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16
When I saw this article on below the fold of the NYT’s front page, before I read a word, I thought, “They better mention CCDCFS, because I know we’ve been doing this forever.”
Sure enough, CCDCFS, aka Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, and its director Jim McCafferty, get excellent play in the article.
In an effort to correct dysfunctional foster care systems, a growing number of child welfare agencies around the country are reaching outside their ranks to involve troubled families and the people in their lives in wrenching decisions about where endangered children should live.
Some agencies find that by enlisting help from grandparents, church members, school counselors and sports coaches, they can reach faster, safer and more lasting decisions that result in fewer children languishing in foster care. Under the practice, known as team decision making, a group is assembled within 24 to 48 hours after a state agency is called into a crisis situation.
Programs exist in at least 21 states. Indiana, Michigan and Tennessee have adopted the team-approach statewide, while other programs are run at the county level. Officials in Denver County, Colo., credit the team approach for a 32 percent drop in out-of-home placements since 2002. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the program has reduced the number of children in foster care by more than half since 2001. Tennessee has reduced the number of children in state care by more than 1,000 since March 2004, when there were 10,600 in the system.
…
No comprehensive long-term studies have been conducted to assess whether the team approach reduces incidents of child abuse. But in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which instituted its program in 1994, Jim McCafferty, director of the county’s Department of Children and Family Services, credits team meetings with helping reduce the number of children in the system to 2,702 this month from 6,237 in 2001, when the county’s largest city, Cleveland, was rebounding from a crack epidemic. The number of children re-entering the system within 18 months dropped to 9 percent in 2004 from 16 percent in 1996.
I’m proud to say that during my eight years with Bellefaire JCB, I often knew about and occassionally attended team meetings. It’s the kind of thing you say, I can’t believe people haven’t always done this.
However, to put this approach which emphasizes making efforts at reunification, as opposed to keeping a child in foster care and terminating parental rights in perspective, it’s important to remember that, as some commenters in the article imply, the pendulum does swing: it goes from being too cautious about putting kids back in the home and therefore terminating rights of and efforts with parents way too early, before change can take root, back to leaving the kids or placing them back with the parents before the parents – or the kids – are ready to be reunited.
The goal, overall, has been money-driven, there’s no denying that, in addition to wanting to do what’s best for the children. But out of home care is expensive, state budgets cut and cut and cut, and federal programs are minimal to non-existent. And so it should be noted that another reason for success here is the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which has provided millions of dollars of support here.
Finally, what I liked the most about the article? The anguish on the face of the Tennessee director, on the front page of the Times. Because let me tell you, if you’ve ever been involved in one of these cases, you see that kind of expression a lot, and you feel that expression a lot.
Thanks to McCafferty and the thousands of social workers – county and nonprofit and school and otherwise. Well done. Talk about unsung heroes. And, let me also add, in McCafferty, we get what we need – this man has spent at least 15-20 years in this field. He’s not swapping around looking for other cabinet positions or political office. I don’t know him well at all, but I’ve met him enough times and been involved with the department enough to say, he has a genuine dedication to his work. And in his field of work, you can’t succeed without that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:27 pm December 16th, 2006 in Politics
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5 Responses to “NYT touts Cuyahoga County Dept. of Children & Family Services”
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I hope Strickland does not try to lure him to Columbus.
Unsung indeed. If only folks like this guy garnered the attention that we lavish on big name politicos. Good to see our county getting some respect for something. Thanks Jill.
Jill,
This is no longer restricted to the F2F program in Cuyahoga. Statewide initiatives such as the Family and Systems Teams funding stream (FAST$) and the constantly evolving Family Service Coordination process outlined in H.B. 66 are not only involving the family in decision making, but providing advocacy and support to the families making these decisions, statewide.
First Anon – I couldn’t agree more! ALTHOUGH…then again, I would HOPE that he has some good folks following him, watching him – he can’t be the only good egg, you know? And this state sure could use a good clean-up. Would he go to the Office of Children and Family now under Jobs & Family Services?
Anon re: happening statewide: thanks. I’m sure you’re right. As I noted above, I’m out of the loop for the most part even though I try to follow. But I can tell you that when I worked at juvie court in 1989, I was working on assessment of the PACT program and similar ones which were just being piloted – those are the 24/7 programs for 45-90 days. I don’t know what they look like now but they were used when kids went back into the home or as a last ditch effort when a home seemed to be breaking up.