DCFS Can Do Better
	Working for a Kinder, Gentler, Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services If you have reason to suspect that a child you know is being abused, please call the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-482-5964.  Don't stop until you get an answer.

We Need Your Help!

Calling all Arkansas State Senators and Representatives - Now is your chance to really stand up and be counted for the children of Arkansas.  Don't just kiss the babies and talk about how you care so much for the children - REALLY DO SOMETHING FOR THE CHILDREN!  Lip is cheap, it's action that we need.

• We need you to be a point of contact with DCFS and help us get in the door and find the right people there to talk with who can really make the changes and put the programs and ideas into place to make a positive difference for the children.  And, since some of those ideas and programs will require equipment purchases, such as camera-enabled cell phones and digital voice recorders for the DCFS case workers, as well as funding for training, such as a class on age-appropriate forensic interviewing of children, as well as acquiring either additional personnel (forensic artist) or software, be willing and prepared to shell out some bucks for them.
• We need your expertise as to what we can get DCFS to implement by themselves versus what we need to try to put into law.  And we don't mind you yanking our chain if we go too far out in left field with our ideas, either!
• We need you to sponsor and help pass legislation that will define in writing for the DCFS case workers what the required best practices are in child examinations, as well as document those practices which are prohibited by law, such as passing legislation to prohibit fully disrobing a child during an examination.
• We need a legislator that will put us on as members of their legislative staff (unpaid, of course) to open up some official doors which would allow for research into actual DCFS case worker practices as compared with the best practices and guidelines that were presented during their training at MidSOUTH and internally at DHS.  This would form the basis of dialogs with DCFS about those on-the-job practices that need to be looked at, and lead to formulating legislative items as required to address them.  Internal audits are OK for some things, but external reviews by people who have actually gone through "the system" would provide a unique insight for needed improvements to address the "public" side of DCFS child maltreatment allegation investigations.
• We need a legislator (or a DCFS or DHS director, or possibly even the governor - how about it, Governor Huckabee - do you want to help these children?) that can get us approved to attend the DCFS classes given to case workers at MidSOUTH Training and internally at DHS.  That would give us an understanding of the training the DCFS case workers are given, and, more importantly, insight into their interpretation of that training as they will implement it on the job, as observed through their interaction during the class.  This would only be revealed by attending the training with them, rather than just reviewing their training materials.  (NOTE: One of our advocate members almost got to attend some of this training when he signed up for and was approved to attend one of their three-day classes.  But, they reneged on their e-mailed guarantee when they looked at his registration again and saw that he wasn't a DCFS case worker.  They said it was partially a confidentiality issue, since they would be discussing actual cases; but, we think that as long as the attendees didn't mention any identifying information when talking about those cases, which they probably shouldn't be doing under the new HIPPA laws anyway, the confidentiality issue is moot.  He even offered to pay MidSOUTH the equivalent UALR per-credit-hour rate that he does to attend other UALR classes himself if they would allow him to attend that class!  To MidSOUTH's and DCFS's credit, they did let us have a copy of the class material they were going to be covering, and we had a long, informative discussion about child maltreatment allegation investigations and assessments.  We would like to thank the directors of DCFS and MidSOUTH for affording us this opportunity.)
• We also need a legislator (or maybe a judge) that can get us approved to attend the CASA New-Advocate Basic Training class, which include roles and responsibilities of a CASA volunteer, juvenile court process (including written court reports and testifying), relevant state and federal laws, confidentiality and record keeping, child development, child abuse and neglect, community agencies and resources, and collaborative approach to advocacy.  That would give us a more complete knowledge base of the child advocacy system and related issues in Arkansas, and could play a part in our own volunteer group of child advocates.  (NOTE: Currently, the people at CASA say that it would be a conflict of interest for them to allow us to attend their classes, and that it might damage their relationship with DCFS.  We understand their reluctance about working with new child advocacy groups, but, hope that we can work through these issues and develop a cooperative effort, which CASA labels a "collaborative approach", among our groups in protecting the children of Arkansas.)

So, you Senators and Representatives, will you step forward and work with us to help these children caught up in "the system" to not be victimized again by that system which YOU have put into place and which YOU are responsible for regulating, and help bring about the kinder, gentler, DCFS that we know we can achieve?  Or, will you just sit back on your hands and watch (if that), leaving DCFS to do what they've always been doing before with, and, sometimes, to, our children, and without any more direction than they have now?  E-mail us at legislators@KinderDCFS.org if you really want to help these kids.  It's up to you legislators - you can either step forward or sit back.  And, you voters out there, we need you to contact your Senators and Representatives.  Tell them about our efforts with CAKiD and ask them what they are doing for the traumatized children caught up in a DCFS investigation.  Just remember - some day this might be your own child or a child that you love.

