THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
I can understand citizens' concern and frustration when they read what is often a one-sided opinion of issues involved in child-protective and foster-care cases.
Your recent report on a child-abuse case in Virginia Beach was misleading. One would believe that the Department of Social Services has unilateral and unchecked control over what occurs with families in crisis and that decisions are made and acted upon casually.
The truth is that the law and procedures that govern the foster-care program are very specific. Public law 96-272 mandates that for any child in foster care, the initial efforts of the social worker must be focused on reuniting the family.
The law further mandates that workers must be able to demonstrate that they have made every effort to accomplish this mandate before the courts.
Often our department provides counseling via private agencies, and pays such organizations to go into client homes regularly to monitor and model positive behaviors.
We also send families to parenting classes and therapy and require other activities to prepare them for responsible parenting.
Only after consultation with a number of trained professionals and other trained volunteers like the Court Appointed Special Advocate workers do we consider returning a child to his/her home. In order to return a child to the family, the agency must appear before a judge and present a plan for the child that satisfies the courts.
Child abuse is very serious; however, no agency can maintain physical custody of all the children who have been reported as abused or neglected. We would have literally thousands of children in the custody of agencies without places or money to maintain them. Good foster homes are becoming more difficult to recruit, and recent high-level discussions to return to orphanages is very debatable.
It is convenient to blame the Department of Social Services and make it a scapegoat for our society's failures. Maybe the more appropriate issues to be debated should be the laws that mandate Social Services' actions and the lack of sufficient state and federal funds which prevent agencies from being able to provide the quantity and intensity of services really needed.
A responsible media would address these real issues and not attempt to mislead the public with inaccurate information. Attacks and finger-pointing do not help anyone. But presenting the accurate views of each side involved in a case would educate the public and would give it an opportunity to fully evaluate the matter under discussion.
Helpful are volunteers who roll up their sleeves and try to make a complex system better. Helpful is repeal of laws that restrict worker creativity and the ability to defend themselves when they have complied with the law.
Also helpful is the provision of sufficient funding to secure personnel, training and other necessary resources. Social Services agrees with the right of the public to know about the functions of a publicly funded agency. We believe that the media have a responsibility to ensure balance and fairness in all of their reporting.
DANIEL M. STONE, director
Department of Social Services
Virginia Beach, Nov. 25, 1994 by CNB