Published by CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. www.cqresearcher.

com

Child Welfare
Should more be done to protect children?

C
hild abuse and a foster care system rocked by

scandal continue to garner national headlines. At

last count, in 2014, more than 700,000 American

children were victims of abuse or neglect, and

nearly 1,600 died. Some experts say caseworkers often are too

willing to leave children with their biological parents in abusive

homes in an effort to keep families together. Others say, however,

that while many foster parents do a good job, too many children

suffer from abuse, neglect or sexual exploitation in foster homes.

Social workers, child advocates and researchers are trying to deter-

Meredith Hengel and her husband didn’t know the
extent of the abuse or neglect their 5-year-old son
mine how child welfare agencies can better prevent abuse or Josh had experienced before they adopted him.
To help him adapt to his new home, the Grain Valley,
rescue children suffering from it. A national commission has called Mo., couple enrolled Josh in trauma-focused
parent-child interaction therapy.

for more prevention research, and Congress is considering helping

states pay for family counseling and other services to help children

at risk of harm. Meanwhile, some communities are experimenting

with the use of “big data” algorithms to help identify which children
N
I THIS REPORT
are most at risk of abuse.
THE ISSUES ....................675
S
BACKGROUND ................681
I
CHRONOLOGY ................683
D
E
CURRENT SITUATION ........688
CQ Researcher • Aug. 26, 2016 • www.cqresearcher.com AT ISSUE........................689
Volume 26, Number 29 • Pages 673-696
OUTLOOK ......................691
RECIPIENT OF SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS AWARD FOR
EXCELLENCE ◆ AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SILVER GAVEL AWARD
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................694
THE NEXT STEP ..............695
 CHILD WELFARE
THE ISSUES
675 • Do caseworkers put too
much emphasis on family
preservation?
• Can child abuse or neglect
be prevented?
• Should all group homes
for abused or neglected
children be closed?
BACKGROUND
Plight of Poor
681 “Orphan trains” and other
forms of adoption emerged
in the 19th century.
Government Action
682 Activists spurred officials to
step in on children’s behalf.
Family Focus
682 In the mid-1970s, Congress
weighed the pros and cons
of family reunification.
Lawsuits and Reforms
686 State agencies began to face
a slew of lawsuits.
CURRENT SITUATION
Family First Act
688 Supporters of a bipartisan bill
in Congress aim to keep chil-
dren out of the foster system.
690 State-Level Developments
Reformers are trying to im-
prove child welfare agencies.
Research Efforts
690 Scholars are studying the
causes of child abuse.
OUTLOOK
Elusive Improvement
691 Experts are uncertain about
the child welfare system’s
future.
Cover: Getty Images/Kansas City Star/TNS/Jill Toyoshiba
674 CQ Researcher
SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS
Maltreatment Highest
676 Among Youngest Children
Those under age 1 are most
vulnerable.
Reliance on Group Homes
677 Decreased
The percentage of foster
children in group homes
fell over a decade.
Minorities Dominate
678 Foster Care Population
Most children in foster care
are black or Hispanic.
Chronology
683 Key events since 1853.
‘Big Data’ the Latest Tool
684 to Protect Kids
Officials are using data
analytics to better understand
child abuse.
Treatment of Native
686 American Children
Under Fire
Critics say all children don’t
get equal protection.
At Issue:
689 Can “big data” help save
children from abuse?
FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
For More Information
693 Organizations to contact.
Bibliography
694 Selected sources used.
The Next Step
695 Additional articles.
Citing CQ Researcher
695 Sample bibliography formats.
Aug. 26, 2016
Volume 26, Number 29
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 Child Welfare
BY CHRISTINA L. LYONS

THE ISSUES look at those cases in which

the case file had more red
flags than a Soviet May Day

F or months, the tiny girl

was known to investi-
gators only as “Baby
Doe.” Weighing just 30 pounds,
her body had been found in
parade, you are talking about
an overwhelmed caseworker
that didn’t have time to in-
vestigate any case properly,”
he says.
June 2015, wrapped in a blan- A number of high profile
ket inside a plastic garbage bag cases like those in Massachu-
that had washed ashore on setts and Oregon have gen-
Deer Island in Boston Harbor. erated fierce debate among
When authorities later identified state and federal lawmakers,
her as 2 1/2-year-old Bella Bond, child advocates, researchers,
she became the tragic face of community service providers
a child welfare system that crit- and social and legal policy
ics say fails to protect children. experts about how to improve

Getty Images/The Boston Globe/John Tlumacki

The Massachusetts Depart- the foster care system and pro-
ment of Children and Families tect children from harm. Some
was harshly criticized after say agencies need to work
news reports said it had left harder to keep families intact
“Baby Bella” in her mother’s and provide more intervention
care even though the mother services such as drug therapy,
had been reported twice for parenting courses or support
child neglect and had lost services such as child care
parental rights over two other or affordable housing for low-
children. Police charged the income families.
mother’s boyfriend with mur- “If everything is implement-
der and the mother as an ed the way it should be, we’ll
accessory after the fact. 1 have fewer kids entering into
Harvard University professor foster care,” says Kim Stevens,
Elizabeth Bartholet criticized 1
Joseph Amoroso, the father of 2 /2-year-old Bella Bond, a representative of the North
the Massachusetts child wel- known as Baby Doe, grieves at her funeral in Winthrop, American Council on Adopt-
fare agency for its focus on Mass., on Nov. 28, 2015. After Bella’s body washed able Children, a nonprofit or-
ashore in Boston Harbor, state welfare officials were
family preservation and a sys- ganization based in St. Paul,
harshly criticized for leaving her in the care of her
tem (since abandoned after mother, who had a record of child neglect. The mother’s Minn., that helps place children
the incident) that didn’t con- boyfriend was charged with murder and the mother as removed from their parents
sider the “best interests of the an accessory after the fact. with new families.
child.” But other experts say case-
But other experts say putting children charges a lawsuit filed against the de- workers are too hesitant to divide fam-
in the foster system poses its own partment in May by a court-appointed ilies or terminate parental rights and
risks. In Oregon, child protection ser- guardian for the child. 2 that state agencies should move more
vices removed a 9-year-old girl from Richard Wexler, executive director quickly to remove children from unsafe
her home in 2010 and placed her in of the National Coalition for Child Pro- homes to eliminate risk of further harm.
foster care with Kamlo and Dwight tection Reform in Alexandria, Va., says “If this is what we call a child welfare
Reid, even though the state Department cases like Oregon’s contain important system, we need to get children in the
of Human Services allegedly knew lessons. Child welfare agencies, he says, center of it,” says Richard Gelles, dean
Dwight had been accused of sexually often remove children from their parents of the University of Pennsylvania School
abusing another foster child. The couple, too quickly, tearing families apart and of Social Policy and Practice.
who eventually adopted the girl, abused overwhelming a child welfare system Federal statistics demonstrate the
her sexually, emotionally and physically, that already is understaffed. “When you enormity of the task. In 2014, the most

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 26, 2016 675

 CHILD WELFARE
child welfare reforms. She says a case-
Maltreatment Highest Among Youngest Children worker’s job is demanding and complex
— they must visit a family frequently,
Children under age 1 have the highest rate of abuse or neglect,
learn their problems and needs, assess
with about 24 per 1,000 children victimized. The maltreatment rate the child’s safety, link the family to
decreases with age; 17-year-olds, for instance, have victimization social services and maintain connections
rates of 3.5 per 1,000. with community services. “It’s a big
(Abuse rate per 1,000 children) job,” she says, and “you can’t do that
25
5 with a caseload of 30 kids.”
Rate of Child Victims by Age, 2014 Nationally, caseloads per worker vary
0
20
dramatically. At one point, workers in
5
15
Washington, D.C., averaged as many
0
10 as 95 cases while New Jersey case-
5 workers were each managing 50 or
0 more, Meltzer says.
<1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Court-ordered reforms have led to
(Age)
the hiring of more social workers to
Source: “Child Maltreatment 2014,” Children’s Bureau, March 2016, p. 22, reduce caseloads while also improving
http://tinyurl.com/jt6hdbm investigation procedures, Meltzer says.
New Jersey spent some $1 billion be-
recent year for which figures are avail- class-action lawsuits or undergoing tween 2003 and 2008 to hire and train
able, child protective service agencies court-ordered reforms as a result of social workers, update its computer track-
received 3.6 million reports of child such lawsuits. Many other state and ing system, recruit more foster parents
abuse or neglect regarding 6.6 million local child-welfare agencies, such as and expand services for families. 7 Case-
children, according to the U.S. Children’s Oregon’s, face individual lawsuits with workers are now limited to no more
Bureau, a federal agency devoted to similar claims. than 12 cases at a time, she says.
investigating child welfare issues. These A 2011 class-action lawsuit filed by Meanwhile, the number of children
agencies identified an estimated 702,000 Children’s Rights, a children’s advocacy in foster care across the nation fell from
victims of abuse or neglect — up from group, alleged that the Texas Depart- 513,000 children in 2005 to 400,989 in
698,000 in 2010 — including some ment of Family and Protective Services 2013 — a major goal of child advocates
1,580 children who had died. 3 * knowingly had overloaded child welfare and lawmakers concerned that children
Nearly 71 percent of those who died caseworkers with cases; failed to prop- were languishing in foster care. But the
were younger than 3. The majority of erly monitor children in its care or ad- number ticked up to 415,129 in 2014
abuse victims in 2014 suffered from equately respond to reports of abuse; — the latest year for which figures are
neglect (75 percent) and physical abuse did not ensure group homes had ad- available. 8 That uptick could continue
(17 percent). About a quarter of the equately trained staff, and improperly due to a recent opioid epidemic, says
victims were under age 1. Among the placed children without therapeutic Sean Hughes, managing partner for gov-
reported abuse cases, 91.6 percent were needs in group homes. ernment affairs at Social Change Partners,
by a biological parent. Only between Ruling against the department in a San Francisco-based child advocacy
0.0 and 0.1 percent were abused by December 2015, U.S. District Judge and lobbying firm.
a foster parent. 4 Janis Graham Jack called Texas’ foster William L. Grimm, senior attorney
Critics say the latter statistic under- care system “broken,” a place where for the National Center for Youth Law,
states the many problems within the “rape, abuse, psychotropic medication an Oakland, Calif.-based nonprofit law
foster care system: Child protection and instability are the norm.” 6 firm, attributes some reductions in foster
agencies in at least 20 states are facing Many experts also say agencies need care to the growing placement of chil-
more money and resources to more dren with relatives.
* Federal guidelines define child abuse and neglect
effectively intervene when a child is Marcia Lowry, executive director of A
as “any recent act or failure to act on the part endangered. Caseworkers are over- Better Childhood, a nonprofit legal ad-
of a parent or caretaker which results in death, whelmed, says Judith W. Meltzer, deputy vocacy group in Chappaqua, N.Y., agrees
serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse director for the Center for the Study more agencies have turned to relatives
or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which of Social Policy in Washington, D.C., but says many still rely too heavily on
presents an imminent risk of serious harm.” 5 a court-appointed monitor for state group homes.

