The Conversation: Profs. Augsberger & Collins Say Child Welfare System Failures Are Due to Child Poverty
Despite the federal government’s efforts to improve the child welfare system over the past few decades, the system’s deeply ingrained issues prevail due to child poverty. In a recent op-ed, child welfare experts Profs. Astraea Augsberger and Mary Collins explain that until the government addresses the underlying issue of poverty, children in the welfare system will be more susceptible to neglect and abuse. In addition, they highlight how positively engaging families can promote child well-being: “We’ve also observed that it helps when authorities engage parents as partners committed to the well-being of their own kids.”
Excerpt from “US Child Welfare System Is Falling Short Because of Persistent Child Poverty” by Astraea Augsberger and Mary Collins, originally published in The Conversation:
Many child welfare policies actually make life harder for the parents and children swept up in the system.
One egregious example is authorities’ placing children in foster care and billing parents for its cost. This practice, which happens in every state, can obstruct and delay family reunification.
State systems also have taken the Social Security survivors benefits of some children in foster care not to support those kids, but to finance the child welfare system’s operations. This is reportedly happening in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
And there are accounts of deeply engaged parents who say they were essentially forced to surrender custody to the state so their child could get mental health care services they could not afford.”