Calling all DCFS Case Workers - Do you have any ideas for procedures or model programs that would, for example, help divert the children's attention away from sometimes necessary physical examinations, or methods of interviewing that you have found work well?  What do you think should be some of the standard operating procedures in child maltreatment allegation investigations that aren't currently standardized or being followed by your coworkers?  What is your opinion of the way investigations and child examinations are being routinely handled now?  What additional equipment do you see a need for that would help in your investigations?  Perhaps, you might feel uncomfortable talking to your boss about these, but wouldn't mind us batting them around and refining them (maybe just a little), and presenting them to DCFS or to the legislature.  There are always better ways of doing things, especially when it comes to our children who are counting on us to protect them, physically and emotionally.  They don't need to be violated over and over again by "the system".  Well, YOU are part of "the system", which gives you a unique understanding and vantage point.  The rest of us can only look at it from the outside.  So, e-mail your ideas to us at ideas@KinderDCFS.org, and, who knows, maybe your model program in Arkansas will become something that other states will study and adopt!  Also, we would like to take this opportunity to tell all of you DCFS case workers: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  You probably don't hear that enough.  You have a usually thankless, but extremely important task of protecting our children and keeping them safe.  Never lose your passion for the kids - they are counting on you.

We need your story and information - Can you tell us what you and your child went through during your own DCFS child maltreatment allegation investigation, including what happened and how each of you felt during and after their interviews, and while waiting for the results?  How about the impact that it had on your family and friends?  Or, do you have pamphlets, brochures, instruction sheets, or other materials that we don't have posted on our web site yet that DCFS gave you during the course of that investigation?  Please e-mail your story to us, or the list of materials that you could send us if we need them, to stories@KinderDCFS.org so that we can put them on our web site in order to help others going through "the system" too, and to let them know they are not alone.  (Note that we may have to edit your story to exclude personally identifying information about your particular case, or make other changes in it to keep it from being tied back to you, before we post it.)  Working together, we can all help each other get through this life changing event.

Also, you DCFS employees, please send us a list (not the actual material) of whatever policies, procedures, manuals, guidelines, best practices, checklists, pamphlets and other information on child maltreatment investigations that you have which you would be able to send us (anonymously) if we find that we need them for our own reference or to post on our web site (preferably as a web page address if it is posted on the web, or a PDF, Word, WordPerfect or Excel file if you have it in that format - we would rather not have to scan the material in from a paper copy, but, we will do that if it is unavailable in an electronic format) to procedures@KinderDCFS.org.  Be aware that we may have to clear these documents with DCFS and redact any confidential information if we post this material, unless it is already available on the web somewhere that we can just link to.  Also, we will not post any blank forms of a sensitive nature (such as CFS-310 and CFS-312) which could be printed out and used fraudulently by non-DCFS personnel to harm a child or their family.  However, we may want a copy of those forms for our own reference (again, such as CFS-310 and CFS-312, which we have, courtesy of DCFS).

We need dedicated advocate members - Do you have experience with DCFS procedures, such as having worked as a DCFS case worker?  Are you an idea person who can examine current procedures and easily come up with ways to improve on those procedures?  Do you have lots of contacts and people you know currently in state government, the legislature, the courts and at DCFS who would be able to open those doors for us?  Can you offer us legal advice and direct us on navigating the maze of laws and legislative items, or, can you donate your services to handle legal matters for us?  (Note: CAKiD is not currently 501(c)(3) for tax exemptions.)  Can you see your mission in life being to help the children of Arkansas when they are caught up in "the system"?  Could you work with us, DCFS, the legislature and other groups in a cooperative manner to accomplish our mutual goal of protecting the children?  If so, please send us an e-mail to advocates@KinderDCFS.org.  Let us know your talents and how you would like to be involved in possibly a long-term commitment to our work.  You may even be asked to head up or work with other groups and organizations that could branch off from our group as our ideas grow.  This is a compelling, wide-ranging and much-needed undertaking to help the children of Arkansas, and, hopefully, these ideas and programs will be adopted across the country.  We will not be a visually oppositional type of group protesting outside the DHS building or anything like that; however, we will diligently pursue resolutions to problems that we do see or that are brought to our attention.  Cooperative efforts are much more effective than confrontational efforts, especially when we expect our group and its offshoots to be active for years to come.  And, please be aware that we are in this for the children, and not to satisfy our own egos.  If an ego trip is what you want, please go somewhere else.  We don't care who gets credit for the ideas, just so the children are the beneficiaries of those ideas.

If you can't do anything else, at least say a prayer for the DCFS case workers every day.  They have a hard, tiring, emotionally draining and usually thankless task, but one that is vital to the protection of our children.  They can use all the prayers they can get.  Pray for them for wisdom, compassion, insight, discernment, health and protection.  And pray that they would love and care for each child and treat each child as they would want their own child to be treated, and that their passion for the children would never dim.

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