Statutory Minimum Standards Needed
(The following is a synopsis of a longer opinion piece available at http://www.childrensrights.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_2006_date)
Supporters of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) believed that the law would dramatically change child welfare systems; keeping children safer, moving them to permanency more quickly, and improving the effectiveness of services to children and families.
Regrettably, ASFA has not been fully implemented in most, if any states. Although there have been some improvements, most notably in the number of adoptions per year, the legislation has for the most part failed the children it was intended to benefit.
Consequently, it's time for Congress to impose minimum child welfare standards on states, as a condition to receiving federal foster care funds, in those areas that are relatively easy to measure and on which some general consensus has already been reached among professionals.
Certainly child welfare services are a complex undertaking, and children and families' needs vary, so reaching consensus on enforceable minimum standards on certain measures might present challenges. Such standards are sometimes attacked as being artificial and even arbitrary, but the fact that standards might in some respects reflect compromise, including among professionals, does not mean that they could not be fair, particularly if they are based on research and data.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Child Advocacy 360's national research is complete, and we can now say with certainty that "good news" about programs that improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged kids - helping them to become responsible citizens - can make a significant difference in building stronger neighborhoods, villages and cities.
What the research tells us:
- We see and hear so many "problem stories" about youth in the media - and so few "good news" stories about rewarding work being done with and for young people.
- The research is a call to "Give good news a chance! Tell stories about "Who's Doing What That Works." Why not, at long last, highlight solutions and not problems?
- And don't, according to the research, depend on the press to get your message out. In fact, the press is plagued with reduced staffs, meager resources and, for the most part, continues to believe: "If it bleeds, it leads."
What can we - ordinary citizens, parents, family members - do to make a difference where we live and work? more »
Hershel Sarbin, editor and publisher
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