676 CQ Researcher
 When investigating possible abuse,
child protection agencies have three
options. They can place a child with
a foster family, with a relative (known
as “kinship care”) or with a group home
that provides intensive therapeutic or
medical attention (“congregate care”).
By establishing rules on the use of
child welfare funds, the federal govern-
ment attempts to guide agencies on
how to respond to child abuse. Policy
has swung back and forth between
trying to keep families together and re-
moving at-risk children from their homes.
Nevertheless, the “goal of preserving
families has always been in the back-
ground of child welfare services,” said
Portland State University emeritus grad-
uate professor Joan Foster Shireman. 9
Reformers also are focusing on im-
proving abuse prevention programs. In
February, the Commission to Eliminate
Child Abuse and Fatalities, appointed
by Congress in 2013, called for “fun-
damental reform” of child protection
services to reduce child abuse and ne-
glect by identifying families at risk earlier
and providing intervention services be-
fore a child is seriously injured. Efforts
to achieve that goal, it said, should ad-
dress conditions leading to child abuse,
including domestic violence, drug ad-
diction and mental illness. 10
As debate over the child welfare
system continues, here are some key
questions being considered:
Do child protection services
overemphasize preservation of
the family?
Harvard’s Bartholet says that in the
past 20 years, social agencies have fo-
cused too heavily “on keeping children
at home at almost all costs, [with] too
much emphasis on parents’ rights at
the expense of children’s rights, and
not enough protection for children.”
Hughes, of Social Change Partners,
says the number of repeat incidents
of maltreatment indicates that agencies
have been too timid about pulling at-
risk children from abusive homes. In
www.cqresearcher.com
Reliance on Group Homes Decreased
The percentage of foster children living in group homes nation-
wide fell from 18 percent in 2004 to 14 percent in 2013, the most
recent year for which data are available. The drop was due in part
to a federal policy calling for states to place more abused or
neglected children with relatives or foster families. However, the
use of group homes varies widely. Colorado, Rhode Island and
Wyoming placed more than 25 percent of foster children in group
homes in 2013, while the rate in Kansas, Washington state and
Oregon was 5 percent or less.
42%
34% 35% Percentage of Children in Foster Care
30% Living in Group Homes
27% 27%
18%
14%
7.8% 7.7% 2004
5% 5.6% 4.8% 4.4%
2013
Colorado Rhode Wyoming Kansas Washington Oregon U.S.
Island
Source: “A National Look at the Use of Congregate Child Welfare,” Children’s
Bureau, May 13, 2016, p. 14, http://tinyurl.com/jgnm6j2
2013, 5.4 percent of abuse and neglect emphasized keeping troubled families
cases involved “re-reports” that occurred together at the expense of children’s
within six months of one another, ac- safety, and the study blamed the two-
cording to the Children’s Bureau. 11 track system, which Republican Gov.
When agencies screen child abuse Charlie Baker scrapped after the Baby
reports, they decide whether a follow- Bella case. 14
up response is necessary and whether Similarly, Florida embraced family
that response should be an investigation preservation beginning in 2002 and dras-
or an “alternative response” — meaning tically reduced the number of children
the family should receive support ser- in foster care in an effort to control
vices if the child is considered at “low spending and ease an overburdened
or moderate risk of maltreatment,” a child welfare system. But it also cut
broad term that encompasses the abuse family monitoring and support services
or neglect of a child under 18. 12 — a decision critics say was shortsighted
Bartholet attributes errors made in and cost numerous lives, according to
cases such as Massachusetts’ “Baby a Miami Herald investigation. 15
Bella” incident to a 2009 state Depart- The University of Pennsylvania’s
ment of Children and Families policy Gelles says the policy pendulum has
that triages child abuse reports by di- favored family preservation since the
viding them into higher-risk and lower- federal Adoption Assistance and Child
risk categories, with the latter group Welfare Act of 1980 encouraged agen-
diverted to voluntary programs, a form cies to make “reasonable efforts” to
of alternative response. 13 According keep children at home. “That’s become
to a study by the Boston-based research ‘every possible’ effort — let’s try every-
group Pioneer Institute, the state agency thing and then a bag of chips,” he
Aug. 26, 2016 677
 CHILD WELFARE
support services to keep families to-
Minorities Dominate Foster Care Population gether varies widely, according to an
Minorities made up a majority of children in foster care in the Associated Press analysis of federal
data. In 2014, West Virginia terminated
United States in 2014, the most recent year for which data are
parental rights for 283 children per
available. The share of Hispanic children rose by 4 percentage 100,000, while Maryland’s rate was 10.5
points between 2005 and 2014, and the share of black children per 100,000 children. 17
fell 8 points. Despite that drop, African-American children still Stevens of the Council on Adoptable
represent a disproportionate share of the foster care population. Children raises another concern: Chil-
They make up 14 percent of the general population but 24 percent dren in minority populations are more
of children in foster care. likely to be placed in foster care and
left there. “Latino kids, black kids, Native
Percentage of Children in Foster Care by Race, Ethnicity
American kids are coming into the sys-
41% 42% tem faster and languish in the system
longer than white kids,” he says.
32%
2005
Gelles agrees that “poor and minority
24% 2014 families have greater involvement [with
22%
18% the foster care system] because poverty
and family disorder and substance
10% [abuse] and poor housing are causes
6%
of maltreatment.”
2% 3%
A National Council of Juvenile and
White/Non- Black Hispanic Other Races/ Unknown Family Court Judges study found that
Hispanic Multiracial 24 percent of children in foster care
Source: “Foster Care Statistics 2014,” Child Welfare Information Gateway, in 2013 were African-American, even
Children’s Bureau, March 2016, p. 9, http://tinyurl.com/zjjpoao though blacks make up only 14 percent
of the general population. By contrast,
says. “Then there was a forceful pro- South Los Angeles, agrees with Wexler whites, who represent 52.4 percent of
motion of family-preservation services that social agencies turn to foster care the population, constituted 42 percent
as the silver bullet.” too quickly. The majority of reports of the foster care population. (See
Wexler, of the National Coalition for involve neglect, she says, and those graphic, left.) A Children’s Bureau study
Child Protection Reform, disagrees that children end up in foster care. All of found that African-American children
policies have overemphasized family those families could receive support had the highest rates of reported abuse
preservation. “Yes, there’s a pendulum services to help them stay together, and neglect in 2014 — 15.3 per 1,000
swing, but it’s much more limited [than she says. population compared with whites’ 8.4
the critics suggest]. It only swings from Some child advocates also worry that per 1,000. 18
taking too many children to taking abused children are returned to their Gelles says foster care has its ad-
away far too many children. There has homes too quickly. The U.S. Department vantages. “What you get from not taking
not been some grand glorious era of of Health and Human Services (HHS) a child out of the home is minority
family preservation.” lists seven goals for child welfare agencies, children being underserved and ignored
He says federal policy primarily au- including the reunification of children by the system that was designed to
thorizes state funding for at-risk children with their families in a “timely” manner, help them,” Gelles says.
when they are in foster care, thereby defined as less than 12 months. 16
incentivizing states to remove children In addition, federal law requires Can child abuse or neglect be
from their homes. “The more you take states to move to terminate parental prevented?
a child away needlessly,” Wexler says, rights after a child has spent 15 of the Denise Moore of Des Moines, Iowa,
“you also overwhelm the system, mak- previous 22 months in foster care. States lost custody of her seven children in
ing it more likely you miss the child can make exceptions when caseworkers 2003 after being arrested and charged
in danger.” can document a “compelling reason” with conspiracy to deliver metham-
Kathryn Icenhower, chief executive why termination is not in the child’s phetamine. To get them back, author-
officer of SHIELDS for Families, which best interest. States’ willingness to ter- ities told her she had to seek counseling
provides family support services in minate parental rights or to extend to end her meth addiction, but she

678 CQ Researcher
failed to comply and the children re-
mained with their grandmother. Case-
workers gave Moore another chance
to seek counseling and halt the drug
use, and she succeeded.
“I always believe that families can
change, and we just need to find the
right intervention to help them get
there,” Moore said. 19
Icenhower of SHIELDS for Families
agrees. “I think substance abuse is a
key factor in a majority of child welfare
cases,” she says. “When people . . .
hear about child abuse and neglect,

Getty Images/The Washington Post/Bonnie Jo Mount

they think of children getting beaten.
. . . And that’s not the case for the
majority of child welfare-involved fam-
ilies. They are being charged with ‘ne-
glect,’ and they are neglecting their chil-
dren because of their substance abuse.”
In 2007, SHIELDS began a pilot “upfront
assessment” program in Compton and
Watts in Los Angeles. Based on referrals
from child services, clinical staff visited
families with substance abuse problems,
mental health issues or instances of do-
mestic violence and then connected them
with community services.
“In two years, we reduced the out-
of-home placement rate [in an area of
Los Angeles County] by 62 percent. Betty T. Threatt, 27, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading
We saved the county over $100 million guilty to aggravated assault against a minor and first-degree child cruelty.
in foster care payments,” Icenhower The Washington, D.C., woman admitted that she poured scalding water on
says, adding that the approach shows her 9-year-old son, who has cerebral palsy, bound his arms and legs
with duct tape and refused to feed him.
promise for reducing racial disparities
in the system as well. “There’s an awful lot of jurisdictions developed the program to help poten-
Similar community-based programs that take teens into care because parents tially at-risk mothers and their children.
among 14 Native American tribes also can’t manage them, not because they’re It targets pregnant mothers who are
found success, according to a May abused and neglected,” she says. A program teenagers, unmarried or low-income,
2016 Health and Human Services De- in Delaware called Functional Family Ther- with nurses regularly visiting them from
partment report. Drawing on federal apy, Feild says, teaches parents how to late pregnancy through the child’s sec-
funds, the tribes offered parenting and manage teenage behavior and has reduced ond birthday. The nurses advise the
early-education programs, and also pro- the teen removal rate by 40 percent. mothers on child care and parenting
vided medical, transportation and hous- A 2013 report by the Commission and often help with decisions that lead
ing assistance. 20 to Eliminate Child Abuse and Fatalities them to complete their education and
Several states have programs aimed said evidence-based research on such obtain a job.
at helping children’s biological or foster programs is limited, with one exception: The program leverages “all parents’
families handle difficult teenagers, ac- Studies show that the Denver-based instinctive drive to protect their chil-
cording to Tracey Feild, director and Nurse-Family Partnership has reduced fa- dren,” Olds says.
manager of the child welfare strategy talities since its founding in the 1970s. 21 Olds conducted randomized trials
group for the Annie E. Casey Foun- David Olds, a pediatrics professor of his program in Elmira, N.Y., (1977),
dation in Baltimore. at the University of Colorado, Denver, Memphis, Tenn., (1988) and Denver

