{"id":335,"date":"2017-10-29T19:19:52","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T00:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/morsepower.net\/?p=335"},"modified":"2017-11-03T12:46:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T17:46:49","slug":"everything-you-think-that-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/?p=335","title":{"rendered":"Everything You Think that Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

I drew inspiration to write this after listening to two excellent podcasts. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On an older episode of Pod Save the People, the hosts discussed a New York Times story detailing racial disparities in <\/span><\/span><\/span>how child protective services were being utilized<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> (Skip to 0:10:50). \u00c2\u00a0Embedded in this discussion was the fact that the number of calls to child protective service agencies seems to be increasing in recent years. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

On The Weeds, the co-hosts were analyzing a whitepaper that detailed <\/span><\/span><\/span>the potential impacts on shoplifting that can be realized by changing the way welfare benefits are delivered <\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>(skip to 0:58:00). \u00c2\u00a0Ezra Klein had to take a moment from an otherwise technical conversation to stop and reflect on a grim implication.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of these benefits are for children. \u00c2\u00a0And caregivers are stealing food to feed them. \u00c2\u00a0It reminded me that sometimes it takes effort to make the connections between policy and impact, but those connections were always there, waiting to be found.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I decided to try to dig into some data to figure out if there is a current trend in child welfare in terms of foster care and adoption programs. \u00c2\u00a0This let me to the <\/span><\/span><\/span>US Department of Health and Human Services website<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, which allowed me to download source data for 2011-2015 for a few meaningful statistics. \u00c2\u00a0I had to manually sum together state-level info from that site to create these charts, which show nation-wide stats.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"adoptions_per_year\"
Nation-wide adoption rates, year over year, have been holding flat.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Total
Total number of foster children nationwide: WRONG TREND!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to claim to have invented the idea that issues are complicated, intertwined things. \u00c2\u00a0Everything is connected. \u00c2\u00a0But over this past year I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been seeing the issue of child welfare front and center in everything I observe, and it has been startling.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re faced with a crisis in two forms. \u00c2\u00a0We seek to reduce the number of children entering the foster system, and we seek to get those in the system adopted into permanent homes. \u00c2\u00a0This appears to be a problem of related rates, of input versus output. \u00c2\u00a0Certain forces impact the flow of children into the foster system, and other forces impact the rate at which they are pulled into permanency. \u00c2\u00a0These dual challenges have very different root causes and possible solutions. \u00c2\u00a0The numbers show that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got space to do more on both.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Supply Side<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Every tragedy, big or small, has a chance to produce a new foster child. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For example, take the fact that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re suffering through a nationwide opioid epidemic. \u00c2\u00a0Think about the staggering numbers of deaths and addiction rates we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re seeing, and ask yourself, what percentage of those are parents? \u00c2\u00a0How many of those households have kids in them, and how many of them are about to attract the attention of child protective services? \u00c2\u00a0I suspect, with a lag, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to see the number of new foster children spike, with the worst impacts being geographically concentrated to areas hit particularly hard by this crisis. \u00c2\u00a0Unfortunately, the HHS data stops at 2015, so I cannot back this up yet. \u00c2\u00a0Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just add that to the list titled \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Unpleasant Opioid Stats We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re Not Looking Forward to Seeing Next Year.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These kids are the tragic amplifiers, impacted by every social and political injustice conceivable. \u00c2\u00a0Every new addiction, every overdose, every eviction, every bankruptcy, every untreated mental illness, every lost job, every prison sentence, every deportation, every catastrophic weather event, every violent crime. \u00c2\u00a0All of them have a feasible path that ends with a child in the system. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And then they do find permanency? \u00c2\u00a0They find themselves carrying traumatic loss but living in a world that stigmatizes mental health issues. \u00c2\u00a0This is a difficult burden to take on. \u00c2\u00a0An unfortunately non-zero number of parents will choose to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153disrupt<\/a><\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u009d an adoption after a placement, for whatever reason, putting the child back into the foster system.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a darker side here too, where the threat of separation is <\/span><\/span><\/span>weaponized against people of color and those living in poverty<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sure, you can call the health department, but I could call child services about the conditions your child is living in. \u00c2\u00a0Your move.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00c2\u00a0As an adoptive parent I have a lot of complicated feelings here. \u00c2\u00a0How many of these children did not actually even need to be removed in the first place?
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Demand Side<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to speak from personal experience when I say that adopting a child is not easy. \u00c2\u00a0Nor should it be. \u00c2\u00a0But that difficulty thins the pool of prospective adoptive parents. \u00c2\u00a0Massachusetts makes a series of concerted choices to take finances out of the equation. \u00c2\u00a0Our state provides <\/span><\/span><\/span>intensive training<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> and post-adoption support services to guide parents through the process. \u00c2\u00a0Adoptive parents can qualify to keep their stipend and continue Medicaid coverage. \u00c2\u00a0And foster children in Massachusetts get free in-state tuition, whether they were <\/span><\/span><\/span>adopted<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> or <\/span><\/span><\/span>not<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

