For the good of Missouri’s children, removal from the home isn’t always the answer | Opinion

The death of a child is an unspeakable tragedy. Such a heartbreaking event causes us all to question how such a thing could happen. Whenever a child dies from anything other than natural causes, the question is frequently asked whether the child had previous involvement with the child welfare system. That inquiry will often be answered in the affirmative, because a huge percentage of our child population is subjected to investigation.

According to the National Institutes of Health, more than 37% of children can expect to experience a child welfare investigation between their birth and 18th birthday. When a child from among that number dies, the temptation is to surmise that the child welfare system is somehow to blame, and that such things would be avoided if only all of those children would have been removed from their families and placed in foster care.

As understandable as that thinking may be, it is completely wrong. Those who believe that safety must be obtained by knee-jerk removals cannot refute the data to the contrary. By strictly applying the law that Louisiana must make reasonable efforts to avoid child removal, Judge Ernestine Gray almost completely eliminated the use of foster care in New Orleans — and during that time, the rate of child deaths there actually went down. Other states Missouri’s size safely hold a fraction of the children in care. Maryland has almost exactly the same population as Missouri and has roughly one-third the number of foster children. This is accomplished through a proactive and preventative approach that does not compromise safety.

Critics who favor high numbers of home removals can cite anecdotes of situations where professionals disagree regarding safety decisions, but they have no data that supports their criticism of a prevention-based approach. One can find an equal number of stories alleging that Missouri’s Children’s Division overreacted and that children were unnecessarily engaged by the system.

The key to addressing both complaints is early intervention and prevention. Most states have recognized this, and are moving toward a more proactive and preventative model. Missouri would be foolish to respond to tragedy by reverting to harmful practices that are not supported by any current scholarship. The proper road is to continue to move toward prevention and right-sizing the system.

Then what about the tragic case of Destinii Hope? I had moved on from my work at the Children’s Division before this happened, so I am not privy to anything about the investigation. From the information in the news story, it appears that there is concern in this case that someone exercised bad judgment. We can’t know because we don’t have the details, but an error in judgment is completely possible. People in the field have to make difficult calls every single day. The action of a worker may be justified or subject to criticism in any case. How do we help our teams make good decisions? It is certainly not to instruct our front-line staff simply to ignore the evidence and best practices, and remove all of the children they can. However, there are systemic changes that can be made to better equip our force to make the best decisions possible.

First, we must retain good investigators, which can only be accomplished by increasing pay and ensuring that there are enough of them to do the job. We need experienced people in those positions, so there should be a pay ladder to encourage them to stay. This is the hardest job in state government, and no one should be expected to do that work and stay while making less than $50,000 a year.

Second, Missouri needs to increase the number of workers in more than an incremental way. When you compare Missouri Children’s Division staffing levels to child welfare agencies in other states, it is tiny. We must have enough people to do the job and to give workers the ability to breathe and have work-life balance.

Third, we need to increase the number of prevention workers in the force. Prevention should occupy one-third of the work, and we have only 100 people dedicated to it throughout the state. That is roughly 5% of our team, and fewer than one person per county. We need to invest in preventing child abuse and neglect from happening in the first place.

Finally, Missouri has to do something about the dearth of services available to families facing substance abuse and mental health problems. Without these services, we will continue to face tragedies and pile up kids in foster care, no matter what else we do.

Who is responsible for Destinii’s death? Is it the Children’s Division, or Destinii’s mother, or father, or the police officer who fired the bullet? This is the wrong question. We all share responsibility to better care for our children and families. I hope that effort will begin today.