Essay Example on Privatizing Child Welfare: Exploring CBC for Foster Children in Florida

Introduction

The child welfare privatization article tries to explore the various community-based care (CBC) given to foster children in Florida. The article attempts to identify the causes of children exiting the foster care centers, re-entry of children to foster care, recurrence of maltreatment, and reunion of the children with parents and relatives. The study aims at demonstrating the development of permanency and safety indicators through the use of administrative data. It also aims at using the indicators as a tool to illustrate the evaluation of privatized child protection agencies. The study obtained data from 37 counties with 4 implementing CBC and 33 relying on the traditional mechanisms for care provision. The data used were for the fiscal year 1995-1996 and 2000-2001. The fiscal year 1995-1996 was used since it was the last year before the CBC was implemented in Florida. The four counties that performed the CBC included Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota. The study suggested a high performance of the CBC counties just as the other counties whose child protection were run by the state. However, the CBC was found to score high in reducing the recurrence of maltreatment among children. The CBC also showed an improving trend in the performance of the fostering agencies. The study examined the performance of counties implementing CBC; hence is a baseline for future research due to the information it provides (Yampolskaya et al., 2004).

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The evaluation was done to assess the privatization efforts and evaluate CBC implementation in Florida. It was done to determine the successes of using CBC in the counties to ensure child protection. The study was also done to examine the performance of CBC counties and compare their operations with the other counties in which the state ran child protection. The study would help Florida in providing better protection to the children in the fostering systems through the use of CBC and also aid in future studies by providing the necessary information for similar studies (Yampolskaya et al., 2004).

Evaluation Goal

The goal of the study was to determine the lead agencies' ability to ensuring child safety and permanency. The firms providing adoption and foster care should ensure the safety and permanency of the children in their facilities (Yampolskaya et al., 2004). The study was aimed at determining the facilities' efforts in ensuring the safety and permanency of the children. The facilities providing fostering care must ensure they adhere to the set rules and regulations governing the fostering of children. Through the use of administrative data, the study would be able to demonstrate the development of permanency and safety indicators. The indicators will then be used as tools to illustrate the evaluation of privatized child protection agencies. Through the study, data of children who exited foster care, those who returned to the attention, and those that received maltreatment in the foster care would be obtained for review (Yampolskaya et al., 2004).

For the goals of the study to achieve, the authors decided to use five quantitative indicators to assess child safety and permanency. The five quantitative indicators were also used to examine the performance of community-based care agencies. The signs included; (a) the proportion of children who exited the foster care, (b) the rate of re-entry of children into the foster care, (c) the rate of recurrence of maltreatment of the children under foster care, (d) the percentage of the reunification of the children with their parents, and (e) the rate of the reunification of the children with their relatives (Yampolskaya et al., 2004). The rate of re-entry into foster care and the rate of recurrence of maltreatment were used as indicators of the Community Based Care (CBC) counties' efforts in attaining the goals of child safety. Even though abuse reports and neglects of the children are not the best indicators, they provide a basis for the monitoring of child safety (Panzer, 2007)

Theoretical Perspective

Critical theory connects the study to its goals. Through the analytical approach, the authors of the article aim at using the data collected to challenge the power structures which already exist in society (Pare, 2017). Through the critical theory, the authors will be able to introduce a new way of protecting the children in foster care. The argument derived from the assumption that social problems are created and influenced by societal structures than by psychological or individual factors can play a significant role in solving the problems the children face in the foster care facilities. The maltreatment of the children is one of the vital roles that can be explained through critical theory. By the use of the theory, critical thinking will be employed to come up with measures to eradicate the practices which may lead to maltreatment (Pare, 2017). Through the theory, the existing child protection, which is run by the state, is challenged, and a better alternative, which is community-based and offers better security, is presented. The CBC has been successful in four counties, which, as a result, have seen a reduced number of child maltreatment in the foster care facilities. Therefore the theory connected the study to its goals and desired outcomes.

Several theories have been ruled out by the study. One such theory is the psychodynamic theory, which emphasizes the systemic study of forces that influences human feelings, behavior, and emotions and how these experiences relate to the e01arly experiences of the individual (Panzer, 2007). The theory can be used to explain the cases of re-entry to foster care as it relates to the feelings the children develop after their first experience in foster care. Although this theory is critical in the study, it was ruled out due to the limited explanation it gives on the context.