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 26, 2016 679

 CHILD WELFARE
(1994). Results showed the program
changed how parents treated their chil-
dren, reduced the number of child in-
juries and improved children’s devel-
opment, he says.
Although the results were promising,
he says, the studies’ methodologies and
results need improvement. For instance,
Every year, Sandra Rubio of Easthampton, Mass., has an adoption anniversary
party for her adopted daughters Ashlynn and Aliana. Since passage of the
Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, which ordered child welfare systems
to refocus on child safety and well-being rather than family preservation,
all 50 states have passed similar or tougher laws.
the Elmira study showed modest results
in households with domestic violence,
he says, but the study was conducted
on a primarily white sample. So his
next study focused on a Memphis pop-
ulation that was 89 percent African-
American. But ultimately Olds’ research
team found that rates of profound
abuse and neglect in Memphis were
far lower than in Elmira, he says, likely
skewing the study’s results.
Hughes, of Social Change Partners,
is leery of predicting results from legis-
lation such as the proposed Families
First Prevention Services Act, which
would allow states to spend federal
680 CQ Researcher
funds on preventative services. The from high-crime neighborhoods, the
funding would be allowed only in cases HHS reported in June. And those stres-
when a child is at “imminent risk of sors heighten a family’s risk of becoming
removal,” he says. In other words, re- involved with child welfare systems. 22
moval would come only after case “We will have this problem licked
workers have substantiated multiple re- when child protective services becomes
ports of abuse. “I would call that foster child poverty services,” Wexler says.
care diversion, not prevention.” Gelles says the role of child welfare
services is not to address poverty. Test-
ing prevention programs — at least
without removing the child first — is
not worth the risk, he says, and wouldn’t
guarantee protection for the child.
Shireman, the Portland State Uni-
versity professor, said that while many
factors appear “associated” with abuse
and neglect, such as drug abuse, “we
Getty Images/The Boston Globe/Joanne Rathe
do not have much idea about what
causes child abuse.” She continued,
“Until the causes are better understood
. . . the design and targeting of services
will remain problematic.” 23
Should all group homes for
abused or neglected children be
closed?
Federal policies and many child wel-
fare advocates have long recommended
placing children in family settings in-
stead of group homes.
The number of children placed
in group homes has decreased from
18 percent of the foster care population
in 2004 to 14 percent in 2013, the De-
partment of Health and Human Services
reported in May 2015. But the per-
Wexler, of the National Coalition for centages vary by state. West Virginia,
Child Protection Reform, questions the Rhode Island and Colorado placed
aim of most prevention programs. “A more than 25 percent of foster children
lot of what we call prevention is ba- in group homes; while the rate in
sically meant to make the helpers feel Oregon, Kansas and Washington was
good.” He says a single mother working 5 percent or fewer.
two jobs to keep a roof over her family’s Further, children 12 and younger
head shouldn’t be directed downtown made up 31 percent of those placed
for parenting classes. “What she really in group homes nationally. HHS said
needs is better housing and help finding the number of group-home placements
a better job.” needs to be cut, particularly for “this
Several studies connect poverty to special group of [young] children.” 24
maltreatment. “For parents, stressors em- “The research is pretty clear that
anate directly from lack of resources,” kids do better when with families,”
such as food, shelter, health care, child says Meltzer of the Center for the Study
care and education — and indirectly of Social Policy. “There are certain times
when some young people need to be
in a group facility, but in those cases
they need to be in a facility where
they are getting treatment related to
their issues, not just placed in a house
with 12 other troubled teenagers.”
Many studies document develop-
mental delays among children who are
in group care. “Specific deficits have
been documented in areas including
physical growth, cognitive function, neu-
rodevelopment and social-psychological
health,” said a January 2015 study by
a Harvard Medical School professor and
a medical student. 25 Another study of
children of primary school age or early
adolescence showed slightly more delin-
quent behavior among those who had
been placed in group care. 26
“We’re putting all our eggs in the
basket of group care. We just rely on
group [homes], and we don’t need
them,” Feild of the Casey Family Foun-
dation says. “And we put kids in group
care that shouldn’t be there.”
Feild points to an HHS study that
said 40 percent in group care have no
clinical needs, such as mental health or
behavioral health issues. Kids with psy-
chiatric diagnoses or psychotic, suicidal
or violent behavior may need short-
term stabilization, but they should be
placed quickly with a family, she says.
Under a law that took effect in January,
the California Department of Social Ser-
vices is implementing a multiyear plan
to replace privately run group homes
with short-term residential treatment cen-
ters where youths will stay up to six
months. The plan depends on finding
enough foster families willing and able
to care for troubled youths. 27
Group homes, many of them pri-
vately run, have been accused of child
abuse and neglect. In Utah, sheriff’s
deputies in March raided the Mount
Pleasant Academy, a group home for
troubled children, and uncovered ev-
idence that teenage boys “were having
sex with each other with the full knowl-
edge of members of the home’s staff,”
a news report said. 28
www.cqresearcher.com
But closing all group homes is no
solution, many experts say, because most
states don’t have enough foster homes
to care for all the children in need. In
recent years, hundreds of California chil-
dren have been sent to foster care in
Utah after the state closed several group
homes. 29 And in Texas earlier this year,
court-mandated reforms led to the clo-
sure of two homes, leaving many foster
children with no place to stay. 30
When the Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services an-
nounced in June that it would stop
using a city shelter because of budget
cuts, Marie Cohen, a former social
worker for the D.C. child welfare sys-
tem who advocates for reform, said
she was disappointed. The Maryville
Academy, she said, cares for children
with a history of childhood trauma
and mental illness. One of its three
homes serves pregnant teens. Cohen
said halting group care is a “trend,”
and worried that not enough compe-
tent foster families exist to care for
all those children.
“Many existing foster families are
not providing the love, nurturing and
supervision that these youth need,” she
said. 31
Hughes criticizes the proposed Fam-
ilies First Prevention Services Act, for
proposing restrictions on funding for
group homes. He says it fails to ade-
quately differentiate between homes
for children with no significant needs
and medically focused homes that serve
children with acute challenges for short
periods of time. The latter homes
“would lose funding. Where would
those kids go?”
Matthew J. Reynell, an adoptive father
of two and a member of the board of
directors for Children Awaiting Parents,
a national nonprofit that recruits adoptive
parents, said he had long viewed group
homes as places where “ ‘problem chil-
dren’ were dumped” and forgotten. But
while testifying before a congressional
panel in 2015, he commended Crest-
wood Children’s Center, a residential
treatment center in Rochester, N.Y., for
helping 8-year-old James before Reynell
adopted him. James had suffered severe
mental, physical and educational neglect,
and was reported to be uncontrollable.
“The care and attention he received
from these amazing people [at Crest-
wood] were crucial to his success in
moving forward through his heartbreak-
ing and tragic home life that had caused
him to mistrust and fear his surround-
ings as well as the individuals who
cared for him,” said Reynell. 32
Bartholet says, “I’d like to get rid
of the problem that justifies group
homes; getting rid of them doesn’t
solve the problem.”
BACKGROUND
Plight of Poor Children
C harles Dickens’ 1837 novel Oliver
Twist, about an orphan who
spends nine years in an abusive home
for youths after his mother dies in a
workhouse, spurred criticism of Eng-
land’s Poor Laws, which placed the
poor in workhouses. 33
In subsequent decades, the British
Medical Journal examined the high in-
fant mortality rate in Great Britain, con-
cluding that working-class mothers were
irresponsible caretakers of their children.
It also noted an early form of adoption
called “baby-farming,” a term describing
women who took in unwanted babies
for payment. 34
In the United States, several religious
and charitable organizations opened
orphanages between 1830 and 1860
for orphans and often poor children
wandering urban streets. In 1853, Charles
Loring Brace, a minister from New Eng-
land, suggested rescuing children from
a life of poverty and crime by removing
them from the city. The “greatest danger”
to America’s future, he wrote in 1854,
Aug. 26, 2016 681
 CHILD WELFARE
was “the existence of an ignorant, de-
based, and permanently poor class in
the great cities.” 35
Brace established the Children’s Aid
Society of New York in 1853, set up
a lodging house for homeless boys and
developed the “orphan train” to transfer
homeless children to families in the
Midwest. Between 1854 and 1929, the
society sent 150,000 to 250,000 children
to Midwestern states, where they were
often adopted by “new” parents or used
as farm hands. 36 Critics said Brace’s
organization targeted children who
weren’t necessarily orphans but were
poor. Regardless, his work laid the foun-
dation for modern-day foster care. 37
Toward the end of the 19th century,
many organizations began raising
alarms about child abuse. Public officials
rarely interfered with parental discipline,
but a few cases of child abuse were
litigated. New York City newspaper ac-
counts in 1873 described how the step-
mother of 10-year-old Mary Ellen Mc-
Cormack (sometimes referred to as
Wilson) had chained her to a bed and
whipped her. The American Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
took her case to court and began re-
trieving other children from abusive
homes. In 1875 philanthropists formed
the New York Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Children. 38
In 1889, Florence Davenport-Hill,
an early advocate of foster care, pub-
lished Children of the State, a book in
which she described child abuse and
maltreatment in state-run homes and
large institutions. That exposé spurred
more activists to organize. By 1922,
about 300 nongovernmental child pro-
tection societies had formed across the
United States. 39
Meanwhile, Cook County (Chicago)
established the first juvenile court in
1889, and by 1919 every state had one.
These courts exercised jurisdiction over
delinquent children and had authority
to intervene in cases of abuse or neglect.
The courts increasingly gave the private
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
682 CQ Researcher
to Children authority to investigate cases
of suspected abuse and to remove chil-
dren from their parents. 40
Government Action
L illian Wald, a nurse and the founder
of the Henry Street Settlement, a
social services agency in New York
City, and Florence Kelley, an activist
battling child labor, lobbied the federal
government on behalf of children,
prompting creation of the U.S. Children’s
Bureau in 1912. 41
As part of President Franklin D. Roo-
sevelt’s New Deal program, Congress
passed the Social Security Act of 1935. 42
Besides establishing benefits for retirees,
the act gave the Children’s Bureau re-
sponsibility for administering Aid to
Dependent Children, later known as
Aid to Families with Dependent Chil-
dren (AFDC), a program to support
poor children.
The law authorized the bureau “to
cooperate with state public-welfare
agencies in establishing, extending and
strengthening, especially in predomi-
nantly rural areas, [child welfare ser-
vices] for the protection and care of
homeless, dependent, and neglected
children, and children in danger of be-
coming delinquent.” 43
Public concern about children’s wel-
fare grew during this period as the
medical community began document-
ing signs of child abuse. In 1946, radi-
ologist John Caffey reported X-ray ev-
idence of child beatings, and Denver
physician Charles Henry Kempe’s 1962
article in the Journal of the American
Medical Association described “battered-
child syndrome,” a clinical condition
to describe serious physical abuse of
young children. 44
Kempe and several colleagues said
physical abuse by a parent or foster
parent was “a frequent cause of childhood
disability or death,” yet physicians were
hesitant to report such cases to authorities
or the abuse went unrecognized. 45
In 1956, Vincent De Francis, head
of the American Humane Association’s
Children’s Division, commissioned the
first comprehensive survey of children’s
protective services and found a “woe-
fully inadequate system.” An estimated
300 such agencies had dwindled to
about 84. 46
In 1962, Congress amended the So-
cial Security Act to mandate that all
states make child welfare services avail-
able statewide by 1975. And all 50 states
had passed laws by 1967 requiring doc-
tors, teachers and other child-care pro-
fessionals to report suspected abuse. 47
In the early 1970s, Sen. Walter
Mondale, D-Minn., pushed for federal
legislation to address child abuse. After
President Richard M. Nixon vetoed
his first measure, Mondale and his
Subcommittee on Children and Youth
in 1973 held public hearings in three
cities. De Francis testified that 30,000
to 40,000 children were battered, at
least 100,000 sexually abused and up
to 300,000 damaged psychologically.
He criticized the federal government
for not adequately funding child wel-
fare services. 48
In January 1974, Nixon signed the
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment
Act, which provided federal funds for
protection services, including proce-
dures for reporting and investigating
charges of child abuse. Child abuse
reports multiplied, overwhelming state
public welfare departments.
“By 1974, some 60,000 cases were
reported. In 1980, the number exceeded
1 million. By 1990, reports topped 2 mil-
lion, and in 2000, reports hovered
around 3 million,” according to John
E. B. Myers, a University of Pacific Mc-
George School of Law professor. 49
Family Focus
I n the mid-1970s, Congress began
considering the effects of removing
from their families those children sus-
Continued on p. 684
 Chronology
1850s-1912
Advocacy groups organize to
help children.
1853
Minister Charles Loring Brace starts
the “orphan train” to transfer
homeless children in New York
City to families in the Midwest.
1867
British Medical Journal coins the
term “baby-farming” to describe an
early form of adoption where
women take in unwanted babies.
1875
The New York Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children
becomes the world’s first child
protection agency.
1912
U.S. Children’s Bureau is established
to advocate for orphans and other
children.
• nearly $1 billion over five years
1930s-1974
Federal government assumes
authority over child protection.
1935
Congress passes the Social Security
Act of 1935, which, among other
things, establishes the first federal
grant program to help states de-
velop child welfare services.
1962
Denver Physician Charles Henry
Kempe publishes The Battered-
Child Syndrome detailing X-ray
evidence of children beaten.
1974
President Richard M. Nixon signs
legislation providing federal funds for
states to develop programs to identify
and prevent child abuse and neglect.
www.cqresearcher.com
1970s-1997
Congress emphasizes keeping
families united over placing
children in foster care.
1978
Indian Child Welfare Act mandates
that abused or neglected Native
American children be placed with
their families or tribes.
1980
Adoption Assistance and Child
Welfare Act requires state agencies
to make “reasonable efforts” to
keep children with their parents.
1989
Supreme Court says parents’
Fifth Amendment rights against
self-incrimination are limited in
child abuse cases.
1993
President Bill Clinton signs the
Family Preservation and Support
Services Program Act, providing
for a range of child welfare ser-
vices.
1997
The Adoption and Safe Families
Act changes the primary goal of
child welfare from preserving fami-
lies to ensuring the safety and
wellbeing of children.
• including improved data collection
1999-Present
Class-action lawsuits alert pub-
lic to failures of child protection
agencies.
1999
Advocacy group Children’s Rights
successfully sues a New Jersey
child welfare agency on behalf of
9,000 abused and neglected chil-
dren, resulting in a settlement en-
tailing court-monitored reforms of
the agency.
2008
President George W. Bush signs
legislation allowing states to spend
federal foster care funds to support
foster children up to age 21.
2011
The Child and Family Services
Improvement and Innovation Act
directs states to develop plans for
caring for children with develop-
mental, health and mental needs.
2014
Congress passes legislation aimed
at preventing the sex trafficking of
children in foster care.
2015
The libertarian Goldwater Institute
files a class-action lawsuit on be-
half of Native American children
in Arizona living outside tribal
lands, saying the Indian Child
Welfare Act does not protect the
interests of abused children.
2016
Legislation allowing states to spend
federal foster care funds on services
aimed at preventing child abuse is
passed in the House; the measure
awaits Senate action. . . . The Com-
mission to Eliminate Child Abuse
and Neglect Fatalities calls for re-
forms to the child welfare system,
and increased services to families
at-risk of entering the system. . . .
Obama administration issues feder-
al rule requiring judges to ask
whether a child is a Native Ameri-
can during foster-care and adop-
tion proceedings. . . . California
appeals court affirms that under
the Indian Child Welfare Act, a 6-
year-old who is 1/64th Choctaw
must be removed from her foster
family and sent to Native American
relatives in Utah.
Aug. 26, 2016 683
 CHILD WELFARE

‘Big Data’ the Latest Tool to Protect Kids

Supporters say it will aid caseworkers, but critics say it could lead to bias.

