Group homes need accountability
Legislators are right to watch state efforts to reduce Maryland's historic over-reliance on group homes for abused or neglected children, but they should do with an eye to accelerating reform rather than stalling it ("Md. Policy on children 'not working'," Conway says," Sept. 30). Advocates for Children and Youth just completed a lengthy study showing that once children enter group homes, they rarely leave them. Group home providers are not held accountable and receive no incentives for helping children move to family-based placements as quickly and safely as possible. Spending on group care has increased by 50 percent, while family preservation programs lost funding.
There are good and bad ways to reduce group home overuse, and the Maryland Department of Human Resources needs to use the best practices that have worked in other states, including building an array of alternative placements, and it needs to be more transparent about what it is doing and how it is reallocating resources for families. As our study shows, the courts need to play a stronger role in insisting that state caseworkers aggressively pursue efforts to step down children out of group homes.
The Maryland General Assembly has already acted in support of group home reform. Because of recent legislation, new and expanded programs need to serve children in county or region where the programs are located.
Providers who run group homes do not need to lose business; with technical assistance, they can offer more services to children who live at home or with relatives. When done right, there are no losers. Children get to live with families, service providers stay in business, and the taxpayer saves money.
Matthew H. Joseph
30 September 2009
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/letters/bal-grouphomesletter0930,0,7802659.story
