MANAGEMENT UPDATE.

WEAK OVERSIGHT OF FOSTER CHILDREN IN RESIDENTIAL CARE

Children in foster care are a very vulnerable population, as there are few effective ways for them to speak up for themselves. As a result, they rely on oversight from state governments to ensure they receive proper care. Sadly, in many cases, this oversight is lacking, according to a new report by the Office of the Inspector General for the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Here are some of the bleak highlights from the OIG’s recent research report, headlined “Many States Lack Information To Monitor Maltreatment in Residential Facilities for Children in Foster Care.” (Much of the following is taken verbatim from the report.)

Many States reported missing or incomplete information in key areas that could support enhanced oversight of residential facilities for children, although collecting and sharing this information is not required by Federal law.
Nearly one-third of States could not identify patterns of maltreatment in residential facilities within their State.
The other two-thirds of States were able to report some information about the occurrence of multiple reports of maltreatment within facilities and across chains of facilities. However, many of these States did not provide clear indications as to whether they routinely monitored for patterns or trends of maltreatment within residential facilities.
Major issues existed in both red and blue states. For example, the eight states which could not identify multiple incidents of maltreatment within a facility included Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
States had limited awareness of maltreatment that occurred across chains of residential facilities operating in multiple states. According to the report, “although this type of monitoring is not required by Federal law, states’ abilities to identify patterns of maltreatment in chains of facilities that operate across multiple states are limited without this information.”
States reported challenges monitoring the safety of children placed in out-of-State residential facilities.
Thirteen States did not consistently report to the national maltreatment database whether children who experienced maltreatment were living in a residential facility.
Alabama and Nevada were the two states that evidenced the least ability to monitor the well being of their foster children in residential care.