C ities and counties collect vast amounts of data on citizen

interactions with local agencies and authorities, from
unemployment and public welfare benefits to arrests
and paramedic calls. Increasingly, child welfare officials are
seeking ways to marshal that data to help them decide when
an abuse complaint warrants investigation — or when children
are at risk of entering the system.
Supporters say “big data,” or “predictive analytics,” can be a
valuable tool for caseworkers, especially for those staffing hotlines
or managing large caseloads.
A recent report from the Commission to Eliminate Child
Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF), a congressionally ap-
pointed task force charged with recommending a national strategy
to prevent child abuse fatalities, praised a program begun in
2013 in Hillsborough County, Fla. (Tampa area), saying it shows
“the intricate dance between data and practice can keep an
important sector of children safe.” 1
But critics say the information gathered might lead child
protection authorities to disproportionately target low-income
and minority residents.
“The worst-case scenario is that the score is just reflecting
the prejudices or beliefs of whoever scored the algorithm,” said
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties
Union. 2
Several state child welfare agencies are moving forward with
plans to use predictive analytics. Eckerd Kids, a nonprofit resource
organization for child and family services that designed the
Hillsborough system with Mindshare Technology of Tampa, is
helping develop similar models for Alaska, California, Illinois,
Connecticut and Maine. 3
The Allegheny County, Pa. (Pittsburgh area), Department of
Human Services (DHS) began using predictive analytics this
month to help workers determine which calls to a child-abuse
hotline to investigate. “It’s the next stage in using data to support
our work,” says Erin Dalton, the department’s deputy director.
Traditionally, hotline-call screeners determine which reports
necessitate investigation based on facts provided in the calls
and other quickly available information, such as whether a
person accused of abuse has a police record or has received
substance abuse therapy. Calls come from teachers, neighbors,
doctors or family members. Some calls are difficult to evaluate
because the callers provide limited details, Dalton says.
“We want to make sure we never miss somebody,” says
Marc Cherna, director of the Allegheny DHS. Predictive analytics
“helps to do that.”
The Allegheny system pulls relevant information from a
range of existing data — for example, whether a parent or
child has a police record, whether the family receives public
assistance or has had previous encounters with child welfare
services and the demographics of the child’s neighborhood.
The system then calculates a score ranging from 1 to 20 to
predict risk of child abuse. The highest score would suggest
an investigation is mandatory, a low score that the child is at
lesser risk. Screeners combine the score with information from
the call and whatever other relevant information can be obtained,
then decide whether to investigate. No one piece of information

Continued from p. 682
pected of being abused — beginning
with Native American children. Opening
a Senate hearing in April 1974, Sen.
James Abourezk, D-S.D., said: “It ap-
pears that for decades Indian parents
and their children have been at the
mercy of arbitrary or abusive action
of local, state, federal and private agency
officials. . . . Recent statistics show, for
example, that a minimum of 25 percent
of all Indian children” are removed
from their homes. 50
Congress passed the Indian Child
Welfare Act of 1978 to end the wide-
spread practice of taking Indian children
from their biological families in an at-
tempt to force their assimilation into
U.S. culture. (See sidebar, p. 686.) Up
to 35 percent of Native American chil-
dren were being taken from their homes
and placed primarily in non-Indian
homes or institutions, according to a
1976 study by the Association on Amer-
ican Indian Affairs. 51
Congress also considered scholars’
criticisms that child welfare authorities
were unnecessarily removing children
from their homes and leaving them
languishing in foster care. 52 Testimony
during hearings between 1977 and
1979 suggested that federal policies
encouraged states to move children
into foster care because AFDC funding
was provided only for the care of chil-
dren in foster care. 53
The Adoption Assistance and Child
Welfare Act of 1980 encouraged states
to use funds available under Title
IV-E of the Social Security Act for
child abuse prevention and family-
reunification programs. The law re-
quired state agencies to make “rea-
sonable efforts” to keep children
with their parents or return foster
children quickly to their parents or
into adoption.
But during a crack cocaine epidemic
and other societal changes in the mid-
to late-1980s state agencies became
overwhelmed with child welfare reports.
From 1980 to 1994, single-parent house-
holds increased from 22 percent to
31 percent of all families. Births to
unmarried teens soared, from 27.6 per
1,000 females in 1980 to 44.6 per
1,000 in 1992. Meanwhile, child abuse

684 CQ Researcher
 will lead to an investigation, Dalton says.
Cherna and Dalton want to avoid missing high-risk cases,
but they also don’t want to unnecessarily investigate low-risk
families. “Being investigated isn’t an insignificant” experience
for a family, Dalton says, because it can traumatize children
and parents.
The lead researcher for the model, Rhema Vaithianathan, is
co-director of the Centre for Social Data Analytics at the Auckland
University of Technology Business School in New Zealand.
There, government officials last year halted plans to use a similar
model at a child abuse call center after concerns surfaced about
human rights violations or disproportionate racial targeting. 4
The other lead researcher, Emily Putnam-Hornstein, associate
professor of social work at University of Southern California,
co-directs the Children’s Data Network, a community collaborative
project researching the use of such a tool to analyze similar
data to inform children’s policies and programs.
After further evaluation, Allegheny might employ a version
of the same system using such information as birth records
that, combined with other data, could help predict the likelihood
of a child ending up in the foster system by age 3, Cherna
says — a project similar to that being studied by the Children’s
Data Network. Other data might help predict the likelihood
that children returned to their parents from foster care will re-
enter the system in a year, he says.
removed more often,” says Kathryn Icenhower, CEO of SHIELDS
for Families, a residential treatment program that provides family-
support services in South Los Angeles.
Cherna and Dalton say they are proceeding gradually with
the analytics tool, studying its effects and talking with the com-
munity to alleviate any concerns about its use. “Race and income
are not in the model,” Dalton says, although she adds that she
also knows other data in the model might be proxies for such
information.
Icenhower supports using an analytics tool that would enable
child welfare agencies to direct appropriate services to families
who need them. However, she says, “the way I am hearing
people talk about it in L.A. is frightening to me. It’s almost like
you’re going to give a family a score. And it doesn’t give you
a score on your strengths,” she says. “It can’t tell you, does
this woman go to church every Sunday, is she on the PTA,
does she have a strong family that is supporting her?”
— Christina L. Lyons
1 “Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect
Fatalities,” Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, 2016,
pp. 39-41, http://tinyurl.com/zyqv9o6.
2 Laura Santhanam, “Can big data save these children?” “PBS Newshour,”
March 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/zybxhzc.
3 “Eckerd Rapid Safety Feedback® Highlighted in National Report of

But some child advocates worry big data might lead inves- Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities,” press release,
Eckerd Kids, March 23, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/j9h6v2n.
tigators to unfairly target low-income or minority families. 4 Darian Woods, “New Zealand’s Child Abuse Analytics Study Hits Political
“I’m afraid people of color are going to have their children Snag,” The Chronicle of Social Change, Aug. 7, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/jjd8dhq.

reports increased from 1.7 million in
1984 to 2.9 million in 1993. Foster
caseloads had dropped from 500,000
to fewer than 300,000 between 1977
and 1986, but reached nearly 500,000
again by 1995. 54
In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled
in DeShaney v. Winnebago County De-
partment of Social Services that a state
cannot be held responsible for failing
to remove children from abusive par-
ents. Chief Justice William Rehnquist
said the Constitution’s Due Process
Clause was intended “to protect the
people from the State, not to ensure
that the State protected them from
each other.” 55
Congress passed the Family Preser-
vation and Support Services Program
Act in 1993, authorizing nearly $1 billion
over five years for states to improve
child welfare services. It also gave HHS
authority to allow states to spend some
child welfare funds on innovative pro-
grams to help troubled families, and
to help courts better handle foster care
and adoption cases.
In 1996 President Bill Clinton declared
that adoption was a national priority.
He embraced Republican legislation that
provided a $5,000 tax credit for families
who adopt children and signed the
Interethnic Adoption Provisions of 1996
aiming to make it easier for parents to
adopt children of a different race. And
he set the goal of doubling the number
of foster children adopted annually, to
54,000 by 2002. 56
The foster care system by 1998 had
nearly doubled since the mid-1980s, with
an estimated 520,000 children in foster
care. And more children were staying in
foster care for five years or longer. 57
The Adoption and Safe Families Act
of 1997 refocused child welfare systems
on the safety and well-being of children
rather than family preservation. The law
required a permanency hearing be held
within one year of a child entering foster
care, in which authorities decide whether
a child should be returned to the parent,
stay in foster care or be placed for
adoption. 58 All 50 states subsequently
passed legislation that mirrored or was
tougher than the federal law. By 1999,
reported adoptions were up 26 percent
from the previous year. 59

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 26, 2016 685

 CHILD WELFARE

Treatment of Native American Children Under Fire

Critics of 1978 law say all children don’t get equal protection.

N ews stories across the country in March showed pictures

of 6-year-old Lexi clutching her stuffed bear, her head
on her foster father’s shoulder, as he carried her away
from their Santa Clarita, Calif., home to be placed with distant
relatives of her Native American father in Utah. 1
Rusty Page and his wife, Summer, who had been Lexi’s foster
parents since 2011, have been fighting a court order that Lexi be
sent to relatives as required under the Indian Child Welfare Act
(ICWA). The 1978 law says federally recognized tribes have authority
over children living within their jurisdictions, while state agencies
handling Native American children outside of tribal lands must
try to place the child with a tribal family member, a foster family
from the child’s tribe or a foster family from a different tribe before
the child can be placed with a non-Indian foster family. 2
A California appeals court in July upheld the decision to
place Lexi with a family in Utah who are related to Lexi’s
Native American father, as the tribe wished. The Choctaw Nation
said the girl’s relatives had maintained contact over the years
and the Pages knew the situation was temporary. 3
Lexi entered foster care when she was 17 months old because
her mother had substance abuse problems and her father had
a criminal record. 4 Lexi’s mother is not Native American, but
her father is a member of the Choctaw Nation, and Lexi is
1/64th Choctaw. Each of the 566 federally recognized tribes
sets its own criteria for membership, usually based on lineal
descent from a tribal member. 5
Timothy Sandefur, vice president for litigation at the Goldwater
Institute, a libertarian think tank in Phoenix, says the case ex-
emplifies how the 1978 act fails to take account of a child’s
best interests and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the
U.S. Constitution by treating Indians differently than other mi-
norities. In July 2015, the institute filed a class-action suit, still
pending, that challenged the law’s constitutionality. 6
“When an abused child is removed from his home and placed
in foster care or made available for adoption, judges are required
to make a decision about where he will live based on his best
interest. Except for Native American children,” said Darcy Olsen,
the institute’s president. “We want federal and state laws to be
changed to give abused, neglected or abandoned Native American
children the same protections that are given to all other American
children: the right to be placed in a safe home based on their
best interests, not based on their race.” 7
But other experts say agencies should place children with
relatives whenever possible. Responding to the Page case,
Matthew Fletcher, director of the Indigenous Policy Law Center
at Michigan State University, said, “A foster home is supposed
to be temporary. . . . Relatives are relatives.” 8
The 1978 law was a response to the practice of taking children
from a tribe and placing them in Christian boarding schools or
with white families in an attempt to force their assimilation into
U.S. culture. Tribes, which continue to battle state agencies’ quick
removal of children from their communities, have filed dozens
of suits since the law passed nearly 40 years ago.
In one successful case, a federal judge ruled that South
Dakota violated the act by taking an estimated 750 children a
year from the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux tribes and putting
them in the state foster system without allowing the parents to
defend themselves. 9
David Simmons, government affairs director of the National
Indian Child Welfare Association, a nonprofit advocacy group
that also advises parents and communities about their rights
under the Indian Child Welfare Act, says his group receives at
least 1,000 phone calls annually from parents, tribal workers
and others about Native Americans’ parental rights being violated
under the 1978 law. Parents often find themselves in court with
no legal representation and no opportunity to respond, he says.
Sandefur says he agrees that South Dakota violated the
Indian Child Welfare Act, and that the act is intended to protect
Indian communities.
But when children of India descent don’t live on tribal lands
and have had no cultural connections with Native American
communities, Sandefur says, state agencies should be able to

