Normer Adams: Data Matters

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"Anything worth doing is worth measuring," is the philosophy of the Fostering Court Improvement. Fostering Court Improvement is a non-profit organization that uses data to assist Dependency Courts and Child Welfare Agencies in making informed decisions, managing their operations, monitoring their performance and making systemic changes to improve outcomes for children and families. Their roots and founding are in Georgia. Georgia's own Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic at Emory University works very closely with the Family Research Center at the University of Illinois to refine data so that it is usable and accessible to the courts and child welfare agencies.  It is a terrific resource to our State and those involved in advocacy for the wellbeing of children in Georgia. They have an excellent website that has the latest information concerning many states including Georgia. Georgia's data is very informative and complete.  Data is sorted by county, region, judicial circuit and judicial district.  Comparisons can be made relative to how counties are doing in comparison to each other. Did you know that in regard to counties per 10,000 residents that:

Children subject to maltreatment investigations - Lanier County was the highest (55.5) and Webster County was the lowest number of investigations (0).

Young Sex Offenders May Skip Public Registry

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Under new rules from the Justice Department, juvenile sex offenders may not have to appear on the public sex offender registry. States now have options to shield juveniles, according to Youth Today. This shift in policy loosens up requirements of The Adam Walsh Act, which creates a national sex offender database.  Originally the government  mandated that all teens 14 or older, convicted of aggravated sexual assault, must appear on the registry. In May, the Justice Department gave states the choice to exempt children whose cases are handled in juvenile court.  Georgia did not put juveniles on the sex offender registry before the Walsh Act.  And now the new state sex offender law enacted May 29th says “conduct which is adjudicated in juvenile court shall not be considered a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor." Georgia is one of 47 states that have not officially complied with the Walsh Act.

Letter from Prison

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Michael Cabral got his GED last year while serving 15 to life for murder.  On the back of his diploma he proudly wrote: “One step closer to home.”  And that’s not all Cabral is writing. He joined a writing workshop called The Beat Within, which encourages young people in prison to share their ideas and life experiences with writing instructors. The program changed him. From his cell in a California prison Cabral wrote this letter, which The Beat Within has shared with us:

Mi Carnalito,

Where do I begin? I was recently told a little bit about you by a mutual friend who is very concerned for you.

Atlanta to Host Child Abuse and Neglect Institute

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The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges will bring the Child Abuse and Neglect Institute to Atlanta. The event will take place at the Georgia State University Law School, October 12-15, 2010. 

From their flier:

“This week-long training program for dependency court judges brings together national and local faculty to teach on core topics including hearing practice, child development, substance abuse, and cutting–edge court improvement developments, among other topics.”

For more information contact  Julianna Ormsby, Sr. Program Manager for Training & Technical Assistance at jormsby@ncjfcj.org or Tracy Cooper, Information Specialist at tcooper@ncjfcj.org.

Teens and Violent Crime

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The percentage of teens committing violent crimes remains steady at 12% nationwide. The proportions of forcible rape, aggravated assaults, murders and robberies have fluctuated only by 1 to 2% over the past decade, according to the Justice Department. These statistics are compiled by the FBI in its annual Crime in the United States.

New bullying law: Will it be enough?

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Now that Georgia has one of the toughest anti-bullying laws in the nation, school administrators have new responsibilities:

Investigate incidents – not just in the school yard, but also online. Notify parents of both bullies and victims.
Develop anti-bullying policies for schools, including the elementary level. The tougher law comes in the wake of two deaths in Georgia.  High School junior Tyler Long took his own life last October.  His family has filed a wrongful death suit against the Murray County school district, claiming he was bullied at school for years and school officials failed to intervene.   11 year old Jaheem Herrara also killed himself last year in DeKalb County.  Jaheem’s parents says his elementary school knew about repeated harassment and did nothing to stop it. Will new school intervention strategies be enough?   Newsweek.com reports that no U.S. program has been shown to significantly reduce bullying.  Finland and Norway are taking a different approach:  Lessons on stereotyping and emotional IQ are part of the daily curriculum. And for one more take on the issue, Psychotherapist Carol Smaldino writes about Georgia’s new law in the HuffingtonPost.com.

Normer Adams: How Are We Doing?

