| Accreditation put on hold
Officials at the state agency that cares
for children appear to be pouting over
a line in the sand drawn by a national accrediting
group.
The New York-based Council on Accreditation
is a group that certifies that
organizations are using standards that
reflect best practices in a given field.
After six years of working on accrediting
the Department of Social and Health
Service’s Children’s Administration — the
agency that oversees child protective
services and foster care — the COA told
the agency in a Feb. 15 letter that it has
suspended the Children’s Administration
accreditation application until it gets a
timeline for when the agency plans to
fully implement essential child welfare
standards, such as monthly visits with
foster children and reduced caseloads.
Those are the same issues over which
lawyers for Jessica Braam, a foster child
who sued the state, took the Children’s
Administration back to court in January,
saying the agency hasn’t lived up to
the terms of a class-action settlement
reached in 2004. The Braam lawyers
say that less than 40 percent of foster
children are receiving the monthly visits
required by the settlement and that
caseworkers manage an average of 25
children, not the stipulated 18.
In his Feb. 15 letter, COA President
Richard Klarberg cites concern about
the Braam litigation and points out the
agency hasn’t even adopted policies to
implement his group’s standards.
In a lengthy reply, Children’s Administration
director Cheryl Stephani
questions whether COA is judging the
agency based on unresolved litigation,
arguing that the agency was proceeding
smoothly with the accreditation process
until December, when the accrediting
group’s tone suddenly turned confrontational.
The agency’s headquarters and all
but a few of its field offices have already
passed muster, Stephani says, leading her
to call COA’s move “stunning.”
She acknowledges that the agency
has not adopted a policy stipulating
monthly visits. But, “we’re waiting until
we have the staff resources,” Stephani says, referring to legislative budgeting.
“If you promise more than you can
deliver, that’s not a good thing.”
Resources or no resources, Klarberg
says, asking for an implementation
timeline after six years is entirely
reasonable. “Absent a commitment
to achieve those standards,” he says,
“one would have to ask what are you
accrediting?” |