The 1990s also saw a clash between
liberal child advocates and conservative
religious groups over the latter’s efforts to
codify state laws on parental rights. The
Christian Coalition, the Traditional Values
Coalition, the Home School Legal Defense
Association and the Heritage Foundation
wanted to establish parents’ “inalienable”
right to direct and control the education,
values and discipline of their children,
but liberals feared such measures had the
potential to shield child abusers. 60
Lawsuits and Reforms
A t the same time, state child pro-
tective services began to face law-
suits accusing them of failing to protect
children under their care from abuse
or neglect. In 1996, according to The
New York Times, at least 21 states were
under court supervision for failing to
properly care for children. 61
Children’s Rights in 1999 sued the
New Jersey governor and child welfare
agencies on behalf of 9,000 children,
charging that the underfinanced and
poorly managed child welfare system
further harmed abused and neglected
children. A 2003 settlement required
the state to create a Cabinet-level de-
partment, hire and train more workers
and recruit more foster parents. 62
Other states were similarly forced into
making changes. In March 2004, a lawsuit
alleged that Mississippi’s foster care system

686 CQ Researcher
 determine their placement in the same manner they would any
other child. Instead, “the Indian Child Welfare Act creates a
separate and unequal system for Indian children,” he says.
For many years, judges ruling on child welfare cases relied
on “existing Indian family doctrine” that applied the 1978 law
if the child had, for example, social connections to a tribe, but

not if the connection was solely genetic — that is, based on
ancestral lineage or “blood quantum.”
In June, the Obama administration sought to ensure compliance
with the 1978 law and end the use of the “Indian family
doctrine” by requiring judges during foster-care or adoption
proceedings to ask whether a child is Native American. 10
Sandefur says the policy will require judges to apply the
Indian Child Welfare Act on even the merest suspicion “that a
child has any Indian ancestry.” And that, he says, could lead
to placing children with families and in communities with which
they have had no association.
“Lexi’s great-great-great-great grandparent was a full-blooded
Choctaw Indian, which means she has eligibility to be a member
of the tribe, even though she has no cultural affiliation with
the tribe whatsoever,” Sandefur says.
“We say [the Indian Child Welfare Act] needs to be reformed,”
he says, “not abolished.”
But the Choctaw Nation defended its interest in Lexi’s custody.
“It appears the foster family and their counsel are attempting to
turn Lexi’s case into a political call to arms to dismantle ICWA.
For the Choctaw Nation this case is not about politics. This case
is about one of our children, one of our tribal members.” 11
— Christina L. Lyons
1 “California foster parents continue to fight for Indian girl,” The Associated
Press, Fox News, June 10, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jtwwdjj; Charlotte Alter,
“Inside the Agonizing Custody Fight Over Six-Year-Old Lexi,” Time, March 27,
2016, http://tinyurl.com/z3gpcmd.
2 “Indian Child Welfare Act,” National Conference of State Legislatures,
undated, http://tinyurl.com/zymoovj.
AP Photo/Alicia Chang
Californians Summer and Rusty Page are fighting a court
order that would take their 6-year-old foster child Lexi
from them and send her to live with distant
Native American relatives in Utah.
3 “Foster parents lose appeals fight for Native American girl,” The Associated
Press, CBS News, July 8, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jxhneph; Choctaw Nation,
“Choctaw National Responds to Foster Couple in ICWA Case,” Indian Country
Today Media Network, March 24, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jls7pzl.
4 Alter, op. cit.; Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family
Services vs. J.E., Court of Appeal of the State of California, Aug. 15, 2014,
http://tinyurl.com/htnlhoq.
5 “List of Federal and State Recognized Tribes,” National Conference of State
Legislatures, updated March 2016, http://tinyurl.com/j5kdqf9.
6 “Goldwater Institute Files Class-Action Lawsuit Against Parts of Indian Child
Welfare Act,” press release, Goldwater Institute, July 7, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/
zqgwv3l.
7 Ibid.
8 Alter, op. cit.
9 Suzette Brewer, “ICWA: Victory for Tribes as Judge Reaffirms South Dakota
Decision,” Indian Country Today Media Network, Feb. 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.
com/zc8htje.
10 Mary Hudetz, “Judges must ask about youths’ tribal status under new
rule,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, June 8, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/hoyv3bs;
“Department of the Interior Issues Indian Child Welfare Act Regulations,”
National Law Review, July 13, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jujjgnd.
11 Choctaw Nation, op. cit.

was failing to protect children. When a
court ordered the state to clean up its
system, the Legislature approved $34 mil-
lion to create a Department of Child
Protective Services, which the governor
elevated to Cabinet level. 63
Dorothy Roberts, then a Northwestern
University law professor, argued in her
2002 book Shattered Bonds: The Color
of Child Welfare, that the 1997 Adoption
and Safe Families Act had gone beyond
ensuring children’s safety and, in fact,
sought to break families apart, particularly
minority families.
Following the act’s passage, 42 states
“earned $20 million in federal adoption
bonuses,” according to Roberts. “The
federal incentives to move children out
of foster care steer states in one di-
rection. They encourage states to get
more children adopted,” she said. “But
the new law doesn’t provide compa-
rable financial incentives or technical
help to states to improve their family-
preservation programs.” 64
In the 2000s, Congress passed several
bills designed to further protect children
and foster youth and to reform child
welfare services. In 2011, the Child and
Family Services Improvement and Inno-
vation Act called on states to develop
new oversight plans for children with
developmental, mental or health needs,
and for monitoring the use of psychotrop-
ic medications — drugs that affect mental
processes and behavior. 65

