To keep children safe, continue DHS reforms
DHS had lost the sense of its primary mission, to keep children safe. Confusion in the division of labor between city workers and private providers left gaps in too many cases.
The Philadelphia Department of Human Services reorganized service delivery in the aftermath of the grim and horrible death of Danieal Kelly in 2006, with sweeping changes that have been years in the making. Next year a new mayor can potentially change all that — again.
Large-scale systems transformations in child welfare are notably difficult to create or sustain, and often fall victim to the differing priorities of new administrations. It is important that hard-won improvements be preserved and that reform continue.
The latest reform, Improving Outcomes for Children, transferred case-management services to 10 regional, private agencies. DHS performs the initial investigation, and the courts make many critical decisions about a child's care. But the actual services are provided by the private agencies, preferably close to where the child lives, where familiarity may breed success.
This reform didn't come out of nowhere. The investigation by the Mayor's Child Welfare Review Panel following Danieal's death refocused attention on child safety, community involvement, and accountability. The panel found that DHS had lost the sense of its primary mission, to keep children safe. Confusion in the division of labor between city workers and private providers left gaps in too many cases. Too often we heard from professionals and concerned citizens: "I called … and no one answered."
The recommendation to focus on safety at DHS became paramount. It was concluded that Danieal died, in large part, because the "good" workers on the case (as distinguished from the criminally convicted ones) were focused on too many important but collateral issues, such as school enrollment and immunizations of siblings. They lost sight of the fundamental need to protect a vulnerable child. Now, in every dependency hearing, someone who has personally seen the child in the last 30 days must testify as to whether the child is safe and whether his or her needs are being met. Safety testimony has become an important and routine element of court review.
More broadly, DHS needed to move away from being an all-purpose anti-poverty agency. Some interventions in low-threat cases would have to be declined or referred to others.
A seamless implementation of the panel's recommendations took place under both Mayors John Street and Michael Nutter. The Kenney administration should maintain the best of the new model while making refinements, including the following.
Get through the transition. With more than 75 percent of cases, or more than 9,500 children, moved to private agencies, it seems untenable to go back to centralized DHS case management and expansive private provider contracting. The long-anticipated right-sizing of the DHS workforce has not yet occurred. Most observers believe that the new model cannot be sustained unless DHS gets out of case management — and presumably employs fewer people. This reform initiative needs to get through its difficult transition and become the only model of child-welfare practice in Philadelphia.
Fine-tune design. Previously, siblings could be served by different workers or even teams, forcing parents and advocates to engage a bewildering array of professionals. New versions of this problem have emerged and so the division of labor should be resolved to allow greater flexibility and innovation.
Slow intake. After some promising advances to reduce the numbers of children in out-of-home care, Philadelphia's child-welfare system has swelled in numbers in the last two years. Part of the rise can be attributed to increased intake (i.e., calls to the Hotline) as a response to post-Sandusky legislative reforms. We have also lost some of the focus on safety at the "front end" of intake and investigations. For those children and families who have no safety issues, we must offer meaningful referrals for parenting, clinical services, and child-abuse prevention, and not unnecessarily remove children from the home.
Improve practice. The middle months or years of a case — featuring permanency planning; service referrals and enrollments; home visitation by workers; parent and sibling visitation; and court appearance and reporting — need continued improvement in social worker practice. Training, supervision, practice coaching, and performance monitoring should all continue at robust levels for the private agency employees.
Focus on permanency. Shrink the "back end" of the system by focusing on permanency and other safe closures. The assignment of tasks and timelines — who is responsible for what and when — should be among the more accessible and concrete elements of a "fix" in case procedure. Delays that keep cases involved with court too long, and otherwise clog the back end of the system, must be resolved.
Use data. To be truly accountable, the system needs a new set of norms to make clear what we are doing right and what is unacceptable and or needs improvement. Administrative oversight at DHS and the private agencies was supposed to have authority and teeth, informed by online real-time data on referrals for service and wait times, while also setting up performance appraisal. The community needs to know that children are safe and their needs are being met.
All systems are dynamic — lots of moving parts and competing ideas. It is our mandate as a community to hold the system responsible, continue to push for growth and change, and participate fully in that evolution. The work of change is never finished but the system is on the right path.
Frank P. Cervone is executive director of the Support Center for Child Advocates and was a member of the Mayor's Child Welfare Review Panel. fcervone@advokid.org