In the wake of the homicides of two toddlers in the Department for Children and Families caseload less than two months apart, Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Wednesday measures to protect vulnerable children from abuse.
Shumlin was adamant that the steps are not a response to details of either the Dezirae Sheldon or Peighton Geraw cases, which are still under investigation, but an acknowledgement of systemic pressures on DCF.
Going forward, the DCF central office will be required review cases of physical abuse when reunification with the parent may be considered.
Shumlin called on Agency of Human Services Secretary Doug Racine to prepare a report, due in August, to examine whether it makes sense to pare back DCF to focus on its core mission of protecting children and strengthening families.
Over the past decade the department has taken on eligibility determinations and oversight of an array of safety net services for more than 200,000 Vermonters.
DCF Deputy Commissioner Reeva Murphy, DCF Comissioner Dave Yacavone, Gov. Peter Shumlin, and AHS Secretary Doug Racine in February 2013. VTDigger file photo
Shumlin said DCF will recruit 18 social workers starting in July as well as six substance abuse screeners. DCF employees and other relevant state workers will get additional training on how to handle cases that involve addiction and its impact on young children.
The governor drew a strong connection between the increased jeopardy to Vermont children and the rise in opiate addiction, an issue he has made a priority this year.
“I think it’s fair to say that addiction, and opiate addiction in particular, has brought a level of threat to the children of people who are addicted that is different than the kind of threat that we faced most often when I was growing up in Vermont,” Shumlin said.
“As long addiction continues to rise, you can bet that the caseload will continue to rise,” he added.
Reports of child abuse have doubled in the past five years in proportion to the number of substantiated cases of child abuse, said Cindy Walcott, DCF deputy commissioner.
Following the abduction and killing of 12-year-old Brooke Bennett in 2008, there was a concerted effort to increase awareness and improve training for “mandated reporters” — people such as nurses, clinicians, teachers and coaches who are legally required to report signs of abuse.
Increased reporting of abuse has led to increased substantiation, but there has not been an increase in DCF funding.
During the same period that DCF saw its caseload double, its central office staff was reduced from 96 to 66, said David Yacovone, DCF commissioner. His department, like other areas of state government, is a victim of recessionary budgets the last five years, he said.
“We made every effort we could, always, when we were downsizing not to diminish our district offices in the field, but instead to reduce our administrative infrastructure, and that has limits,” Yacovone said.
Shumlin’s measures are an improvement, he said, and will strengthen the central office’s oversight capabilities but won’t bring the department’s resources back to pre-recession levels.
Though the caseload has increased dramatically, the number of children in protective custody during the same period has remained stable at roughly 1,000.
Instead of placing more children in state custody, the department has increased the number of “open cases.” In an open case, a child is determined to be at a “high or very high risk of maltreatment,” and some intervention is warranted, but the state does not try to extricate the child.
In the past three or four years, the number of open cases has increased from roughly 80 families to more than 450, representing 1,200 children, Yacovone said.
“That was an intentional policy decision,” he said. “Parents should never have to lose custody of their child to the state in order to get help for their child from the state.”
Asked if his department places too much value on family reunification, Yacovone said he had looked at statistics and doesn’t think that is the case.
Last year, in roughly 200 custody cases of children age 2 or younger, close to 50 percent were reunited with a parent. Over the past five years that figure is 56 percent, according to Yacovone. If the figure were closer to 10 or 90 percent, it would indicate a bias in his department one way or another, he said.
Yacovone added that DCF doesn’t make unilateral decisions to take a child into custody or to release them to the parents. Those decisions are subject to judicial review, and other stakeholders have a voice in that process.
The steps Shumlin identified will be budget neutral, according to Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding.
The $1.6 million to fund these initiatives will come from caseload savings in the Reach Up program, federal matching funds and an offset by relying on full-time instead of temporary employees, Spaulding said.
A “Position Pilot Program” included in the FY ’15 budget allows DCF and several other departments to “manage to the bottom line,” or spend as the commissioner sees fit, provided they stay within their budget, Spaulding said.
The Reach Up caseload savings came to light at the end of the legislative session, and are expected to be ongoing, Spaulding said. Those savings should allow DCF to move forward with the governor’s plan, he said.
Some of the Reach Up caseload savings are expected to be used to increase benefits to recipients, to reduce what’s know as the “benefits cliff,” and Shumlin said that will not change as a result of this initiative.
The governor noted that additional steps could be taken in the coming months pending the results of the criminal investigation and a report from a special legislative investigation into DCF practices.
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