Panel pushes for changes at DFYS
ANCHORAGE - An advisory panel says the state's child protection system should put more emphasis on families, streamline record keeping, hire more caseworkers and provide additional services including alcohol treatment and counseling.
The 17-member commission was appointed by Gov. Tony Knowles in August to draft a recommendations for the next governor and Legislature.
The panel included the head of DFYS, the chancellor of the University of Alaska Southeast, a parents' attorney, an adoptive parent and tribal officials.
The report, also intended to help guide the political debate this election season, was released Wednesday.
"It would be a qualitatively very, very different sort of system and different relationship between DFYS, the parents and the children," said Elmer Lindstrom, who chaired the commission and is deputy commissioner of the state Department of Health and Social Services.
The document does not tally what it would cost to create the system envisioned by the commission, nor does it guide state officials on how to get the money.
Additional caseworkers and expanded services, such as alcohol treatment and counseling, would likely be phased in over time, Lindstrom said.
One pressing issue is the prospect of losing federal dollars that now pay for DFYS caseworkers and in-home help for families, the report said. The state expects to lose as much as $12 million from its federal welfare block grant because there are many fewer people on welfare than when reforms began in the 1990s.
"Clearly, helping these children and their families presents a complex challenge, and one that is not likely to be easily or quickly resolved. Equally clearly, the problem will only get worse unless the people of the state of Alaska commit themselves to addressing the issues ..." the commission said.
The panel found the Knowles administration's efforts have produced results, largely focused on investigating initial reports of children in danger and on helping the children who have languished in foster care, Lindstrom said.
With more caseworkers, DFYS is investigating about 90 percent of reports of abuse or neglect, compared with about three-quarters five years ago.
The problem of children drifting for years in foster care is being addressed through a project that has resulted in hundreds of long-term foster children being reunited with parents and hundreds of others being adopted or getting permanent guardians, the report said.
The new push would help the families in the middle, those troubled but able to keep the children at home and those whose children have recently been taken away, Lindstrom said Wednesday.
An intensive federal review of DFYS released last month identified problems including a high rate of repeat abuse and neglect and a failure to do enough for families before taking away the children.