of county programs. Currently, he said, the state only has one employee specifically devoted to that oversight.

That is all well and good but it appears to be nothing more than a band-aid. There are clearly systemic issues with the Colorado child welfare program. The system should be studied and strong action taken but it needs to be taken in a much more timely manner.

Besides timeliness for the sake of the children we must be concerned with timeliness for the sake of the reforms. When the report finally does come back the next legislative session will be the 2010 session - an election year for the legislature as well as the governor. Good public policy is rarely made during an election year. Even on an issue as critical as this it is far too easy for legislation to be amended, watered down and tampered with for partisan purposes in an election year.