Report finds progress, offers recommendations for improvement

The Governor's Commission on Child Protection was established on Aug. 12, 2002, by administrative order of Gov. Tony Knowles. The 17 members appointed by the governor to serve on the commission represent a wide cross-section of individuals involved in child protection from the court and legal systems, business, health and social services at various levels of state and tribal government, health care , education, public safety and foster and adoptive parents.

On Oct. 1, the commission delivered its final report to the governor.

The commission's report recognized the progress made in Alaska's child protection system during the past five years and made 35 recommendations for additional needed improvements structured around three goals:

Alaska must intensify its focus and investment in our child protection system to assure the safety of Alaska's children and to assure timely and wise disposition of cases;

improve prevention and support services for children and families; and

improve care and stability for children removed from their homes.

The report credited the "Smart Start" initiative and other efforts during the past five years for improvements in the state's response to child abuse and neglect.

These improvements included a 46 percent increase in the number of adoptions in 2000 and a 37 percent increase in 2001, a 6.2 percent drop in foster care expenditures in 2001 and a 4.5 percent drop in 2002, and an increase in reports of harm assigned for investigation from 77 percent in 1998 to 91 percent in 2001, with some areas of the state reaching 100 percent.

The report went on to caution, however, that children continued to experience harm and neglect from their parents. In 2001, the Division of Family and Youth Services received 17,457 reports of harm regarding 13,857 children. Of the reports, 16,086 were within DFYS authority to investigate.

As of Sept. 3, 2002, DFYS had 2,209 children in custody, with 1,893 placed outside their homes.

Around 1,300 children enter DFYS custody every year.

The report also said that a disproportionate number of Alaska Native or American Indian children were in custody. At the time of the report, 59.1 percent of all children in custody and 60.4 percent of children placed outside their homes were Alaska Native or American Indian.

Although alcohol and drug abuse were reportedly critical issues for the families of many of the children in custody, not all communities have treatment resources, especially those in rural Alaska. People wanting treatment often must wait for months to enter a program.

Once a child is removed from his family, quality foster care is critical for the well-being of the child. According to the report, Alaska needs to generate a significantly larger pool of foster families to provide appropriate placement and relieve the strain on existing foster families.

To address these issues, the commission included recommendations that:

Social worker caseloads not exceed nationally accepted standards, that caseloads be capped and that supplemental funding be sought when caseloads exceed the standards.

Foster care rates be increased.

The state's current level of funding and range of services provided to children and their families be maintained while making new investment in the system.

The number of Alaska State Troopers to investigate the most serious reports of child abuse be increased.

The services necessary to heal families, especially alcohol treatment and mental health services, be increased.

A quality assurance program be developed that includes clients and other involved parties in identifying needed improvements and making recommendations for ways to better protect the safety of each child.

A statewide automated child welfare information system be implemented: On-line Resources for the Children of Alaska (ORCA).

Commissioners and senior managers continue to work together to reduce barriers to service for children at risk and their families.

The view from the top

Theresa Tanoury is the director of Family and Youth Services for Alaska. Commenting on the Commission on Child Protection's recent report to Gov. Knowles she said, "We are glad to see that the commission's first recommendation is that we need more caseworkers in order to serve the children and families in Alaska."

Tanoury said Wednesday that excessive caseloads are an underlying factor in most of the areas identified by a recent federal review as needing improvement.

According to Tanoury, the governor's commission used the results of the federal review as a starting point for their work in identifying what actions Alaska needs to take to improve the child protection system.

"This federal review was different from previous evaluations," she said.

Tanoury explained that the recent federal review was more qualitative than previous ones because it emphasized outcomes for kids rather than processes. Filling out forms in a certain way was not as important as the fact that a child remained too long in foster care.

"We like it that the review has given us clear guidelines that we did not have before, benchmarks against which we know we are going to be measured in the future."

Previously DFYS had tried to do everything required by their process. That, according to Tanoury, was almost impossible given the overwhelming caseloads.

"Now we know what our priorities are. We have a roadmap so that we can focus our efforts and resources in the areas where they are most important."

According to Tanoury, these are assuring the safety of children, permanence in living situations and continuity of family relationships, and well-being of children.