No state
fully compliant with child-welfare standards
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY
January 18, 2006
All 50 states have failed to comply
fully with federal child-welfare standards designed to protect
kids from abuse and neglect, according to reviews since 2002 by
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Not a single
state met a particularly important standard, which says children in
foster homes should have "permanency and stability in their living
situations." Other common deficiencies: caseworkers not visiting
kids often enough, kids failing to receive promised health services
and kids suffering abuse or neglect.
States are now
undergoing a second round of reviews. Unless they improve, they face
fines.
About 523,000
children are in the U.S. foster-care system, 20% of whom are
eligible for adoption, according to HHS figures. Nearly 90% are
considered "special needs" and eligible for a subsidy because they
are disabled, a member of a minority group, older than 8 or the
sibling of another child in the system.
A 1997 federal
law emphasized permanent placements by requiring officials to decide
more quickly whether children should be reunited with biological
parents or put up for adoption. That year, 31,000 kids were adopted
from foster care. Since 2000, about 50,000 have been adopted each
year. States get bonuses for finalizing a high number of adoptions.
Child-welfare
experts see many reasons why children fall through the cracks, with
some ending up in a secondary private network. "There's a lot of
blame to go around," says Victor Groza, an adoption expert and
social work professor at Case Western Reserve University. He
criticizes both private agencies that arrange international
adoptions — for not providing better post-adoption services — and
adoptive families — for not preparing better for possible problems.
Kent Markus,
director of the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy, says
the public has "enormously high expectations" for its child-welfare
system but doesn't fund it adequately. He says many large families
may do a commendable job, but states may need to track them more
closely.
Wade Horn, HHS'
assistant secretary for children and families, says states need to
do a better job of recruiting potential adoptive families,
monitoring homes and providing post-adoption services.
Whatever the
problem, those who suffer most are the children.
"The worst thing
is to languish in foster care," says Horn, a psychologist. "The more
instability in a child's life, the worse the child does. Kids need
stability."
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