Report questions Ind. child safety agency’s work

INDIANAPOLIS — Allegations of neglect and abuse against six Indiana children had been reported to the Indiana Department of Child Services last year before each child died, according to a newspaper report that raised questions about the quality of the agency’s investigations and safety assessments and the services it provides to struggling families.

Concerns about the care and treatment of each of the six children, who ranged in age from 5 months to 12 years and were from different families, had been reported to the state agency but it left them in the custody of their parents, The Indianapolis Star reported (http://indy.st/zX8GKG ) on Sunday.

After Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in 2005 promising to fix Indiana’s long-troubled child welfare system, the agency hired nearly 800 new field workers, set lower caseload limits and expanded training. However, the Star said it’s not clear that children in the DCS system are any safer now than they were before the overhaul.

The rate at which children suffer repeated abuse or neglect within six months of DCS intervention remains basically unchanged from 2004 at about 8 percent, the newspaper reported. The federal standard is 5.4 percent, and 27 states met it in 2010.

Also, despite a significant increase in the number of reports to DCS, the agency investigates a smaller percentage of those reports and it is substantiating a smaller percentage of the cases investigated, the Star reported.

“Clearly, the system is still broken,” said state Sen. Jean Breaux, D-Indianapolis.

DCS spokeswoman Ann Houseworth, in a written response to questions submitted by the Star, said the agency is “providing better outcomes for kids.” She cited the additional caseworkers, a centralized call center that provides uniform responses to reports of abuse and neglect, a lower number of children placed outside of their homes, and a lower number of children who languish for years with no permanent homes.

However, the Star said the deaths of the six children raise concerns about DCS’s work.

The mother of 12-year-old Devin Parsons had been investigated for allegations of abuse or neglect at least 18 times after the Greensburg boy was born in 1999, including nine times in the last year of his life. DCS repeatedly ordered Tasha Parsons to participate in counseling and other services but never removed Devin or his siblings, even after he told a caseworker last April that he was afraid to return home. About a month later, Devin was fatally beaten by his mother and her boyfriend, authorities have said.

DCS’s work was honored last week by Casey Family Programs for excellence in leadership, in part because of its efforts to decrease the number of children in institutional and foster care.

The approach DCS calls “Safely Home-Families First” is a concept that is gaining acceptance in child welfare circles across the country. It is based on research that shows the trauma of being torn from family can be as devastating to a child as some forms of neglect and abuse.

Experts say the key to success in such an approach is ensuring thorough and accurate assessments of families’ challenges and strengths, and that adequate services are available to make sure parents’ problems are addressed so their children can safely remain at home.

Houseworth acknowledged “DCS is concerned” about its inability to reduce the repeat abuse and neglect rate, but said the agency has no control over the behavior of parents once a case is closed.

However, Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, said Indiana’s inability to reduce repeat cases indicates DCS is not providing adequate or appropriate services.

“The question is: What is DCS doing before a case is closed?” said Wexler, who favors keeping families together while they work through their problems. “It sounds to me like DCS lacked the competence to build the programs that are needed.”

DCS returned $320 million of its 2009-11 budgets to the state treasury to help balance the overall state budgets even as reports of abuse and neglect increased.

“The money DCS `threw away’ may well have helped children and families if it had been spent for the right kinds of programs,” Wexler said.

Houseworth said returning the money has not caused children to suffer.

“Our goal is not just to spend money on services,” she said. “We’re charged with providing appropriate services children need and at the same time use our dollars wisely.”