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 26, 2016 687

 CHILD WELFARE
Meanwhile, reports of child abuse
and neglect continued to rise. The Na-
tional Child Abuse and Neglect Data
System, which issues an annual report
based on state data, reported in 2011
that an estimated 1,770 children had
died in 2009, up from an estimated
1,450 in 2005. State officials reported
that such increases likely were due to
better reporting methods rather than
a surge in child abuse, but the Gov-
ernment Accountability Office (GAO)
said in a report to Congress that states
tend to use flawed data and the tally
was likely much higher. 66
The Protect Our Kids Act of 2012
garnered broad bipartisan support in
Congress and was signed by President
Obama in January 2013. It created the
Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse
and Neglect Fatalities, and tasked it
with finding a strategy to reduce fa-
talities resulting from child abuse and
neglect.
In 2014, Congress passed the Pre-
venting Sex Trafficking and Strength-
ening Families Act requiring states to
report the number of foster children
who are victims of sex trafficking and
to develop policies to care for children
at risk of becoming victims. Reports
indicated traffickers were exploiting
children in foster care; one study said
60 percent of child sex trafficking vic-
tims in 2013 had been in foster care
or group homes. 67
In 2015 the administration released
guidance to child welfare agencies to
prevent discrimination against parents
with disabilities. 68 And in June, Obama
signed the Native American Children’s
Safety Act requiring background checks
of all tribally licensed foster providers
and barring licenses for anyone con-
victed of a violent crime. Sen. John
Hoeven, R-N.D., proposed the measure
after reports surfaced that authorities
had placed children in Minnesota’s
Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in foster
homes with known sex offenders, and
at least three children had died from
abuse and neglect. 69
688 CQ Researcher
CURRENT
SITUATION
Family First Act
L awmakers, child welfare providers
and advocates continue to debate
how to reform child protection services
and better manage children under the
care of the foster system.
SHIELDS’ Icenhower says policy-
makers’ penchant for swinging back
and forth between family preservation
and putting abused children in foster
care doesn’t solve the problem.
“Folks are so reactive to a child’s
death, and the unfortunate thing is, there
are going to be children who are killed.
Regardless of what we do, that is going
to happen,” she says. “What we need
to figure out is, how do we put in
place something that reduces it to the
greatest extent possible and stop being
reactive because of one child’s death?”
Many child welfare advocates support
the bipartisan Family First Prevention
Services Act, which passed the House
in June but stalled in the Senate before
the August recess. The measure would
allow states and tribes to use federal
foster care money to provide up to 12
months of services for children, parents
or caregiver relatives to prevent children
from entering the foster system. Such
services could include substance abuse
prevention, mental health counseling
or in-home parental skill courses. The
law would limit federal funding for
group homes, except for those housing
disabled youth, pregnant or parenting
teens, siblings or for those designated
as independent living programs. 70
In December, more than 30 state
and child welfare advocacy groups
backed the legislation. However, several
state and local jurisdictions raised con-
cerns about the measure’s restrictions
on group homes. Los Angeles law-
makers said the measure could interfere
with local plans for gradually reducing
group care, while the New York Public
Welfare Association said it could lose
an estimated $250 million in funding
for group care. 71
Meanwhile, several communities are
considering using predictive analytics
— a computerized tool that analyzes
large streams of data — to target chil-
dren at risk of abuse or neglect. Emily
Putnam-Hornstein and Jacquelyn Mc-
Croskey, professors of social work at
the University of Southern California,
lead the Children’s Data Network. The
network is a collaborative project re-
searching the use of data analytics to
more effectively connect families and
individuals with community services
before they become involved with the
child welfare system. One ongoing re-
search project, for example, is linking
birth records to welfare records to see
what proportion of young children en-
ters the foster system before age 5.
(See sidebar, p. 684.)
Many child welfare advocates say a
rising epidemic of heroin and prescrip-
tion drug abuse appears to be pushing
more children into state protection, but
the evidence is anecdotal. In 2013, doc-
tors diagnosed 27,315 cases of newborn
drug withdrawal syndrome in babies,
a fivefold increase from 10 years earlier,
Reuters reported. 72 In response to such
reports, Congress passed the Compre-
hensive Addiction and Recovery Act,
which Obama signed in July, requiring
states to help newborns and their parents
addicted to opioids. 73
Foster children also are speaking up
about their concerns. Foster youths who
served as congressional interns this year
produced a set of proposals for improving
the child welfare system, including:
• Easing and improving foster care
licensing laws to allow more kinship
homes to offer care for children who
are relatives;
• Establishing a federal tracking sys-
tem to identify youths involved in both
Continued on p. 690
 At Issue:
Can “big data” help save children from abuse?
yes
SEAN HUGHES
MANAGING PARTNER, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS,
SOCIAL CHANGE PARTNERS
WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER, AUGUST 2016
o ur child protection services face a monumental challenge
in responding to reports of child maltreatment. In 2014
alone, child welfare agencies received 3.6 million referrals of sus-
pected abuse and neglect involving approximately 6.6 million chil-
dren. Ultimately, 702,000 children were confirmed to have suffered
maltreatment. Tragically, that same year 1,580 children died from
abuse and neglect.
Advocates and policymakers agree we must do more to
prevent maltreatment. But consensus has proved elusive on the
yes no
potential of “big data” — also called predictive analytics — to
identify risk factors, such as emergency room visits.
Opponents of predictive analytics argue that identifying
families based on such factors risks stigmatization. Furthermore,
because of maltreatment’s strong correlation with poverty, and
the concentration of poverty in certain racial and ethnic groups,
some worry that predictive analytics will lead agencies to un-
fairly target minority families and communities.
These are legitimate concerns, and systems using predictive
analytics must be mindful of the role they assign these data
systems in decision-making. Transparency is critical. Today’s
child welfare systems are designed to partner with families,
not prejudge or penalize them.
Still, child protection services should use every tool at their
disposal to prevent and address maltreatment.
Considering the challenges they face, child welfare systems
are dangerously under-resourced and understaffed. Prevention
programs are woefully underfunded, and services often do not
reach those needing them. Too many children who die from
maltreatment each year had been referred to agencies that
responded inadequately. Social workers manage unacceptably
high caseloads and too often face life-and-death decisions
without having all the facts. Providing them with data and
information can help them better protect children.
Child protection systems should proceed firmly but cau-
tiously with their use of risk-related data to make decisions.
Predictive analytics have the potential to flag high-risk cases
earlier so children do not fall through the cracks. Better identi-
fying families at risk also allows systems to target supportive
services more efficiently, with the goal of preventing maltreat-
ment altogether.
The status quo is unacceptable. If predictive analytics can
help us intervene before families reach crisis, then we need to
commit to navigating the tensions and learning to use it to
improve child outcomes.
no
www.cqresearcher.com
RICHARD WEXLER
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COALITION
FOR CHILD PROTECTION REFORM
WRITTEN FOR CQ RESEARCHER, AUGUST 2016
i n 2014, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder warned
that using “big data” to make decisions in criminal justice
“may exacerbate unwarranted and unjust disparities that
are already far too common in our criminal justice system and
in our society.”
Holder was right. In May, the news organization ProPublica
found that widely used software drastically overestimated the
risk that black defendants would commit more crimes while
underestimating the risk for whites. Rather than combating bias,
big data magnified it.
This should surprise no one. Big-data algorithms use risk
factors such as unemployment, finances and neighborhood —
which disproportionately sweep people of color into the net.
Even a reliance on criminal records confuses actual risk with
over-policing of poor communities.
The risk of bias is even greater in child welfare. Far more
common than headline-grabbing child abuse horrors are cases
in which poverty is confused with neglect, thanks to laws that
often define neglect as lack of adequate food, clothing, shelter
or supervision. Multiple studies have found that 30 percent of
America’s foster children could be home right now if their
parents had decent housing.
And the normal due process protections in criminal justice
are nearly nonexistent in child welfare.
It’s no wonder that an extensive analysis of New Zealand’s
use of predictive analytics in child welfare found what ProPublica
found for criminal justice: a system that reinforces bias rather
than countering it. And a child-welfare official in Los Angeles
said that a big-data system being tested there had a false-positive
rate of 95 percent.
Needless removal of youngsters from families devastates chil-
dren’s psyches and can leave lifelong scars. Two massive studies
found that children left in their own homes typically fared better
than comparably maltreated children placed in foster care. Multiple
studies have found alarming rates of abuse in foster homes and
even more abuse in group homes and institutions.
But no caseworker is going to defy an algorithm, leave a child
home and wind up on the front page if something goes wrong
— even if the algorithm is rife with racial and class bias. Instead,
they’ll needlessly take even more children from their families, fur-
ther overloading the system and leaving less time to find children
in real danger who really do need to be in foster care.
What proponents call predictive analytics really should be
called data-nuking poor families.
Aug. 26, 2016 689
 CHILD WELFARE
Continued from p. 688
foster care and the juvenile justice sys-
tem, with the goal of improving col-
laboration between the two systems so
foster children can receive better services
as they transition to adulthood;
• Requiring states to set, and regularly
reevaluate, a foster care reimbursement
rate equivalent to the cost for a middle-
income family to raise a child in that
state; and
• Requiring states to ensure every
foster child has an advocate who fights
for his or her interests. 74
State-Level Developments
S tate child welfare agencies continue
to face lawsuits and court-ordered
reforms, many of which show promise
for useful change, say the Center for
the Study of Social Policy’s Meltzer and
A Better Childhood’s Lowry. Lowry points
to New Jersey, which has reduced case-
loads and closed poorly run group
homes, among other steps.
Lowry says state spending on child
protective services remains inadequate,
but Meltzer says reforms are beginning
to address that. In Mississippi, the state
Legislature in 2015 approved $34 million
to establish a Department of Child Pro-
tective Services from agencies within the
former Department of Human Services
and other child-services agencies. 75
States are making other changes too.
Across Pennsylvania, child protection
services have been struggling to keep
up with rising reports of child abuse,
largely in the wake of the Penn State
University scandal, where former as-
sistant football coach Jerry Sandusky
was convicted in 2012 of sexually abus-
ing children, says Marc Cherna, director
of the Department of Human Services
of Allegheny County. Nevertheless,
Cherna says, Allegheny has reduced
foster care placements by two-thirds
since 1996 by removing children from
their homes only as a last resort and
by placing the majority with relatives.
690 CQ Researcher
Other states are seeking to amend
laws that some say have contributed
to children being left in unsafe situ-
ations. In May, a lawsuit filed against
a county human services department
in Minneapolis alleged that authorities
failed to protect 6-year-old Kendrea
Johnson, whom they knowingly placed
with a foster mother with a record of
child abuse. The child was found dead,
hanging from a bunk bed in her room,
in December 2014. The child welfare
agency was permitted to grant the
woman a foster care license because,
as required by state law, a defined
period of time had passed since her
last violation. 76
In Rhode Island, lawmakers are de-
bating closing a loophole in the state’s
mandatory child abuse reporting law
after a scandal at St. George’s School.
St. George’s had fired several employees
alleged to have sexually abused stu-
dents, but did not report them to child
welfare authorities. A loophole in the
state’s mandatory reporting law appears
to permit schools and other institutions
to avoid reporting abuse allegations
against their employees. 77
At least 15 states have enacted a Foster
Children’s Bill of Rights, requiring that
foster children be informed about why
they are placed in foster care and how
their case will be handled or evaluated
and over what time period; it also guar-
antees foster children access to, or com-
munication with, family members. 78
Several state governments are con-
sidering measures to control the use
of psychotropic medications for foster
children. The GAO reported that, ac-
cording to a study conducted between
2008 and 2011, 18 percent of foster
children were taking a psychotropic
medication, up to 4.5 times the rate
prescribed to non-foster children. 79
“The higher rates do not necessarily
indicate inappropriate prescribing prac-
tices, as they could be due to foster
children’s greater exposure to traumatic
experiences and the unique challenges
of coordinating their medical care,”
the GAO said. “However, psychotropic
drug claims for foster children were
also more likely to show the indicators
of potential health risks that we es-
tablished with our experts.” 80
Forty-eight percent of those living
in group homes reported taking such
medications. Some states are requiring
medical examinations of foster children
before they are given psychotropics,
but such practices don’t involve the
regulation of third parties, such as doc-
tors who prescribe the drugs. 81
More states are seeking to allow foster
children to stay in the child welfare sys-
tem until they are 21, as permitted under
a 2008 federal law. Hughes says about
90 percent of foster children in California
have opted to remain in the system,
which gives them access to resources
for housing, education and job support.
Research Efforts
R esearchers increasingly are testing
the effectiveness of family-support
programs, says the Casey Foundation’s
Feild. “We’ve relied on some pretty untest-
ed parenting education programs in the
past,” she says. “That’s changing now.
We’ve got much more evidence now
on what programs work, in dealing with
teenagers and young children. We have
in-home clinical programs that are tested.
And we’ve got ways to measure whether
or not kids are getting better.”
She highlights the Quality Parenting
Initiative in Florida that addresses re-
lationships between the foster family
and child protection agency, with the
goal of creating better support and
communication.
Researchers also are studying the
causes of child abuse and fatalities.
A 2016 study analyzes potential rea-
sons why America’s infant mortality
rate is higher than dozens of other
nations.
“We know something’s happening
after the baby leaves the hospital,” said
Alice Chen, a health economist at the
University of Southern California. The
paper suggests that European govern-
ments provide more support for new
mothers than the United States. 82
Other studies continue to look at con-
nections between child abuse or neglect
and poverty. One study by British re-
searchers concluded that while evidence
is limited, “it is clear” that the connection
exists. “Adverse events in childhood, in-
cluding abuse and neglect, are associated
with negative effects on adult economic
circumstances,” they said. 83
However, Leroy H. Pelton, then a
professor of social work at Salem College
in Massachusetts, argued “that the child
placement rate is not related to the
poverty rate, but rather, to how our so-
ciety has treated or dealt with the children
of families living in poverty.” 84
OUTLOOK
Elusive Improvement
M any experts remain uncertain
about whether the child welfare
system can change sufficiently to reduce
abuse and fatalities. “These are the
same calls that have echoed for decades
. . . and yet significant improvements
to the child protective service system
still elude us,” the University of Penn-
sylvania’s Gelles says in his forthcoming
book, Out of Harm’s Way: Creating an
Effective Child Welfare System.
Experts point to various concerns
they say still need to be addressed.
Meltzer of the Center for the Study of
Social Policy says, “These systems need
to pay much more attention to issues
of racial disproportionality. My hope is
[that] in doing so, we will see a reduction
of children of color who are unnecessarily
in foster care.” To accomplish that goal,
she says, the foster care system needs
to better engage minority families and
listen to their needs. It also needs to
www.cqresearcher.com
pay “attention to underlying issues —
housing, substance abuse, domestic vi-
olence,” Meltzer says.
Hughes of Social Change Partners
says governments need to invest more
resources in child welfare agencies to
reduce social workers’ caseloads; other-
wise not only is it difficult for caseworkers
to manage cases, but it also becomes
more difficult for state agencies to retain
those workers. “A lot go into social work,
then get burned out and leave,” he says.
But to see improved results within the
child welfare system, Gelles says, univer-
sities also must do a better job of training
social workers — with an improved focus
on the child rather than the parents. “We’re
a big part of the problem.” he says.
Many experts agree that states con-
fronting a lack of foster families must
find ways to recruit more. “We need to
treat [foster families] as though they are
an important part of the treatment
process,” says the Casey Foundation’s
Feild. “Unless we learn that lesson and
move in that direction, I don’t know
that we’ll be successful at developing
more foster families. And we have to
change the way we interact with foster
parents and the way we support them.
We have to be willing to invest in that.”
Grimm of the National Center for
Youth Law agrees, saying current foster
parents are the best source of recruit-
ment, so those parents need to feel
better supported.
The North American Council’s Stevens
says foster parents will particularly need
better support services if the Families
First Prevention Services Act is enacted
because “kids who will come into foster
care will have greater needs and history
of trauma.”
But she also says that five to 10 years
from now, “I think we are going to be
in a much better place, because lots
and lots of young people with personal
experience in the system are stepping
forward, getting master’s in social work,
becoming probation officers, taking a
leadership role. And they are going to
drive the kind of reform we need.”
Notes
1 Jill Lepore, “Baby Doe: A political history
of tragedy,” The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2015,
http://tinyurl.com/jrzfhmv.
2 A.A. vs. State of Oregon, Circuit Court of the
State of Oregon for the County of Multnomah,
May 27, 2016, p. 10, http://tinyurl.com/jaoovlz.
3 “Child Maltreatment 2014,” U.S. Children’s
Bureau, Jan. 25, 2016, pp. xii, 21, http://tinyurl.
com/nl3gdkm.
4 “Child Maltreatment 2014,” op. cit., pp. x,
22 and 46.
5 “What is Child Abuse and Neglect? Recog-
nizing the Signs and Symptoms,” U.S. Children’s
Bureau, July 2013, http://tinyurl.com/z5qwov3.
6 “Memorandum Opinion and Verdict of the
Court,” M.D., Stukenberg et al., vs. Greg Abbott,
U.S. District Court Southern District of Texas,
Dec. 17, 2015, pp. 11-13, 254-255, http://tinyurl.
com/jygk9oz; Edgar Walters, “For Foster Kids,
a Push to Make Medical Care Treat Psycho-
logical Pain,” The Texas Tribune, May 10, 2016,
http://tinyurl.com/j7d9yr7.
7 Susan K. Livio, “Judge approves N.J. child
welfare reform plan that could end federal
oversight,” NJ.com, Nov. 4, 2015, http://tinyurl.
com/h4t2d46.
8 “Foster Care Statistics 2014,” U.S. Children’s
Bureau, March 2016, http://tinyurl.com/hxzvjff.
9 Joan Foster Shireman, Critical Issues in Child
Welfare (2015), p. 143.
10 “Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to
Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities,”
Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and
Neglect Fatalities, 2016, pp. 12-13, http://tiny
url.com/zyqv9o6.
11 “Child Welfare Outcomes 2010-2013: Report
to Congress,” U.S. Children’s Bureau, Feb. 1,
2016, p. 9, http://tinyurl.com/z2s2qgn.
12 “Child Maltreatment 2014,” op. cit., p. 8.
13 Elizabeth Bartholet, “Differential Response:
A Dangerous Experiment in Child Welfare,”
Florida State University Law Review, Aug. 1,
2014, pp. 573-644, http://tinyurl.com/zav7f2o.
14 Michael Levenson, “Study finds DCF’s two-
tier system endangers children,” The Boston
Globe, Nov. 5, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/hl4ve8k.
Matt Stout, “Charlie Baker vows ‘end-to-end’
DCF reform,” The Boston Herald, Nov. 18, 2015,
http://tinyurl.com/hfb3zlm.
15 Carol Marbin Miller and Audra D.S. Burch,
“Innocents Lost: Preserving Families But Losing
Children,” The Miami Herald, March 16, 2014,
http://tinyurl.com/jbgpckc.
Aug. 26, 2016 691
 CHILD WELFARE
16 “Child Welfare Outcomes: 2010-2013,” op. cit.,
pp. 7, 20.
17 David Crary, “Terminating parental rights
is a step all states resort to when deemed
27 Karen de Sá, “California aims to stop ware- tieth Century (2003), p. 55; “History,” The New
housing foster kids in group homes,” The York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Mercury News, Nov. 29, 2015, http://tinyurl. Children, undated, http://tinyurl.com/z5dpnuy.
com/ztfxfpd. 39 John E. B. Myers, “A Short History of Child

