The purpose of this research is to conduct a qualitative study that investigates cases of abuse in child welfare and offer policy recommendations to reduce cases of abuse. This study is significant because the findings call attention to the policy changes needed to reform child welfare and protection agencies in the United States and specifically in the state of Mississippi. The purpose of this study is to examine cases of child abuse within child welfare services to determine what, if any, policy revisions are needed.
A qualitative analysis using case studies from Mississippi along with a critical analysis of supporting evidence from child welfare experts is used to examine the following. Second, what are the contributing factors to cases of abuse in the child welfare system. It is argued that a lack of funding, a lack of transparency within the various agencies involved, as well as multiple issues with caseworkers are all contributing factors to the abuse within the child welfare system.
To address these questions, I will begin Chapter 1 with a discussion of the failures in the child welfare system at both the state and federal levels. I will also discuss policy revisions needed to fully reform the child welfare system.
SYSTEMIC FAILURE OF CHILD WELFARE PROGRAMS
These federal cuts come at a time when the number of children in foster care has been on the rise. According to reports released by the ACF, there has been an increase in the national number of children in foster care over the past three years (ACF-Numbers, 2015). However, this is the most current data that ACF has released on children in care (ACF – Numbers, 2015).
Currently, there are over 428,000 children in the foster care system in the United States (AFC-Numbers, 2015). A combination of factors have been offered in an attempt to explain this apparent increase in the number of children in foster care. Another contributing factor that has led to the increase in the number of children in foster care is due to the high turnover rates of social workers.
Although the state of Mississippi hired 478 new social workers in 2016, the number of children entering the foster care system increased by more than 1,000 children that same year (Gates, 2017). Although the federal government provides a substantial amount of federal assistance for foster care and adoption to ease states' financial burdens, states are still left with an enormous burden caused by their child welfare and protection programs (NACAC, 2004). Wexler suggests that the current increase in the number of children in the foster care system is almost entirely due to the desire of states and private organizations to increase their profits.
He argues that the privatized foster care system requires more children in the system to continue to flourish.
CASES OF ABUSE IN MISSISSIPPI:
While in the state of Mississippi, the absence rate for maltreatment in foster care in 2014 was 98.93%, or another way to read this data is to state that the maltreatment rate was 1.07% (see Figure 2.1). Although this figure is an improvement from the 1.88% that Mississippi had in 2010 (Maltreatment, 2014), there is still a significant problem of maltreatment in foster care in the state of Mississippi. To put these numbers into perspective, the state of Arkansas, which is demographically similar to Mississippi ( Mississippi Census, 2015 ; Arkansas Census, 2015 ), in 2014 had a 99.82% absence of abuse in foster care.
These numbers show how high the percentage of abuse in the state of Mississippi is compared to states with similar demographics, as well as to the nation as a whole. This case likely would have been prevented if the proper procedures had been followed, if the state and county child welfare and protective agencies had been properly staffed, funded, and administered (Watkins, 2014). According to court documents, due to their failure to act, the state managed to prevent Austin's death (Watkins, 2014).
However, the state was not entirely to blame for this situation, as there were circumstances in the background over which the state had little influence. On October 5, 2010, the first petition for contempt and appointment of a receiver was filed against the State of Mississippi. Because the state of Mississippi failed to meet any deadline required by the settlement.
The plaintiffs were forced to request the establishment of a suspension of payments to ensure that the deadlines and requirements were taken seriously and fully respected by the state. In their response to the contempt motion, the state argued that the plaintiffs were determined to defame them and paint the state in the worst possible light (MDCPS, 2010). Despite the fact that the court agreed with the plaintiff that the state had failed in many areas, they denied the plaintiff's request for contempt as well as the creation of a receivership for the state of Mississippi's foster care system.
District Court Monitor assigned to this case, Grace Lopes, completed her reports on the state's efforts to that date. In response to this report, the plaintiffs filed a renewed motion for contempt against the State on March 9, 2015. On July 23, 2015, in response to the renewed motion for contempt, the court found that the state of.
This organization would take over the state's efforts to meet their settlement obligations. This was the second motion for contempt filed against the state regarding the failure to comply with the agreement.
LOOKING FORWARD: PROGRESS IN MISSISSIPPI
Retrieved from www.acf.hhs.gov/media/press/2016-number-of-children-in-foster-care-increases-for-the-third-consecutive-year. Retrieved from www.cbsnews.com/news/us-failure-to-protect-children-a-national-disgrace-report-says/. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com us/mississippi-fights-to-keep-control-of-itsbeleaguered-child-welfare-system.html?_r=0.
Retrieved from www.public-catalyst.com/assets/reports/Mississippi-DHS-DFCS-Final-Organizational-Analysis-Report.pdf.
