Put children, not six-month data, first

In 2005, when the Georgia Department of Human Resources settled a class action lawsuit with Children’s Rights Inc., we committed to move more foster children in Fulton and DeKalb counties into permanent homes.

We have not backed away from that commitment.

Children’s Rights has asked the U.S. District Court to begin a civil contempt process against DHR for failing to meet specific benchmarks spelled out in the original consent decree for transitioning foster children into permanent homes. DHR has not been found in civil contempt, and we feel compelled to clarify what the motion means and does not mean.

Finding homes for children is hard work. From the beginning, setting benchmarks mandating how many children should exit state care at any given time was deemed “ambitious” by court-appointed monitors who supervise our progress every six months.

Since 2005, DHR has made steady progress for these children. The recent motion fails to acknowledge any of that progress, focusing instead on a single six-month period where the goals were not met. What was ignored is the fact that more than half of the 2,275 foster children in Fulton and DeKalb in 2005 —- or 1,380 children —- have since moved to permanent homes.

For those children, it’s a new day. But DHR is just as dedicated to those who remain. Many face severe emotional, behavioral and physical challenges. When we can move them, the process is difficult and slow.

These obstacles make it increasingly difficult for DHR to meet the consent decree’s benchmarks. Court-appointed monitors acknowledged this in a recent report, saying that Fulton and DeKalb counties “continue to work on behalf of these children, but these are mainly children for whom there are no easy solutions.”

Repeatedly, monitors concluded that foster children in Fulton and DeKalb are receiving safe oversight from a system that continues to improve. Recurrence of child maltreatment rates in Fulton and DeKalb, for instance, continues to be below the national average of 5.4 percent.

We know there are children with major obstacles who still need homes. We take that job very seriously. We can’t afford to rush the process in favor of numbers. It isn’t fair to children who need more time and effort. This process needs time to work.

There are indeed no easy solutions. What’s required is a long-term commitment to finding children nurturing homes. Getting results takes time.

You have to look at more than a six-month data readout. You have to look at a child’s best interests.

> B.J. Walker is commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Resources.