necessary for children’s well-being, but there
are wide state-to-state disparities in the rate
of terminations and in services to avoid foster
care placements,” U.S. News & World Report,
April 30, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/zqonnu3.
18 “Foster Care Statistics 2014,” Child Welfare
28 Joaquin Sapien, “Yet Another Scandal Rocks
Utah Home for Vulnerable Children,” ProPublica,
March 21, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/hjhed3w.
29 Ibid.
30 Robert T. Garrett, “Texas foster-care crisis:
Children sleeping in CPS offices against as
Protection in America,” Family Law Quarterly,
Fall 2008, p. 452, http://tinyurl.com/grznv6c;
Tina Lee, Catching a Case: Inequality and
Fear in New York City’s Child Welfare System
(2016), p. 22; and Myers, op. cit., p. 452.
40 Myers, ibid., p. 452; Lee, ibid., p. 22; Price,

Information Gateway, U.S. Children’s Bureau,
March 2016, p. 9, http://tinyurl.com/zjjpoao;
“Child Maltreatment 2014,” op. cit., Chap. 3,
p. 23.
19 Crary, op. cit., 2016.
20 “Study of Coordination of Tribal TANF and
Child Welfare Services: Final Report,” Office
of Planning, Research and Evaluation, May
2016, pp. I, 13, 18, http://tinyurl.com/z2us46r.
21 Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and
Neglect Fatalities, op. cit., p. 10.
22 Ronald J. Prinz, “Parenting and family
more removed from homes but state out of
places to care for them,” Dallas Morning News,
March 17, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jvywfyg.
31 William Lee, “Maryville to stop accepting
foster kids for residential placement,” Chicago
Tribune, June 1, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/
hrdyrm8; Marie K. Cohen, “Group Home Clo-
sure Eliminates Key Option for Most Challenging
Foster Youth,” Chronicle for Social Change,
June 6, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jsfd39s.
32 Matthew J. Reynell, “Written Statement for
the Record by Statement for Senate Finance
op. cit.; and Christina L. Lyons, “Reforming
Juvenile Justice,” CQ Researcher, Sept. 11, 2015,
pp. 745-768.
41 Angelique Brown, “Brief History of the
Federal Children’s Bureau: (1912-1935),” The
Social Welfare Project, Virginia Commonwealth
University Libraries, undated, http://tinyurl.com/
zhnd6w6.
42 For background, see David Hosansky, “Social
Security,” CQ Researcher, June 3, 2016, pp.
481-504.
43 Social Security Act of 1935, 521, 49 Stat.

support within a broad child abuse prevention Committee Hearing,” U.S. Senate Committee on 620, 633; Myers, op. cit., p. 453.
strategy,” Child Abuse Neglect, Nov. 6, 2015, Finance, May 19, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/zfr8bv5. 44 Lepore, op. cit.; Sealander, op. cit., p. 61.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/j9lqar3. 33 Lepore, op. cit. Richard D. Krugman, “Introduction and Com-

23 Shireman, op. cit., p. 86.
24 “A National Look at the Use of Congregate
Care in Child Welfare,” U.S. Children’s Bureau,
May 13, 2015, pp. II, II, 3, 14, http://tinyurl.com/
jgnm6j2.
25 Anne E. Berens and Charles A. Nelson,
“The science of early adversity: is there a
role for large institutions in the care of vul-
34 Melanie Reynolds, Infant Mortality and
Working-Class Child Care, 1850-1899 (2016),
pp. 1-3, http://tinyurl.com/hjkw53j.
35 Michael B. Katz, Improving Poor People:
The Welfare State, the “Underclass,” and Urban
Schools as History (1997), p. 67, http://tinyurl.
com/z5km44a. Tom Price, “Child Welfare Re-
form,” CQ Researcher, April 22, 2005, pp. 345-
mentary: The Battered Child” in Richard D. Krug-
man and Jill E. Korbin, eds., C. Henry Kempe:
A 50 Year Legacy to the Field of Child Abuse and
Neglect (2013), p. 21, http://tinyurl.com/j8ayj8z.
45 Vincent De Francis, Child Protective Services
in the United States: Reporting a Nationwide
Survey (1956).
46 C. Henry Kempe et al., “The Battered-Child

nerable children?” The Lancet, July 25, 2015, 368. Syndrome,” Child Abuse & Neglect, pp. 143-
http://tinyurl.com/otujzqv. 36 “History of Firsts,” Children’s Aid Society, 154, http://tinyurl.com/jaf3eca.
26 E. L. L. Strijbosch et al., “The outcome of undated, http://tinyurl.com/zlk8xjt; Stephen 47 Myers, op. cit., p. 455; Sealander, op. cit., p. 64.

institutional youth care compared to non-in- O’Connor, Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles 48 “Child Abuse Prevention Act of 1973: Hear-

stitutional youth care for children of primary
school age and early adolescence: A multi-
level meta-analysis,” Children and Youth Ser-
vices Review, January 2015, pp. 208-218, http://
tinyurl.com/gtsxtkp.
Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and
Failed (2014).
37 O’Connor, ibid.
38 Judith Sealander, The Failed Century of the
Child: Governing America’s Young in the Twen-
ings Before the Subcommittee on Children
and Youth of the Committee on Labor and
Public Welfare, United States Senate,” 1973,
pp. 273-274, http://tinyurl.com/ztt8mqf.
49 Myers, op. cit., p. 456.
50 “Opening Statement of Hon. James Abourezk,

a U.S. Senator from the State of South Dakota,”

About the Author
Christina L. Lyons, a freelance journalist based in the Wash-
ington, D.C., area, writes primarily about U.S. government and
politics. She is a contributing author for CQ Press reference
books, including CQ’s Guide to Congress, and was a con-
tributing editor for Bloomberg BNA’s International Trade Daily.
A former editor for Congressional Quarterly, she also was co-
Subcommittee on Indian Affairs of the Com-
mittee on Interior and Insular Affairs, April 8
and 9, 1974, p. 1, http://tinyurl.com/jsm4t67.
51 Steven Unger, ed., “The Destruction of
American Indian Families,” Association on
American Indian Affairs, 1977, p. 1, http://tiny
url.com/cv5fsqq.
52 For example, see Robert H. Mnookin, “Foster

author of CQ’s Politics in America 2010. Lyons began her
career as a newspaper reporter in Maryland and then covered
environment and health care policy on Capitol Hill. She has a
master’s degree in political science from American University.
Care — In Whose Best Interest?” Harvard
Educational Review, December 1973, http://
tinyurl.com/hxea3fo.
53 Martin Guggenheim, “The Foster Care Dilemma
and What to Do About It: Is the Problem That

692 CQ Researcher
Too Many Children Are Not Being Adopted
Out of Foster Care or That Too Many Children
are Entering Foster Care?” Journal of Constitu-
tional Law, pp. 141-142, http://tinyurl.com/jlo2f3v;
Dorothy Roberts, “ASFA: An Assault on Family
Preservation,” excerpted from Dorothy Roberts,
Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare
(2002), “Frontline,” accessed July 22, 2016,
http://tinyurl.com/h387mdd.
54 Price, op. cit., 2005.
55 DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department
of Social Services, 489 U.S. 189, Feb. 22, 1989,
http://tinyurl.com/nhpco7t.
56 Alison Mitchell, “Clinton Backs Republicans’
Bill on Tax Credit for Adoptions,” The New York
Times, May 7, 1996, http://tinyurl.com/glfxaab;
Alison Mitchell, “President Tells Government
to Promote More Adoptions,” The New York
Times, Dec. 15, 1996, http://tinyurl.com/hpojy4p.
57 “Foster Care: States’ Early Experiences Im-
plementing the Adoption and Safe Families
Act,” U.S. General Accounting Office, Decem-
ber 1999, p. 3, http://tinyurl.com/zy39fra.
58 “From Foster Care to Adoption,” The Wash-
ington Post, May 10, 1997, http://tinyurl.com/
j3om8fo; Jeff Katz, “Finally the Law Puts These
Kids’ Interests First,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
Dec. 28, 1997, referenced in Roberts, op. cit.
59 Karen Spar and Matthew Shuman, “Child
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Center for the Study of Social Policy, 1575 I St., N.W., Suite 500, Washington,
DC 20005; 202-371-1565; www.cssp.org. Monitors child welfare agency reforms.
Children’s Rights, 88 Pine St., Suite 800, New York, NY 10005; 212-683-2210;
www.childrensrights.org. Provides legal support for child protection.
Child Welfare League of America, 727 15th St., N.W., 12th Floor, Washington, DC
20005; 202-688-4200; www.cwla.org. Advocates for child welfare policies and services.
National Center for Youth Law, 405 14th St., 15th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612;
510-835-8098; www.youthlaw.org. Represents low-income children.
National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, 53 Skyhill Rd., Suite 202,
Alexandria, VA 22314; 703-212-2006; www.nccpr.info. Advocates for policies on
child abuse, foster care and family preservation.
National Indian Child Welfare Association, 5100 S.W. Macadam Ave., Suite 300,
Portland, OR 97239; 503-222-4044; www.nicwa.org. Lobbies for policies and re-
search on the welfare of Native American children.
North American Council on Adoptable Children, 970 Raymond Ave., Suite 106,
St. Paul, MN 55114; 651-644-3036; www.nacac.org. Provides support for adoptive
parents and children awaiting adoption.
child sex trafficking,” Human Rights Project 75 Brumfield, op. cit.; Emily Palmer and Camp-
for Girls, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/qzxtqlc; “Pre- bell Robertson, “Mississippi Fights to Keep
venting Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Control of Its Beleaguered Child Welfare Sys-
Families Act of 2014,” April 7, 2016, National tem,” The New York Times, Jan. 17, 2016, http://
Conference of State Legislatures, http://tinyurl. tinyurl.com/zerbvv7.
com/hxplajn. 76 Katherine Johnson, “Look-Back Law Allows

