'This is our natural disaster': Advocates say Indiana's child welfare system is drowning

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In recent years, dozens of Indiana children have died as a result of abuse or neglect by those who should have protected them. Marisa Kwiatkowski/IndyStar

Several people in Indiana's child welfare system — including Marion Juvenile Court Judge Marilyn Moores — told IndyStar the state is in the middle of a crisis, and "this system is drowning."

The comments came amid virtual silence from Gov. Eric Holcomb's administration on several issues raised in a strongly worded letter of resignation from the director of the Indiana Department of Child Services.

DCS Director Mary Beth Bonaventura, who submitted her resignation last week but remains in charge of the agency until Dec. 27, said cuts to DCS' funding and services are systematically putting children at risk. The director warned Holcomb that a continuation of his office's policies will "all but ensure children will die."

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On Monday, Holcomb told IndyStar he believes the state is taking "appropriate steps," including increasing DCS' budget by $450 million. But Bonaventura indicated DCS hasn't been able to spend all of the money it has been allocated.

Meanwhile, officials in the system say they are being swamped by a 65 percent increase in the number of court cases that allege a child has suffered abuse or neglect since 2010.

Moores said the system is "drowning. Literally drowning."

"We are in the middle of a crisis now," she said. "I’m as penny-pinching a public servant as there is. But I think that we are not just legally but morally bound to serve the least among us, the most vulnerable among us, the children."

This is what Moores and other advocates say Indiana's overburdened system looks like: Children removed from their homes and forced to sleep in a DCS office overnight because there's no emergency shelter. Inadequate mental health services. Kids placed in foster homes located hours from where their cash-strapped parents live, making it even more difficult to reunify families. And too few family case managers to handle the influx of child abuse and neglect reports.

Moores said DCS is understaffed by 100 family case managers in Marion County. If family case managers can't see children in their homes frequently, the children may need to be removed, she said. And if DCS employees can't visit children frequency in foster homes, they may be in danger.

"I have grave concern," Moores said. "Because those cuts — when (Bonaventura) says a child’s life may absolutely hang in the balance, she’s right."

The Republican judge said she met Nov. 6 with three individuals from the governor's office — Chief of Staff Earl Goode, Deputy Chief of Staff Danny Lopez and General Counsel Joe Heerens — to express concern about DCS funding cuts. The governor's office did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.

"I told them that I had huge concerns about the cuts in the prevention funding because that's by and large where the battles get fought to keep kids out of the system," Moores said. "It's way cheaper to do that."

Moores said those officials told her they were trying to flat-line the budget. She said the governor's office could not tell her whether the increase in DCS expenditures was proportional to the influx of children entering care.

The number of children in the system has more than doubled in recent years, to 29,000. Officials attribute much of that increase to opioid addiction. Opioid-related cases burden the child welfare system, DCS officials said, because of the amount of time it takes someone to recover. Cases stay open longer, and relapses are common.

"The most vulnerable in our society are usually the ones that take the brunt of any cuts in the budget," said Connie Rice, a registered nurse who spent the past 11 years working for home health companies that contract with DCS.

Rice said the state needs to decide if it is comfortable not having oversight over these families struggling with addiction. Rice conducted home visits on children in the system who have medical needs, such as a feeding tube or a need for weight monitoring. She said family case managers were difficult to get in touch with because they were stretched so thin.

"Having all of those children suddenly flooding the system has had an undeniable effect on how well we can move through cases," said Cindy Booth, CEO of Child Advocates.

She said her agency, which represents kids in child welfare cases, needs 700 more volunteers. She said it is difficult for her agency and others to keep up.

"This is our natural disaster," said Sharon Pierce, president and CEO of The Villages of Indiana, a nonprofit child and family services agency. "Our tornado. Our tsunami. Our hurricane. ... And just as we watched other communities do, we need to pull out all the stops and provide for our children."

Pierce said she, too, is concerned about the cuts to prevention services that have happened within the last couple of months. Those services — such as helping families identify child care resources or get access to mental health treatment or assistance with electric bills — may keep abuse or neglect from occurring.

"At some point, we all need to be going upstream to see how we can prevent one family at a time," she said.

Call IndyStar reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.

How to help

Visit http://www.in.gov/dcs/fostercare.htm for information on becoming a foster parent.

Visit http://www.childadvocates.net/ for information on becoming a court-appointed special advocate.