Talking Points: Restore Child Welfare Services Veto

Talking Points: Restore Child Welfare Services Veto
It is sadly ironic that the Governor has axed child welfare services funding at the same time that the Legislature is debating a corrections reform package.

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  The overlap between child abuse and neglect and later criminal activity is well-documented. Tragically, studies consistently show that children who are abused and neglected are significantly more likely than their peers to be arrested later in life. Fight Crime, Invest in Kids reports a 27 percent greater likelihood that abused and neglected children will commit violent crimes. Already, about half of boys and a quarter of girls report an instance of incarceration within 18 months of leaving foster care, according to the Midwest Study of Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth, a five-year study that tracked youth who “age out” of the system.
  

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  Research indicates that a number of individual and societal factors contribute to criminal activity, which children in foster care often face (lack of connections to positive adult role models, lack of identification with institutions such as schools and churches, identification with peers who can have negative influences on behavior, and so on). The veto exacerbates these challenges, meaning that fewer front-end services will be available to investigate and ameliorate abuse and neglect, fewer foster parents will be recruited and trained, and fewer mentoring and transitional services will be available to foster youth moving into adulthood.
  

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  Reforming the back-end of the prison system while at the same time cutting front-end child welfare services and prevention programs that could help children overcome these early challenges is dreadfully shortsighted.
  

The Governor’s unexpected veto of $124 million in funding for child welfare services thwarts efforts to improve the foster care system.

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  The Governor’s veto was a huge surprise, especially given his own historic comments about the importance of maintaining funds in child welfare services and the dangers to children if funding is cut. After a smaller 2004 veto of child welfare services funding (which was rejected by the Legislature and then re-instated by the Governor), the Governor acknowledged that cuts to child welfare services “could jeopardize both the safety of children as well as the level of federal funds available for child welfare services.” At that time, the total veto was only $27.4 million – nearly $100 million less than the current amount.
  

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  In his signing message for SB 1612 (Speier, 2004), which restored the earlier veto, the Governor stated: “Simply put, failure to restore the [funding] has the potential to jeopardize the health and safety of California’s most vulnerable children.” The Governor also acknowledged that the cuts “could have the unintended consequence of severe reductions in services to vulnerable children and their families.”
  

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  The veto will turn back the clock on significant reforms and improvements achieved by local agencies in recent years. Counties have partnered with philanthropy to improve services and focused local resources in areas with the greatest need for improvements. However, cuts to child welfare will threaten these investments and undermine the progress made to more effectively serve children and families.
  

Reductions in child abuse prevention efforts will cost the state more in the long run and result in greater harm to children and families.

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  Children who experience child abuse, witness parents’ domestic violence and have other adverse childhood experiences have higher adult rates of obesity, alcoholism, and depression; and of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is an ongoing collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente and is quite possibly the largest scientific research study of its kind, analyzing the relationship between multiple categories of childhood trauma (ACEs), and health and behavioral outcomes later in life. The key concept underlying the study is that stressful or traumatic childhood experiences are a common pathway to social, emotional, and cognitive impairments that lead to increased risk of unhealthy behaviors, risk of violence or revictimization, disease, disability and premature mortality. 
  

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  In order for counties to continue funding mandated programs, they will be forced to make difficult decisions that may result in cuts to child abuse prevention programs. Such programs may include home visitation and family resource centers, which are proven to reduce instances of child abuse and neglect by up to 75%. These cuts will expose more children to harm and increase instances of abuse and neglect at a time when caseloads are increasing dramatically already, due to additional family stresses.
  

Of course, California continues to face an unprecedented budget challenge – but these are the state’s children. Serving them is not an option.

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  Children who have suffered abuse and neglect have the fewest voices to speak for them and are among society’s most vulnerable. They did not ask to be removed from their homes and placed into foster care. These children are the state’s responsibility and the program must be properly funded to serve them. The vetoed funds must be restored.
  

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  Cuts to child welfare services cripple prevention efforts, leading to increased incidence of child abuse and increased deaths. Child Abuse costs U.S. taxpayers approximately $103.8 billion every year. Investment in adequate prevention program saves lives and taxpayers dollars. Prevention programs, such as home visitation, can save $5 for every $1 invested.
  

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  When children die due to abuse or neglect, the newspapers ask what more could have been done to save them. Child welfare officials and advocates have that answer now – restore the Governor’s $124 million in cuts to desperately needed services now and help avoid any more unnecessary deaths.