OOPS! Guess the column did run in the paper today, so here it is.
As a GAL in this state, I am thrilled that the issue of full staffing for OCS and the need for more foster parents is actually catching some attention, if not more money, down in Juneau. Usually, issues like this take a back seat to gas line talks, revenue projections and whether Mr. Whitekeys should be named the new state fossil.
So I hate to be the one to point out any flaws in this plan to hire more social workers, but I will. The simple fact is that if you increase the number of social workers, you increase the intake valve of the system so it can handle more cases earlier with more attention to detail. That intake of families with problems gets fed down a pipeline that narrows dramatically as you reach the middle. Simply put, there aren’t enough services to meet the needs of families already in the pipeline, let alone adding to the number.
Families with domestic violence and/or substance abuse problems have enormous needs. To reunite a family, those needs must be met in as short a time as possible. Study after study has shown that damage to children starts pretty early when they are in a drunken, abusive atmosphere. Pull them out and plop them into a stranger’s home and, no matter how loving and kind that foster family might be, you compound the damage even though it has to be done for the child’s safety. So you have a very narrow window to do the work needed to keep a family together in a healthy fashion that promotes the welfare of the child.
Healing families with these problems takes a lot of human resources. You need family counselors, addiction counselors, domestic violence counselors, parenting counselors…well, you get the picture. It not only take a lot of human resources to reunite the family, but it then takes a lot of continuing resources to support the family so there is no relapse. Because even worse than taking a child from a family the first time is repeated removals from the home which leaves a child’s sense of security and safety blown to bits.
Unfortunately, what we have the least of in this state is what we need the most of, especially if we plan to increase the number of social workers so that we can reach more troubled families earlier. We already have long waiting lists for the few programs available in the state.
So the question that must be asked is how long we think even the most accomplished of social workers can keep a family from imploding when they are on a waiting list of six to eight months for the services the family needs to start healing.
There was a push a few decades ago when we were flush with oil money to make services locally available throughout the state and to make them culturally relevant. That dream was one of the first victims of our falling revenues. While some programs still exist in the Bush, most are now in urban centers since that makes the most financial sense.
So the situation we have today is an overwhelming amount of need and a very finite amount of resources to fill that need. What that means for the future is that for every cent we don’t allocate today to help families in need, we will spend five time that amount when these children grow up. Because study after study shows that these are the people who fill our prisons, psychiatric hospitals and substance abuse treatment facilities. These are the people who all too often grow up to be non-productive members of our society who drain our coffers without offering any return on our dollars. If we help when they are little, at least we have some hope that they will enter society as healthy, contributing members.
When you are a troubled family with multiple substance abuse problems and domestic violence issues waiting for an opening in a crowded facility, each day that you wait is another day when you can slide back into total chaos. And each slide backwards is a devastating blow to any child in that home trying to make sense of life and how it should be lived.
Social workers are not miracle workers. No matter how many you have, if you don’t have the support services they need to offer to these families, it’s like sending a soldier into battle with a thousand comrades and no weapons. You’ve lost before the enemy has even been engaged.