RE: Standards for substantiation of abuse in foster care

["Walter Fahr" <Fswalter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

In Louisiana we have had a category called Out of Home Care Deficiencies which has categories of     

Denial of Civil Rights
Failure to Report Child Abuse/Neglect
Inappropriate Restraint
Use of Corporal Punishment
Violation of Licensing Requirements
Other Out of Home Child Care Deficiencies.

We have used these categories for many years to distinguish from intrafamilial child maltreatment and to exclude such incidents in counts of out-of home maltreatment. These are incidents that are unique to out of home care.

Walter Fahr
CPS Program Manager
State of Louisiana

>>> CELESTE.JORGE@po.state.ct.us 11/14/01 09:53AM >>>
On behalf of Eileen Breslin, Connecticut Dept Children & Families:

CT is struggling with the difference between abuse/neglect in foster care
and regulatory violations.  We have an investigations committee exploring
these issues. 

Additionally, CT has a problem gathering the perpetrator information
correctly, as our SACWIS is designed to identify all relationships to the
'reference person,' that is, the youngest person in the family.  That person
may not be the victim, so our perpetrator relationships are not 100%
accurate.

It appears that current living arrangement is one of the sources for
abuse/neglect in foster care in our NCANDS reports.   However, children can
disclose prior abuse and neglect by parents while they are in foster care,
so the current living arrangement is the wrong element to include in the
extraction of this data. That is increasing the incidence for us. 

I spent last week in DC with the states, some of whom have been reviewed
already, and this data element is a huge area of concern for all of us.
Date of report and investigation does not provide us with information about
the actual incident date of the abuse or neglect. 

Celeste F. P. Jorge
Research Analyst
Connecticut Dept. of Children & Families
Voice: 860-560-5063 Fax: 860-550-6541
celeste.jorge@po.state.ct.us 


-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Lyons [mailto:SWOPXL@langate.gsu.edu] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 12:35 PM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: Standards for substantiation of abuse in foster care


Georgia has recently undergone the Federal Child and Family Service Review
process and is now writing  a Program Improvement Plan. One issue raised was
the different standard for determining maltreatment in foster care.
Currently the state records any breach of foster care, child discipline
standards as maltreatment. Many incidents would not be recorded as
substantiated maltreatment in the general population, because they would not
rise to the standard of abuse.

As part of the Program Improvement Plan, the state would like to address
this issue by reducing the number of actual incidents, but also by
comparison with practices in other states.

Long preamble - the question is: How do other states record incidents in
foster care that breach foster care discipline standards, but would not be
considered maltreatment, if the child were not in foster care.

This is not to suggest that these incidents (minor physical discipline for
example) should be condoned, or that the state should weazle out of its
responsibility to ensure and maintain appropriate standards, It is an
attempt to determine if we are making reasonable cross state comparisons.

Thanks

Peter

Peter Lyons Ph.D.
School of Social Work
Georgia State University
University Plaza
Atlanta GA 30303
404 651 3530
lyonsp@gsu.edu