[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Failure to protect: A national dialogue
<x-html><html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<div><span class="330202616-03022003"><span class="310582315-04022003"><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><span class="733305415-04022003">
Dear Colleague</span>,</font></font></span></span></div>
<div> </div>
<div><span class="330202616-03022003"><span class="310582315-04022003"><font face="Arial"><font size="2">
The Fred Friendly Seminar, "Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue<span class="733305415-04022003">
,</span>" airs this THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 10 PM on PBS (check local listings)
following the FRONTLINE documentary <span class="733305415-04022003">"</span>
The Caseworker Files" which also has child protective services as its topic.<span class="733305415-04022003"></span>
</font></font></span></span></div>
<div><span class="330202616-03022003"><span class="310582315-04022003"></span></span>
</div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2"><span class="330202616-03022003"><span class="310582315-04022003"><span class="733305415-04022003"><font face="Arial" size="2">
Visit </font><a href="http://www.fredfriendly.org/";><font face="Arial" size="2">
http://www.fredfriendly.org</font></a>
<font face="Arial" size="2"> for more information about the Fred Friendly
Seminars.</font></span></span></span></font></div>
<br>
Text of program description:<br>
<br>
FRONTLINE and FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS to air national broadcast on child welfare
policy <br>
<br>
<br>
Each year, hundreds of thousands of children are removed from their homes
following allegations of abuse or neglect. In the past year, however, America’s
child welfare policies have come under increased scrutiny as headlines trumpeted
cases of children becoming “lost”—and in some cases, dying—while in the care
of the state, or conversely, dying when the state did not act to take custody.
<br>
When should parents lose the right to raise their own child? Who makes the
critical decisions regarding a child’s future? And how well is America’s
child welfare system protecting the children in its care? Are there ways
to do it better?<br>
These are some of the questions explored in “Failure to Protect: A National
Dialogue,” a one-hour examination of America’s child welfare policy airing
Thursday, February 6, at 10 P.M. on PBS (check local listings). <br>
Presented by PBS’s FRONTLINE and FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS, the one-hour dialogue
—moderated by NBC correspondent John Hockenberry—features a panel comprised
of prominent government leaders, policymakers, child welfare advocates and
journalists as well as individuals with first-hand experience with the child
welfare system. Panelists include: U.S. Representative George Miller (D-Calif.);
ABC News Senior Legal Correspondent Cynthia McFadden; Richard Gelles, acting
dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work; Kathleen Blatz,
chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court; Trevor John, a child protective
specialist; Marcia Robinson Lowry, executive director of Children’s Rights,
Inc.; Barbara Alexander, executive director of the First Coast Family Center
in Jacksonville, Florida and a former supervisor in Florida’s Department
of Children and Families; Ronald Richter, deputy attorney-in-charge of the
Legal Aid Society of New York’s juvenile rights division; Rose Garland, an
artist and graduate student who spent much of her childhood in foster care;
Sandra Jimenez, head of advocacy for New York City’s Department of Homeless
Services; and Dorothy Roberts, professor at Northwestern University Law School.<br>
In keeping with the format of the FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS, “Failure to Protect:
A National Dialogue” presents panelists with hypothetical scenarios that
prod them—and viewers—to explore how current child welfare policies affect
American families. <br>
It’s a system in desperate need of examination and evaluation, participants
say. <br>
“We’ve got half a million kids in the system,” notes U.S. Rep. George Miller,
who played a key role in authoring the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare
Act of 1980. “We’ll cut a lot of checks for the support and maintenance
of those children. [But] we probably won’t know where a good portion of
them really and truly are or who they’re with or what kind of care they’re
getting.”<br>
In some cases, panelists say, children are being placed in foster homes
that are no safer than the ones from which they’ve been taken. Rose Garland,
for example, says she experienced abuse while in a foster home.<br>
Garland believes more care and planning must be exercised in the placement
of foster children. “We focus so much on the emergency and the ‘right now’
and that’s what I felt as a child,” she says, “that everything was just right
now and who I was gonna be in the future really didn’t matter.”<br>
Miller agrees, noting that many child welfare caseworkers are struggling
under heavy caseloads that allow little time for proper oversight and planning.
“You’ve got to give this system and the people in this system time to look
at the families, to look at the alternatives, to knit together that plan,”
he says. “This isn’t something you can do on the run. You can’t take a
child of one year and scribble on the back of an envelope what you’re gonna
do with that child for the next year.”<br>
When questioned about the tough choices in placing children permanently,
Richard Gelles, one of the architects of the Adoption and Safe Family Act,
argues time is of the essence. “You don’t hold a child’s development hostage
while you are waiting for a change [in the birth parent] that may not happen,”
Gelles says. “At the same time, you’re balancing the parent’s constitutional
rights to due process.”<br>
Law school professor Dorothy Roberts believes the issue of child welfare
needs to be viewed in a broader context. <br>
“We have to admit that the whole [child welfare] system is a way of dealing
with poverty—especially with poor minority families,” she says. “Once we
admit that, and that we wouldn’t treat wealthier families this way, then
I think we can start thinking of solutions.”<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
“Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue” will air as a follow-up to FRONTLINE’s
“Failure to Protect: The Caseworker Files,” an unprecedented look inside
Maine’s Department of Human Services and the caseworkers who deal with the
excruciating decision of whether or not to remove a child. <br>
“Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue” is a FRONTLINE-FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS
co-production with 10/20 Productions. <br>
The producers are Rachel Dretzin, Muriel Soenens, and Barak Goodman. The
moderator is John Hockenberry. The creative consultant is Joan I. Greco.