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Ed Koch, former New York City Mayor, was famous for asking, "How am I doing?"  He would ask anyone from the man on the street to the highly paid Wall Street executive.  Feedback was important to him.  Feedback should be important to all of us, especially those who work in the area of child welfare. Ask anyone in Georgia, how is Georgia's child welfare system is doing and the feedback will be a mixed bag.  The feedback lately, is coming back mostly positive.  It is hard to deny numbers delivered through child welfare performance based management that have survived the scrutiny of five years.   The numbers are lending a voice to "Georgia is doing pretty good."  Child abuse reports are down, the number of children coming into foster care is down.  Since 2008 the number of children exiting foster care has exceeded the number entering by more than a thousand.  The number of children in foster care in 2005 was nearly 14,000--now that number is below 8,000.  Even though the numbers of foster children nationally are down, not all states can claim reductions in the number of children in foster care. Georgia has received some national attention for the work that they have done in this regard.  A Washington Post article spotlighted Georgia as one of the States that has cut foster care populations while at the same time has kept children more safe.  B.J. Walker, Commissioner of DHS, said in that article that a thorough approach at the front end and supporting high-risk families without removing children was the key to making it happen. Everyone would agree that children should only be brought into care when it is unsafe to keep them at home.  The holy grail of child welfare is to reduce the number of children in Georgia's foster care system while keeping them safe at home.  Georgia seems to be doing this very well.  The percent of children that experienced repeat maltreatment in 2005 was 8%.  While everyone acknowledges that no child should ever experience maltreatment while under the supervision of the state, the National standard for that measure is just above 5%.  Georgia's present rate is just above 2%.  These are incredible accomplishments for Georgia's child welfare system in a relatively short period of time. Family centered practices are credited with much of this improvement.  Families are expected to be responsible for the care of their own children.  In spite of economic strains, Georgia is providing more supports to families.  When this all began, Georgia was only giving about 10,000 families support.  Presently about 25,000 are receiving some type of family supports.  These supports include anything from parent training to day care to crisis management to connections to food stamps.  Virtually all families want to care for their children if given the supports to do so.

Collateral Consequences

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The American Bar Association wants to show teenagers how minor crime can have big consequences that last a lifetime.  A new project will soon give children, families, attorneys and judges information about the collateral consequences of crimes and legal decisions.  Should a child take a plea or go to trial?  How will certain choices affect their prospects for staying in school, going to college or getting a job? The Collateral Consequences Project is creating a nationwide resource online that will spell out many of the consequences for children, based on the laws of each state.  Lawyers and researchers have been gathering information for more than a year.   By early fall, they expect to roll out a website with state-by-state sections, and printable files.   “The goal is to create a resource for public defenders, prosecutors, judges, children, parents and policy makers,” says Kate Richtman, chair of the ABA’s Juvenile Justice Committee. A key feature of the project will be cards called Think  About  It, that public defenders, court officers and non-profit programs can hand out.  The State Bar of Georgia plans to distribute Think About It cards to 8th graders in the public schools, because that’s when they learn about the justice system.  Deborah Craytor, Director of Law Related Education for the State Bar of Georgia says, “We want to put one in the hand of every child every year.”

The Collateral Consequences Project arose out of a discussion between Richtman, who is also Chief Juvenile Prosecutor in St. Paul, MN, and Christopher Gowen, Senior Staff Attorney at the ABA.

Gay teens face violence behind bars

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Gay teens are sent to prison in disproportionate numbers and face violence and discrimination inside, according to a report in The Nation. Attorney Daniel Redman, from the National Center for Lesbian Rights, writes about antigay policies across the country.  He says gay kids are twice as likely as straight kids to land in prison for nonviolent offenses such as truancy, running away and prostitution, and they face hostility from peers and prison guards.  One teen serving time in Louisiana told researchers, “I was scared to sleep at night because I didn’t know if I was going to wake up in the morning.”

Grant targets status offenders

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The Coalition for Juvenile Justice just got a $95,000 grant to guide states on how to keep status offenders out of detention.   The Coalition is on a new list of groups getting grants this year from The Public Welfare Foundation in Washington, DC.  The Foundation is giving $2.6 million to organizations in the juvenile justice field this year. The Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta got a $300,000 grant to fund litigation aimed at reducing the rate of incarceration in Georgia and Alabama.  The organization provides lawyers for people facing the death penalty and challenges human rights violations in prisons and jails. For the entire list of grants, click here.