There may be no single right answer
to the problems of Child Protection in Minnesota –
but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
A friend (Ned) offered this analogy about how these decisions are made by CPS (Child Protective Services) and other big governmental industries. He makes the point that over time, institutions develop self-destructive habits and fight tooth and nail to keep them.
A few of the more common habits;
- Efficiency over effectiveness
- A bias in determining what will or will not be measured and shared
- Circling the wagons when problems arise
- Stamping down individuals and programs that shine too much light on our organization
What is the defect that causes many of the people who run child welfare bureaucracies to be nearly blind to the harms that are so prevalent in institutional care?
Ned suggests that the defect is institutional and personal self-interest.
Most people are primarily concerned about themselves and their immediate families. The institutions interest and personal interests of administrators are served by expansion. Efficiency is good – sometimes at the expense of effectiveness. Not using all available funding is bad for the organization. How funding is used becomes less important than that it be used (ie., we could have lowered case loads for staff instead of eliminating the CASA volunteer program).
The larger the organization, the better paying are the jobs of its executives.
It’s a rare Child Protection executive who boasts;
“This year I helped increase child well-being and the effectiveness of our organization by cutting caseloads and increasing community involvement in saving and healing children.
I discovered that our metrics have never included the benefits of community involvement of the thousands of community volunteers over the last 40 years. Now we have metrics to show how important volunteers and community involvement has been.
My most important objective was to reduce caseloads for workers and increase community involvement for the benefit of the children we are chartered to serve”.
“The world will be a better place when we stop pretending that we, an institution, can be good parents”.
In requesting funding from the MN legislature last year, program administrators did not disclose that it would be eliminating CASA Volunteers from the program if funding was provided. Senior Judge Lyonel Norris has stated that “…an all employee model can create an institutionalizing effect upon child”
KARA believes the program’s request from the legislature was misleading and must be addressed. It’s a terrible waste of resources and demoralizing to have the volunteer program in conflict with the funding of paid staff.
Terminating Minnesota’s Volunteer Court Appointed Special Advocate program
This volunteer program informs the community and gives voice to abused and neglected children.
Please forward the link to this article to your State Representative
(and anyone else you think might help reverse this terrible decision).
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Read more;
In defense of the millions of people working every day to make life better for at risk children and families;
- These people entered this field to help children and improve their community (it doesn’t pay that well).
- Workers are restricted by policies, resources, and training (some of these are absurd, many just don’t help).
- It is a rare CPS worker that is encouraged to speak of troubling conditions within the institution.
- This is hard and psychologically demanding work that often ends in failure and secondary trauma for the worker (social work turnover is high).
- When a child dies in CPS care, the worker is almost always blamed – even though the visits were made and all the boxes checked – the need to blame and discredit must fall somewhere (it’s what we do when we have rage but no answers).
To improve the core problems at CPS are we to address;
- Administrators doing what administrators do to protect their institution and act as administrators act under pressure to meet the metrics set by other boards and political forces?
- A depleted news media that doesn’t have resources or inclination to invest in reporting on seven million children reported to CPS each year (pre COVID)?
- Legislators bombarded by well paid lobbyists leaving little chance the pernicious problems of generational child abuse suffered by voiceless children will be understood and meaningfully addressed?
- Involving a public that has been woefully under informed about the exponential growth in and long-term impact of child abuse and trauma in our community?
Ned thinks transparency & metrics are the answer. What’s known and measured gets noticed and improved. What’s not measured festers.
Are you or do you know, someone that will step forward to assist in being part of this conversation?
Contact [email protected] with Volunteer Program in the subject line
KARA Signature Video (4 minute)
Public Service Announcement( 30 Second)
Support KARA in making life better for abused and neglected children.
This article (first in a series) contributed by former CASA guardian ad litem volunteer Mike Tikkanen
#guardianadlitem,#casagal,#cps,#childwelfare,#kara,#kidsatrisk