The senior editorial director for Fred Friendly Seminars is Ruth Friendly.
<br>
Primary editorial consultation provided by the Institute for Child and Family
Policy (ICFP) at Columbia University. Tony Raden is coordinating producer.
Senior advisor is Jane M. Spinak, Columbia Law School. <br>
FRONTLINE is produced by WGBH Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS.
Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers. Additional
funding for “Failure to Protect: A National Dialogue” is provided by The
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.<br>
The executive producer for FRONTLINE is David Fanning. <br>
The executive producer for FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS is Richard Kilberg.<br>
<br>
Press contacts for FRONTLINE: <br>
Erin Martin Kane [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:erin_martin_kane@wgbh.org";>erin_martin_kane@wgbh.org</a>] (617) 300-3500 <br>
Chris Kelly [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:chris_kelly@wgbh.org";>chris_kelly@wgbh.org</a>] <br>
<br>
Press contact for FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS: (212) 854-8968 <br>
Michelle Prince [<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:mprince@fredfriendly.org";>mprince@fredfriendly.org</a>] <br>
<br>
<br>
FRONTLINE XXI/February 2003 <br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="$mailwrapcol">--
Aron Shlonsky, MSW, MPH, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Columbia University
School of Social Work
622 W.113th St.
New York, NY 10025
Phone: 212-854-6514
Fax: 212-854-2975\
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:as2156@columbia.edu";>as2156@columbia.edu</a>
</pre>
</body>
</html>
</x-html>From ???@??? Tue Feb 04 15:12:50 2003
Status: U
Return-Path: <owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Received: from elist02.mail.cornell.edu (elist02.mail.cornell.edu [132.236.56.15])
by postoffice.mail.cornell.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA16094;
Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:54:37 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from daemon@localhost)
by elist02.mail.cornell.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA22012;
Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:54:29 -0500 (EST)
Received: from elist02.mail.cornell.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by elist02.mail.cornell.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id OAA21884;
Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:53:44 -0500 (EST)
Received: from mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu (mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu [132.236.56.26])
by elist02.mail.cornell.edu (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA21333
for <CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@elist02.mail.cornell.edu>; Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:50:05 -0500 (EST)
Received: from mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu (localhost [127.0.0.1])
by mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h14Jo7bA001128
for <CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@elist02.mail.cornell.edu>; Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:50:07 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from daemon@localhost)
by mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.6/8.12.6/Submit) id h14Jo6as001124
for CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@elist02.mail.cornell.edu; Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:50:06 -0500 (EST)
Received: from sequoia.shu.ac.uk (sequoia.shu.ac.uk [143.52.2.81])
by mailhub2.mail.cornell.edu (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id h14JnpbA000632
for <CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>; Tue, 4 Feb 2003 14:50:06 -0500 (EST)
Received: from electra.shu.ac.uk ([143.52.2.70])
by sequoia.shu.ac.uk with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1)
id 18g94F-0007dF-00
for CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu; Tue, 04 Feb 2003 19:49:15 +0000
Received: by electra.shu.ac.uk with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)
id <DMV2CPFF>; Tue, 4 Feb 2003 19:49:00 -0000
Message-ID: <C4C20D0AEF0BF84B90CFEA0105EEB0BD0256BF9D@selene.shu.ac.uk>
X-PH: V4.1@mailhub2
X-PH: V4.1@elist02 (Cornell Modified)
From: "Hollows, Anne E" <A.E.Hollows@shu.ac.uk>
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers <CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu>
Subject: Youth at risk
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 19:49:00 -0000
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2653.19)
Content-Type: text/plain
X-MailScanner: Found to be clean
Message-Tag: 5820
Reply-To: CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
Sender: owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.2.09.cu.03/021023/11:56 -- ListProc(tm) by CREN
I have been asked to advise on methodology for a qualitative study of young people (13-16) at risk of disengaging from learning by the age
of 16 years. This follows a detailed survey of young people intended to identify social attitudes and behaviours. The objective of the new
study is to understand the behaviours in order to develop intervention programmes, particularly mentoring. The plan is to collect data
through individual, pal, and focus group interviews.
The research commisioners are interested in my suggestions of looking at resilience and I have made them aware of possible disclosures that
could arise in interviews.
I am interested in suggestions and experiences of colleagues.
Dr Anne Hollows
Principal Lecturer in Social Work
School of Health and Social Care
Sheffield Hallam University
33 Collegiate Crescent
Sheffield S10 2BP
Tel +44(0)114 2252369
Email: a.e.hollows@shu.ac.uk