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.

The Affordable Care Act was designed specifically to help people such as those we saw on the video.  People end up bankrupt, working dead end jobs, or even dying as a result of the poor healthcare this country offers.  Working in the Medicaid office I have people come in here every day to apply.  If you are not a US citizen, under the age of 19, or pregnant, you are out of luck.  “What am I supposed to do?”, they ask me.  All I can do is refer them to the new FFM (the marketplace), and hope they find something there.

Unfortunately it is too late for some of those people we saw on the video, such as Nicky, the young woman with lupus.  With the implementation of the ACA, she would have been able to continue under her parents’ insurance until the age of 26 instead of being kicked off after she graduated from college.  This also would have been beneficial for Matt, the recent graduate working at a hardware store  only so he can afford the medication for his gastric issues.

The ACA has new insurance rules, such as companies being banned from rescinding peoples’ coverage when they become ill.  We saw in the video what happened to Jennifer after she was hospitalized for cancer then rescinded because she didn’t report abnormal spotting.  Premium subsidies will help people such as Patricia, the woman who had an appendectomy but could not afford cataract surgery since she quit her job to tend to her sick mother.  It will also benefit Paul, the 58 year old who went into bankruptcy after suffering a heart attack.  It will allow people with pre-existing conditions such as Ben, the man who had a heart attack and couldn’t find insurance afterwards,  have access to affordable insurance.  Small business tax credits will help people such as the family of four living in Massachusetts who could not afford the high premium rates.

The ACA has some of the same principles as the healthcare system in Switzerland.  Everyone has to buy insurance and the state pays for the poor.  I do not believe we will ever have a government run healthcare system or regulated price for everything like in Tokyo or Germany.  Although it seems to work well in those countries, Americans have different ideas when it comes to government interference or regulation of prices since this country believes so much in capitalism.

I sincerely hope once all the initial kinks are worked out of the system our healthcare will be up to par with other industrialized nations.

Reading DeParle did not change my perception of social policy to combat poverty; it only re-emphasized what I already believe.  The current welfare system is not designed to help women, such as the one’s in the book, escape poverty.

Stone believes humans should be free to make their own choices with as little interference from the government as possible.  She mentions people have different skills and talents which lead them to different opportunities.  In order to maintain equality, the government has to take from the advantaged and give to the disadvantaged.  It would not be equality if only people considered to be “talented” received all the high level jobs….therefore one person’s equality may come at the expense of another’s liberty.  This reminded me of Affirmative Action.  Personally, Affirmative Action was of benefit to me as a minority, but not to my mother who is White.  I remember in the 1990’s when her position was given to an African American woman who was not nearly as qualified as she was.   At the time I was a teenager who did not understand anything about politics.  After reading Stone, however, the program makes sense from her perspective because many of the White people who founded the US owe many of their achievements to slaves.

In regards to the liberty-welfare trade off, Deparle’s book spoke of intelligent women who were no less talented than women not receiving welfare.  Social problems are what kept them living in poverty.  We saw Angie was a good student, and so was her daughter.  Angie’s home living situation as a teenager, and her daughter’s poor health, are what kept them from excelling in school.  We also saw these women attempted to work.  Angie went back to school to become a nursing assistant and later had a job at the post office.  She had to quit because of stomach ulcers.  The same thing happened to Jewell.  She attempted to go back to school, but the program was discontinued.  When she did finally work, she also had health problems.  These are clear examples of the policy needing to change; not the individual lacking intelligence or talent.

I believe Deparle did feel there was a trade off.  Although throughout the book dependence on others and the government was inescapable as a means of survival, they do mention always being under the control of the government.  First Hattie Mae speaks about having to hide her boyfriends and the gifts he gave her from the social workers who would do pop-up inspections on the house.  Later, we see the hoops Angie, Jewell, and Opal had to jump through in order to keep their benefits.

The social policy I chose to speak about is the GOP’s immigration plan.  I chose this particular current event because I feel it could potentially impact my job since the population I work with consists of roughly around 98% undocumented aliens and I am a strong advocate for immigration reform.

On Thursday, January 23, 2014, Republicans released their criteria for the immigration reform bill.  Among the new criteria are:  a zero tolerance policy for illegal border crossing, legal residence or citizenship for children brought to the US by their parents, and effective verification for employment.

This proposed social policy was affected by the political process because although Democrats thus far appear to be in favor of the new stipulations to the bill,  some of the principles completely discard the bill passed by Senate last year.  Some liberal opponents of the bill believe this could be a trick by the Republicans who will end up putting an anti-amnesty candidate on the election ballot resulting in no immigration votes at all in 2014.  They also feel some of the stipulations may create a permanent class of non-citizens who have no access to green cards who will continue to be exploited in the work force.  Many Republicans oppose the principles as well since they are not in favor of DREAMers or other undocumented immigrants working in the country legally.

Although both Republicans and Democrats have issues with some of the principles, most Democrats want some from of immigration reform to pass and hopefully the criteria set forth by the Republicans will make it more likely.  Hopefully both sides will be able to agree to the terms and come up with an agreement regarding the principles for an immigration reform bill.

With regard to potential policy windows being opened, I believe with regards to immigration reform, there is a political stream with a National mood, organized political forces, and government.  I also feel at this point, the policy is fragmented and although everyone wants some sort of change, no one can seem to agree on what needs to be done.

link to article:  http://theweek.com/article/index/255851.