Child services cases at historical high in Grant County

Grant County Superior Court II Judge Dana Kenworthy said opioids are to blame.

Kenworthy oversees Family Recovery Court, which has seen five success stories in recovered addicts in the 18-month program since its inception a few years ago. Though the addition of the program has helped resolve certain cases via rehabilitation, not everyone is eligible or willing.

“We are seeing these neglect cases because parents are struggling with addiction,” Kenworthy said. “Children are left without proper care and are neglected and placed in potentially dangerous situations.”

Kenworthy said there are currently 38 children who have one or both parents involved in recovery court. In some cases, it’s in the child’s best interest to be rehomed during the court process while parental rights are pending. 

The first option is to place children with a relative who is fit to care for the child, and if no relative is available then foster homes come into play.

Kenworthy said there were 15 child neglect cases in which parental rights were terminated in 2016. Last year, she said they had 26 cases that came to the same conclusion and said the rise was startling. 

According to an Indiana Department of Child Services report, Grant County had 258 Child in Need of Services cases (CHINS) as of November 2017. Out of the 178 children requiring out of home placement, 86 of them were placed with a relative while 92 were placed in non-relative foster care or other housing.

A report reflecting cases filed as of Jan. 1 shows there are now 293 CHINS and juvenile cases in Grant County.

Grant County is second in the region for CHINS cases, with Delaware County in first with over 600 cases filed at the end of last year, according to DCS reports. Delaware Circuit Court II Judge Kim Dowling, who is in the first stage of introducing a recovery court program to the area, said more than 90 percent of the cases she sees are drug related. 

Indiana had 29,315 children in foster care in 2016, according to federal data from the Administration for Children and Families. There were 23,646 children in foster care in Ohio, 19,998 in Illinois, 18,194 in Michigan and 13,016 in Kentucky at that time as well, revealing that Indiana has more child cases than any of its surrounding states. 

Late last year, former DCS director Mary Beth Bonaventura penned a resignation letter due to a reduction in funding for child services by Gov. Eric Holcomb.

“I feel I am unable to protect children because of the position taken by your staff to cut funding and services to children in the midst of the opioid crisis,” Bonaventura stated in the letter. “I choose to resign, rather than be complicit in decreasing the safety, permanency, and well being of children who have nowhere else to turn.”

Since her resignation, funding has been boosted to $600 million. However, new leaders in state child services have reported this is due to the high volume of cases, not to fund a restructuring of the system. Holcomb has since hired Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, directed by Paul Vincent, to conduct research on the state’s DCS system and possibly diagnose issues. Vincent has been asked to deliver two reports during this legislative period.

Grant County CASA Executive Director Leslie Hendricks said more volunteers to be court appointed special advocates (CASA) for children may help.

Hendricks said they currently serve 220 children, and 98 of them are awaiting an advocate. Once placed with a CASA, the volunteer researches the case to provide evidence to the court and speak on the child’s behalf to represent their best interest and wishes.

She said the high volume of cases paired with the lack of foster homes has forced them to place children up to three hours away from Grant County.

“The increase in cases certainly affects the available placements,” Hendricks said. “It is natural to have run out of good foster placements when we have over 300 children in the court system at this time.”

Hendricks said more volunteers and organizations willing to represent children in court may remedy some of the issue. Kenworthy said it will take the entire community as a united body to resolve the opioid crisis and relieve the pressure caused by a historical high in child neglect cases.