How We Confiscate Their Assets and Undermine Their Financial Security:   We all want to cut the deficit, we all want government to save money and we all want better value and better results for the taxes we pay. And yes, we want to do everything we can to help all American children reach their full potential. So why then do we consistently spend money in ways that create massive social cost for all of us in the future, while blighting the lives of countless foster children? This is a perfect storm of short-sighted practice. We have illuminated here the large and endless social burden on all of us in dealing with the end product of specific misguided policies we follow in supporting foster children while they are our responsibility. As a result, we all end up spending a fortune later as their lives go horribly wrong.

 

Read More or watch the video from the congressional briefing:

 

 

Victims by Disposition: This report contains rates of maltreatment by disposition type (substantiated, indicated, or alternative response victim) as well as the rate of victimization per 1,000 children for each state that reported the data.

 

Maltreatment Recurrence:  This report contains the percentage of children experiencing repeat incidences of maltreatment within a six-month period for each state that reported the data.

Absence of Maltreatment Recurrence, 2004–2008:  This table describes the absence of maltreatment recurrence for each State, for the years 2004 through 2008, and the number of States meeting the standard of 94.6 percent. The first column lists each State and the next 5 columns lists each State’s absence percentage by year. The number of States and the national percentage that met the standard are provided on the bottom two rows.

 

Victimization by type (%): This report contains the reported percentage of maltreatment type of abuse for each state that reported the data.

 

Maltreatment in Foster Care: This report contains the percentage of children experiencing maltreatment while in foster care for each state that reported the data.

Absence of Maltreatment in Foster Care, 2004–2008:  This table displays the absence of maltreatment in foster care percentage for all States for 2004 through 2008 and the number that met the 99.68 percentage standard. The first column lists the States and the next five columns list the State percentages for 2004–2008. The number of States and the national percentage that met the standard are provided on the bottom two rows.

 

Child Fatalities per 100,000: This report contains child maltreatment fatalities for each state that reported.  Both the reported number and rate per 100,000 children appear.

 

CPS Investigation: This report contains the reported number of children experiencing a child protective services (CPS) investigation by disposition, for each state that reported the data.

 

 

Preventative Services: This report contains the reported number and rate per 1,000 children receiving preventative services for each state that reported the data.

 

Post Investigation Services: This report contains the number and percentage of victims and non-victims who receive postinvestigation services, for each state that reported the data.

 

CPS Workforce: This table breaks down the CPS workers and the number of investigations that each must handle. The first column lists the States. The second column lists the number of screening and intake workers. The third column lists the number of investigation workers. The next column lists screening, intake, and investigation workers. Next are listed the completed investigations and the final column lists the completed investigations per investigation worker. Only States that were able to report workforce data by screening and intake workers and investigation workers and provided data for screened-in referrals were included in calculations for screened-in referrals per investigation worker.

 

Victims with Court Action: This report contains the reported number and percentage of children subject to substantiated abuse receiving legal action initiated by a representative of the CPS agency, for each state that reported the data.

Court Appointed Representatives: This report contains the reported number and percent of children in a neglect or abuse proceeding appointed a representative (attorney, CASA, GAL) by the court, for each state that reported the data.