I recently read with keen interest the opinion piece by attorney Howard Talenfeld (“Foster care is failing our kids“). Unfortunately it relies on the same tired playbook he and others have used for years — bullying and threatening to sue the child welfare system.
In reality, such lawsuits do far more harm than good and the threats ignore the significant progress made over the past two decades. This attempt to distort the facts for personal gain should be viewed with significant skepticism.
Kim Gorsuch is the former director of Child Protective Investigations for the Broward Sheriff’s Office. (courtesy, Kim Gorsuch)
To illustrate trouble in the foster care system, Talenfeld references a 25-year-old grand jury report that is simply irrelevant to modern foster care. Virtually nothing about the child welfare system resembles what it was decades ago.
The number of children in foster care in Broward declined from 4,000 then to just 1,200 today. This dramatic reduction is the result of years of hard, collaborative work undertaken by a vast array of local nonprofit and government services agencies, including the Children’s Services Council of Broward, Child Protective Investigations at the Broward Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Children and Families (DCF), the local judiciary, the guardian ad litem program, DCF Children’s Legal Services, Legal Aid, the Broward Behavioral Health Coalition’s network of behavioral health care providers, and ChildNet dependency case managers. This coordinated network simply did not exist 25 years ago.
Local foster children are achieving permanency faster than ever before, at rates that substantially exceed federal standards and targets. Children no longer spend time in unlicensed settings, shelters or over-crowded foster homes. In addition, child safety outcomes while in foster care now far surpass federal standards. Children are placed with family members at rates that are among the highest in the nation, and they receive medical and dental services at levels that likely exceed those received by many children outside the system.
Furthermore, the number of children who “age out” of foster care has declined significantly. For those who do not achieve permanency, extensive support services are now available until age 23, rather than ending abruptly at age 18 as they once did.
Lastly, the FLITE Center — a community-wide collaboration originally created and supported by the Junior League, the United Way, the Community Foundation, the Broward County Board of County Commissioners, and many of the organizations mentioned above — offers a unique centralized model of service delivery that other Florida communities are now working to replicate.
In something akin to lawyers who chase ambulances following a car crash, which does nothing to improve traffic safety, child welfare litigation has no positive impact on the system. By the time these cases are potentially settled or go to trial years later, many of the players have moved on or work in a different capacity. In the interim, policies have likely been modified due to statutory or rule changes, or new practices have been implemented in an ever-evolving field.
What these lawsuits do in reality is damage the child welfare system. They divert resources away from the vulnerable children and families these agencies exist to serve. Organizations must spend substantial sums hiring attorneys to defend themselves. Settlements and judgements mean money that could otherwise support children and families instead goes into the pockets of so-called “advocate” attorneys. Liability insurance costs also rise dramatically — assuming coverage can be obtained in a state facing a severe insurance crisis — further reducing funds available for essential services. Lawsuits also damage morale, increase turnover, and make recruitment even more difficult.
Rather than criticizing from the outside, true advocacy would mean ending the threats and joining the hundreds of dedicated professionals already doing this difficult but essential work on behalf of children and families in our community.
Kim Gorsuch holds a master’s degree in social work and is the former director of Child Protective Investigations for the Broward Sheriff’s Office and former deputy regional managing director of the Florida Department of Children and Families. She resides in Pompano Beach.