At least $34 million needs to be found to make fixes, officials say
Natalie Chandler • natalie.chandler@clarionledger.com
Mississippi’s child welfare agency characterized its caseworker load three years ago as “beyond danger” in a number of regions, but state lawmakers said then they didn’t have the money to hire additional help.
A recent settlement of a lawsuit that requires the state to fix its backlogged foster-care program, at an estimated cost of at least $34 million, has renewed some lawmakers’ attention, though.
The ambitious agreement, which still needs a federal judge’s approval, requires the state to hire more caseworkers and limit their workloads. Mississippi also must increase hiring standards and enhance medical and educational services for foster children. A 24-hour hot line to report abuse must be set up, and the Department of Human Services must be accredited by the national Council of Accreditation.
Lawmakers pledged support after the agreement was announced Nov. 8. The issue surfaced again during legislative budget meetings last week, but lawmakers said they’re not sure where they’ll find the money.
State agencies have requested more than $500 million for the next fiscal year, but the state has less than $200 million to spend, they said.
“We’re in a hole in Medicaid , … and you just added to the litany of budget woes,” said House Public Health and Human Services Chairman Steve Holland, D-Plantersville. “But it’s not going to be something that’s going to be swept under the table.”
Holland, who helped raise a foster child, added, “I will, quite frequently, remind folks of the need.”
The suit alleged poorly trained and overworked caseworkers and a shortage of safe foster homes. Some of the state’s 3,500 foster children have been sexually abused and denied adequate medical care, the lawsuit said.
A DHS spokeswoman said the agency will be able to increase payments to foster parents by 25 percent in January because of funds received last year. The state is more than 70 percent below the recommended reimbursement level, according to a national report released last month.
“We are currently evaluating our staffing needs in relation to (the settlement) guidelines,” spokeswoman Julia Bryan wrote in an e-mailed response to questions.
Agency officials would not provide current staffing numbers. An analysis commissioned by DHS found social workers handle an average of 44 cases apiece, three times the recommended number.
The settlement calls for DHS to limit caseloads to 14 cases per worker.
If legislators don’t provide money for more workers, “Children will remain at risk, county workers will continue to be overloaded and DHS will continue to be stretched too thin to meet the needs of foster children in Mississippi,” said Kelly Wilson, project director of Trauma Recovery for Youth Project at Catholic Charities.
“Both sides of the Senate and House are committed to funding it,” said House Appropriations Committee member Cecil Brown, a Democrat from Jackson.
Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, said, “We have a moral obligation to step up and meet our end of the agreement.”
A federal monitor will review whether Mississippi makes progress. But some wonder if that will be enough.
More than two years after the state settled a federal lawsuit over allegations of abuse at its training schools for youth offenders, a monitor is still finding that corrections need to be made.
Attorneys with the Mississippi Youth Justice Project earlier this year filed suit over allegations of girls being shackled and guards seeking sexual favors at Columbia Training School.
Many children in the juvenile justice system were once in the foster care program, said Sheila Bedi, an attorney for the group.
“So these systems really need to work together and coordinate,” she said. “But the two systems have been working in isolation.”
Lawsuits aren’t always effective in forcing a state to take action, Bedi said.
“Working with the state is the way to make sure things are done,” she said.
It’s up to Gov. Haley Barbour and DHS Executive Director Don Taylor, defendants in the lawsuit, to lobby the Legislature for changes, said Eric Thompson, an attorney for the New York-based advocacy group Children’s Rights Inc. that filed the foster care lawsuit.
If the state doesn’t comply, “it will be up to the court to decide what sanctions, if any, should be imposed,” he said