Welfare: Implementation of the Adoption and
Safe Famlies Act (P.L. 105-89),” Congressional
Research Service, Nov. 8, 2004, http://tinyurl.
com/gwynjwo.
60 Thomas J. Billitteri, “Parental Rights,” CQ
Researcher, Oct. 25, 1996, pp. 937-960.
61 Robert Pear, “Many States Fail to Fulfill Child
Welfare,” The New York Times, March 17, 1996,
68 Lydia Wheeler, “Feds target discrimination
in child welfare system,” The Hill, Aug. 10, 2015,
http://preview.tinyurl.com/oxksybt.
69 Brandon Stahl, “New law would have ruled
out foster father accused in Bemidji girl’s death,”
Star Tribune, June 16, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/
hpjmdlm.
70 Sara Barr, “House Committee Approves
Foster-Care Licenses for Criminals, Abusers,”
ABC Eyewitness News, May 11, 2016, http://
tinyurl.com/zyfryt8.
77 Elisabeth Harrison, “Bill Would Close Loop-
hole in Child Abuse Reporting Law,” Rhode
Island Public Radio, June 10, 2016, http://tiny
url.com/zpf2rgs.
78 “Foster Care Bill of Rights,” National Con-

http://tinyurl.com/z3wznwl. Long-Sought Family First Act,” Youth Today, ference of State Legislatures, Oct. 21, 2015,
62 See “Class Actions NJ: Charlie & Nadine H. June 16, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/zkyuw2c; http://tinyurl.com/h6typ4y.
v. Christie,” Children’s Rights, http://tinyurl.com/ “Family First Prevention Services Act of 2016,” 79 “Foster Children: HHS Could Provide Addi-

glyc6k7.
63 See “Olivia Y. Lawsuit” Mississippi Depart-
ment of Human Resources, http://tinyurl.com/
hjspsn7; Patsy R. Brumfield, “Child welfare
system improving,” Mississippi Today, May 20,
U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, undated,
http://tinyurl.com/zncqbst.
71 “Support for Family First Act,” Dec. 8, 2015,
First Focus, http://tinyurl.com/jcbpa6z; Sheila
Harrigan, letter to Sens. Charles E. Schumer
tional Guidance to States Regarding Psychotropic
Medications,” U.S. Government Accountability
Office, May 19, 2014, pp. 1, 8, www.gao.gov/
products/GAO-14-651T.
80 Ibid., p. 7.

2016, http://tinyurl.com/hsrztyr.
64 Roberts, op. cit.
65 “Major Federal Legislation Concerned with
Child Protection, Child Welfare, and Adoption,”
U.S. Children’s Bureau, March 2015, http://tiny
and Kirsten Gillibrand, June 23, 2016, http://
tinyurl.com/z7rmtok.
72 Duff Wilson, “Obama signs into law opioid
addiction bill to protect newborns,” Reuters,
July 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/gtl9qrj.
81 Ibid., front fact sheet.
82 John Tozzi, “What’s Killing American Babies
Before Their First Birthday?” Bloomberg, June
27, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jj4g2rs.
83 Paul Bywaters et al., “The relationship be-

url.com/ju73ggg.
66 “GAO: U.S. child abuse data flawed,” The
Associated Press, CBS News, July 12, 2011,
http://tinyurl.com/hj7yswb.
67 “Child Welfare and Human Trafficking,”
U.S. Children’s Bureau, July 2015, http://tiny
url.com/hddo6zg; “Child welfare and domestic
73 “Statement by the President on the Com-
prehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of
2016,” news release, the White House, July 22,
2016, http://tinyurl.com/hnlvw5z.
74 “Powerful Voices: Sharing Our Stories To Reform
Child Welfare,” Foster Youth Internship Program,
July 13, 2016, https://ccainstituteblog.org/.
tween poverty, child abuse and neglect: an
evidence review,” Joseph Rowntree Founda-
tion, March 2016, http://tinyurl.com/hcos8ag.
84 Leroy H. Pelton, “Not for Poverty Alone:
Foster Care Population Trends in the Twentieth
Century,” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare,
June 2015, http://tinyurl.com/jknyp9z.

www.cqresearcher.com Aug. 26, 2016 693

 Bibliography
Selected Sources
Books
Gelles, Richard, Out of Harm’s Way: Creating an Effective
Child Welfare System, Oxford University Press, forth-
coming.
The dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of
Social Policy and Practice analyzes the key problems facing
the child welfare system and proposes changes that consistently
put children’s safety first, improve caseworkers’ decision-
making and reform federal funding formulas.
Lee, Tina, Catching a Case: Inequality and Fear in New
York City’s Child Welfare System, Rutgers University Press,
2016.
The director of the Applied Social Science Program at the
University of Wisconsin, Stout, contends that New York City’s
child welfare system penalizes families living in poverty and
judges them by middle-class standards.
Shireman, Joan Foster, Critical Issues in Child Welfare,
2nd ed., Columbia University Press, 2015.
An emeritus professor at Portland State University’s Graduate
School of Social Work describes the issues facing the child
welfare system, reviews research on the impact of trauma
and stress on child development, and outlines recent changes
at child protection agencies.
Articles
Dwyer, James G., “Diagnosing Liberal Resistance to Need-
ed Child Welfare Reforms,” William & Mary Bill of Rights
Journal, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/gl78v5r/.
A law professor at the College of William and Mary says
some liberal policymakers and child welfare advocates promote
family-preservation services over removal of children from
homes where abuse or neglect has been reported.
Lepore, Jill, “Baby Doe: A political history of tragedy,”
The New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jrzfhmv.
A journalist recounts failures among state agencies to protect
children and a history of policies that fluctuate between
offering services to keep families together and rescuing
children from abusive homes.
Prinz, Ronald J., “Parenting and family support within
a broad child abuse prevention strategy,” Child Abuse
Neglect, Nov. 6, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/j9lqar3.
A University of South Carolina psychology professor argues
that programs to improve parenting can help prevent mis-
treatment of children but that such programs should be part
of broader strategies aimed at addressing poverty and other
problems.
694 CQ Researcher
Santhanam, Laura, “Can big data save these children?”
“PBS Newshour,” March 22, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/
zybxhzc.
A PBS reporter describes research in Allegheny County, Pa.,
on the use of predictive analytics to track homes where
children could be at risk of child abuse or neglect.
Wilson, Duff, and John Shiffman, “Helpless & Hooked,”
Reuters, Dec. 7, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/qhyo9g8/.
Journalists analyze the failure of doctors to alert social services
to the birth of babies born to drug-addicted parents.
Reports and Studies
“Child Maltreatment 2014,”Administration for Children and
Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families,
Children’s Bureau, Jan. 25, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/nl3gdkm.
The U.S. agency overseeing compliance with child welfare
policy reports the number of identified child abuse victims in-
creased less than 1 percent between 2010 and 2014 and says
an estimated 1,580 children died of abuse or neglect in 2014.
“A National Look at the Use of Congregate Care in
Child Welfare,” Administration on Children, Youth and
Families, Children’s Bureau, May 13, 2015, http://tiny
url.com/glbw2na.
A federal agency finds the proportion of children placed
in group homes dropped from 18 percent in 2004 to 14 percent
in 2013. It also analyzes the placement of children by age
and duration and the reasons for placement outside foster
homes.
“Placement patterns of American Indian children involved
with child welfare: Findings from the second National
Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being,” Casey Family
Programs, August 2015, http://tinyurl.com/jnb8ajp.
A division of the Annie E. Casey Foundation uses federal survey
data to analyze the placement of 436 Native American children
who were the subject of child welfare investigations. Its report
says local welfare agencies are trying to keep these children in
their tribal community as mandated under a 1978 law, but data
are inconclusive as to how successful the agencies have been.
“Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate
Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities,” Commission to Elim-
inate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, 2016, http://tiny
url.com/gmafj9o.
A congressionally appointed commission calls for improved
data collection on child abuse and better analysis; earlier
identification of children at risk of abuse or neglect; more
support services for at-risk families dealing with such issues
as drug abuse or domestic violence; and stronger federal
oversight of state policies and practices.
 The Next Step:
Additional Articles from Current Periodicals
Big Data
Hickey, Kathleen, “Saving children, one algorithm at a
time,” GCN, July 26, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/z3pclbp.
Government agencies are using software to analyze child
welfare data to try to predict which children are most at risk.
Prazan, Phil, “Data highlight where child abuse happens
and where it’s spreading,” KXAN News, July 14, 2016,
http://tinyurl.com/hmepx23.
Researchers used data from Texas’ Department of Family
and Protective Services to identify areas in the Austin region
where child abuse and maltreatment are rampant.
Williams, Jake, “Data sharing central to new Pa. child
welfare system,” State Scoop, Sept. 23, 2015, http://tiny
url.com/jxcpcjs.
Pennsylvania is moving to a more centralized system of
tracking child welfare cases through an information database.
Foster Care System
“DOE sets new guidelines for foster care,” Legacy News-
paper, Aug. 2, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/grdwr6q.
The U.S. Department of Education has issued guidelines on
ways to bring educational stability to students in foster care.
Miller, Cynthia, “Foster care survivors fight to improve
the system,” Santa Fe New Mexican, July 16, 2016, http://
tinyurl.com/zhx7v55.
Young adults who have aged out of foster care are fighting
to reform the system and aid foster children through the
nonprofit New Mexico Child Advocacy Networks.
Jones, Carolyn, “Mockingbird Society: A New Kind Of Foster
Care,”Tacoma Weekly,Aug. 4, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/jdj4tn8.
A group in Washington state is reimagining the foster care
system by creating intentional foster family communities with
24/7 access to veteran foster parents.
Legal Reform
Green, Aimee, “Oregon’s top payouts for state wrong-
doing: $15 million settlement dwarfs them all,” The Ore-
gonian, Dec. 21, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/hgmgpvk.
Oregon has paid $15 million to settle a federal lawsuit
against the state Department of Human Services, which was
accused of improperly supervising a foster father convicted
of abusing nine young children.
Palmer, Emily, and Campbell Robertson, “Mississippi
Fights to Keep Control of Its Beleaguered Child Welfare
System,” The New York Times, Jan. 17, 2016, http://tinyurl.
com/h48x8sk.
www.cqresearcher.com
Mississippi is seeking to retain control of its child welfare
system after a class-action lawsuit asserted the system is un-
derfunded and hampered by high social worker caseloads.
Symons, Michael, “Exit plan for child-welfare lawsuit in
sight,”Asbury Park Press, Nov. 4, 2015, http://tinyurl.com/
hpmlc6c.
New Jersey’s child welfare agency, which was sued in 1999
by a children’s advocacy group because of problems in its
system, could be free of federal oversight as early as 2017 after
improving training for its caseworkers and making other changes.
Native Americans
“Foster parents lose appeal in fight for Native American
girl,” CBS News, July 8, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/j347oz8.
A California appeals court ordered a 6-year-old with Native
American ancestry to be removed from her foster family of
four years and placed with her extended family in Utah.
Kelly, John, “38 Years After ICWA, Feds to Collect Data
on Native American Foster Youth,” The Chronicle of
Social Change, April 8, 2016, http://tinyurl.com/h3ge6ed.
Nearly four decades after the passage of the Indian Child
Welfare Act, which seeks to keep Native American children
with their tribal communities, a federal agency plans to
collect data on Indian children in child welfare systems.
Tolan, Casey, “A series of new lawsuits is challenging
how Native American kids are adopted,” Fusion, July 17,
2016, http://tinyurl.com/hts6d5h.
Lawsuits across the country are challenging the Indian Child
Welfare Act, alleging that tribal interests are being placed
above children’s safety because of the law.
CITING CQ RESEARCHER
Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography
include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats
vary, so please check with your instructor or professor.
MLA STYLE
Jost, Kenneth. “Remembering 9/11.” CQ Researcher 2 Sept.
2011: 701-732.
APA STYLE
Jost, K. (2011, September 2). Remembering 9/11. CQ Researcher,
9, 701-732.
CHICAGO STYLE
Jost, Kenneth. “Remembering 9/11.” CQ Researcher, September
2, 2011, 701-32.
Aug. 26, 2016 695
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