In listening to Melissa Carter’s presentation, one thing which surprised me is in spite of the recent tragedies regarding children’s deaths, the number of children removed from their homes has actually declined.  It also surprised me to see Georgia was one of the states in the United States wit the lowest amount of children in foster care.

I was a Court Appointed Special Advocate for children and continue to work closely with DFCS so I am no stranger to child welfare services.  What never ceases to amaze me is the state has still not hired any more CPS workers!  I believe Melissa said she estimated it to be about 20 cases per worker.  How is it possible to do a thorough job with so many loads?

In the previous legislative session, I believe the process of social policy creation had been formed but remained stagnant.  I believe there is a political stream with the National Mood being one of wanting justice for these children who recently died.  It seems, however, that political forces can’t seem to get organized enough for the government to negotiate on a way to make changes to the current policy.  I am unsure why this is.

As far as improving the creation of social policy in the area of child welfare, one would think this year in particular where there were at least 2 high profile cases of children who died at the hands of their parents and a CPS oversight, more social policy aimed at the protection of children would have passed.  But, as we learned in class, the only thing that has to be passed is the budget which makes it appear as if legislation regarding child welfare either dies or gets another bill tagged onto it.  This makes me uncertain as to what exactly we can do to improve social policy.  Is it even possible?

There have been several changes regarding the child welfare policy in the last decade.  Among them are less removals of children from their homes which has led to less children in foster care.  The amount of children who are abused 6 months after returning home has also declined.  Also, family support was added as an alternative to removal.

These changes affect implementation of services at the caseworker level since now instead of simply removing the child any time a report is made, caseworkers try to keep children in the home while working with families by offering support or training.  Social workers need to know child welfare policy so they know what is expected when working with a child or parents involved in a CPS case.

Social workers should know often times the parent is not intentionally trying to harm or neglect the child.  There are so many other factors which come into play such as poverty, being a single parent, history of abuse, too much stress, or possible mental health issues which have not been diagnosed.   Most child deaths which occur are prior CPS cases which were opened during the last 5 years.

Child welfare policy also affects the families involved.  Depending on the issue, the entire family may need to seek counseling or training.  If the child is removed from the home, the child needs to adjust to a completely new environment and issues of being separated from parents and sometimes siblings.  Parents may have to complete a plan and go before a judge before their child will be returned to them.  Once the child is returned, treatment must be continued while everyone attempts to re-adjust to having the child back in the home.  Follow-up visits need to be made to avoid the behavior resurfacing.  Sometimes the process takes well over a year.

When policy changes, new regulations are put in place which families, CPS caseworkers, and social workers have to comply with.