These are incentives to encourage and enable adoption, by taking finances out of the parents’ decision-making.\u00c2\u00a0 And they are expensive. \u00c2\u00a0States that are not so generous with taxpayer dollars, states like to tout their low tax burden, are not going to have such incentives to offer. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stepping back, in terms of state and federal policy priorities, the most obvious knob is straight up funding for child welfare services. \u00c2\u00a0This puts our legislatures in a position to set the priorities of these services in terms of funding. \u00c2\u00a0Underfunded and understaffed departments won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to keep up. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, these kids are going to need services. \u00c2\u00a0They tend to enter the system with physical, psychological and developmental complications far beyond their typical peers. \u00c2\u00a0But education is also a major funding sink for local and state governments. \u00c2\u00a0Public school budgets bear the burden of special education needs, as they carry a mandate to provide services to children who need them. \u00c2\u00a0Private schools are under no obligation to provide such services. \u00c2\u00a0What happens to that budget when we start picking away public school funding for voucher programs? \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Public schools will struggle to provide services, and adoptive parents will struggle to make due without. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

And what about health care services? \u00c2\u00a0These kids can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get on their parents\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 plan because while they are in foster care <\/span><\/span><\/span>their legal guardian is the state<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span>. \u00c2\u00a0So the state foots their bills; in MA, for example, they get Medicaid. \u00c2\u00a0But Medicaid funding is clearly not immune to politics. \u00c2\u00a0If it suffers, so do they. \u00c2\u00a0Cuts to budgets will impact reimbursement rates, and those rates drive the number of providers offering their services. \u00c2\u00a0If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe we, as a nation, would ever endanger funding for children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health care, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d refer you to the fact that <\/span><\/span><\/span>we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re already doing so<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.
\n<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Too often, when we talk about the welfare state, our conversation focuses on personal responsibility. \u00c2\u00a0On individuals who find themselves dependent on the government because of personal choice. \u00c2\u00a0Dead beats. \u00c2\u00a0Welfare queens. \u00c2\u00a0Well, the <\/span><\/span><\/span>real<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span> welfare queens are actually princesses, and they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seek this lot. \u00c2\u00a0These children provide the most lucid justification for the social safety net. \u00c2\u00a0The free market? \u00c2\u00a0The invisible hand? \u00c2\u00a0It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t give a shit about them, whether they can eat, see a doctor, go to college, or find a safe forever home. \u00c2\u00a0It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s up to us, the public, to decide how to react to this situation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our policy decisions in this area revolve around creating an incentive for prospective parents to adopt a child by ensuring a certain level of support. \u00c2\u00a0The robustness of these support structures will determine the strength of the incentives generated. \u00c2\u00a0Every policy choice even tangentially related to child care will have an impact on the number of families willing to make this commitment. \u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What Do We Want?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s take a moment to step away from details and get purely idealistic. \u00c2\u00a0Look back on those two graphs. \u00c2\u00a0The number of children entering foster care should be vanishingly low. \u00c2\u00a0And the number of adoptions should hold at a level to cover the removals that were truly unpreventable. \u00c2\u00a0That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a close to a perfect world as we can get.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll acknowledge that our world is far from perfect. \u00c2\u00a0But these ideals should form the foundational principles of what we wish to achieve. \u00c2\u00a0A moral compass that we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t lose sight of. \u00c2\u00a0Because if we look hard enough, we can find connections to these goals wherever we look.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Everything you think that matters flows down into this. \u00c2\u00a0Whether it is a crisis driving the swelling ranks of children removed from their homes, a support structure that could have been in place to mitigate it, or a challenge these children face on their path forward, every issue trickles down to them. \u00c2\u00a0These young people, who have had so little agency over their own fates, are depending on us. \u00c2\u00a0Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s choose carefully.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I drew inspiration to write this after listening to two excellent podcasts. \u00c2\u00a0 On an older episode of Pod Save the People, the hosts discussed a New York Times story detailing racial disparities in how child protective services were being utilized (Skip to 0:10:50). \u00c2\u00a0Embedded in this discussion was the fact that the number of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":343,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morsepower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}