The systemic theory, which explains how changing a part of a system may affect the whole system, is also ruled out in the article (Panzer, 2007). Since the study did not significant on the implementation of the CBC in the counties, it did not evaluate the effects of its application. The study did not collect data to examine the imbalance caused by the new system. The theory is critical in the process of implementing a new system as it will help the whole environment adapt very fast to the changes. It is, therefore, necessary for successive studies to focus on the theory to enhance a smooth transition in the process of implementing the CBC.

With the help of critical theory, the authors were able to conduct a proper evaluation of the foster care system. They were able to use the data they collected to challenge the state-run system of protection in which children in foster care are given in many counties of Florida. They compared the state-run care with the new CBC, which was being implemented in four counties of Florida. Through their critical analysis, they realized significant similarities in both systems, with the CBC having an added advantage in reducing child maltreatment in foster care. The critical theory was therefore used to challenge the state-run care and instead advocate for a new system in which children will be offered better care. The authors were also able to discuss the societal problems caused by the existing foster care and how the new system will reduce the problems.

Research Methods

The study was designed to consist of three sets of comparisons. These were used to provide a better comparison of the available data. The first set comprised of CBC counties versus all Florida counties. The set was referred to as the rest of state counties and had followed up data for 11 months. The second set comprised of CBC counties versus counties considered as CBC matches. To identify the counties that were considered CBC matches, five socio-demographic variables were used. The demographics included; (a) the county's total number of children, (b) percentage of nonwhite children, (c) percentage of poverty-stricken children, (d) the county's median income, (e) per capita crime rate. The final set compared the CBC counties to their individual matches. For easy analysis, CBC counties were coded one while the non-CBC counties were given code 0. The predicted value, which was obtained from logistic regression analysis, was used to rank the counties. The top five counties, which were the least discrepant depending on their score with CBC counties, were selected. Counties that did not have data for the 11 months of the follow up were excluded and replaced with counties with the least discrepant score (Yampolskaya et al., 2004).

The data obtained were analyzed to give the measures of the indicators used. The first indicator was measured into a percentage. The indicator included the total number of children that entered foster care during the first 11 months of a fiscal year. The number was calculated into a percentage using the Kaplan-Meier procedure (Kaplan & Meier 1958). The calculation of the second indicator was based on exit cohorts and on unduplicated counts of children. To obtain the percentage of children re-entering foster care, survival analysis was used. For the recurrence of maltreatment indicators, percentages were derived from estimates from survival analysis. The data consisted of unduplicated counts of children who underwent maltreatment grouped by fiscal year of entry. Only maltreated children or cases with some indications of abuse were included for the analysis. Recurrence of maltreatment was defined as the second case of maltreatment in the 11 months of the first found maltreatment. The percentage of children reunified with their parents or relatives were calculated using the same method. Both the indicators were based on the exit cohorts of the children. To calculate the percentages, the numerators of the calculations consisted of the number of children returned to their parents, guardians or relatives within 11 months of the particular, fiscal year, while the denominators were the total number of children exiting the foster care within the 11 months (Yampolskaya et al., 2004).

There were some unanticipated consequences that arose in the process of data collection. The administrative data available had several disadvantages, which included missing and incomplete data or inaccurate recording of the data. Some data were unavailable, and some were recorded using different definitions developed by various jurisdictions and agencies. The lack of uniform data entry guidelines made it difficult to interpret some data. For example, there were three codes describing the outcomes of investigations. These included "verified maltreatment," "no indication of maltreatment," and "some indication of maltreatment." Some indication of maltreatment coding was unclear, making data interpretation difficult (Yampolskaya et al., 2004). The database was not designed for research or for calculation since some critical information was not included, for example, a child who re-entered the foster was given a different identification number hence could not be identified as a re-entry. For the maltreatment, a gap existed between the time of abuse and the time the case was reported.

Conclusion

The authors conclude the article by acknowledging the limitations and difficulties associated with the study. The study was the first, which was done to evaluate CBC using the quasi-experimental design, multiple quantitative indicators, and longitudinal data. The study served as a lesson for the development of a performance measurement system in the child welfare field (Yampolskaya et al., 2004). Despite the limitations and difficulties, the...