Children should not be removed from their families and communities because they are poor. The confusion of poverty with neglect has led to a system that cannot care for children in actual need of protection, and traumatizes families whose needs could have been met without child welfare system intervention.
The Problem
Families below the poverty line are 22 times more likely to be involved with the child welfare system than those with incomes slightly above the line, and three-quarters of substantiated calls to hotlines have a finding of neglect, not abuse. Neglect allegations include concerns over inadequate food, clothing, shelter, child or medical care – conditions related to poverty, not parental fitness.
Hotlines have become an inappropriate catch-all for family challenges that have nothing to do with suspected abuse. Among cases where a child is placed in foster care, 83 percent do not involve even an allegation of abuse. Over-reporting results in wasted resources on unnecessary investigations, diverting efforts away from cases that truly need attention, while families needlessly investigated endure lasting stress caused by the invasiveness and indignity of investigations.
Federal funding structures contribute to the overuse of foster care, when services and economic resources could address families’ needs while children remain safely at home. Rather than provide direct support to families, over half of the $12 billion federal dollars allocated to child welfare is spent on foster care, with another $4.5 billion spent on adoption services. Less than 1.5 percent is allocated to prevention services.
The Solutions
1. Re-orient cross-system planning, culture, and policy to promote economic security and mobility for families traditionally at-risk of child welfare system involvement.
Increase access to economic and community-based supports that enable families to overcome setbacks, provide for basic needs, and achieve stability through existing programs and voluntary community supports that strengthen community networks and help families navigate hardships.
Reverse the perverse incentives in Title IV-E funding for state child welfare systems that promote foster care, and ensure states can maximize flexibility in using federal funds for substance abuse, mental health, parenting support, and preservation services to prevent foster placement.
End punitive policies that limit parents’ capacity to reunify with their children, including registries that impact housing and employment opportunities and ability to engage in family support activities, and economic penalties such as job losses, costs associated with reunification plan compliance, payments to foster agencies, and benefits seized from children in the system.
2. Narrow the scope of the child welfare system to focus on effectively identifying and responding to serious abuse and neglect.
Eliminate clauses that conflate poverty with neglect in definitions of neglect in CAPTA, administrative guidance, and similar state statutes and regulations.
Protect parents’ choices about how to safely care for their children (e.g. decisions on education, medical care, discipline, etc.) by narrowing the federal standard for separation of families to permit child removal only when evidence shows it is necessary to protect children from imminent risk of serious harm.
Amend mandated reporting in CAPTA and similar state statutes to disincentivize false and malicious reports, reduce the administrative burdens of investigating them, and stop the intrusion and harm they cause to families.