Monday, April 17, 2000
Retreat's focus: kids in Butler
Agencies agree confidentiality policy too strict
BY Janice Morse
The Cincinnati Enquirer
OXFORD — In the solitude of Hueston Woods, 50 people spent a two-day retreat trying to untangle the web of agencies that are supposed to protect Butler County children.
“This was the first time in anyone's memory that we had all of the players in the process in the room, focused in their discussions, specifically on how we can improve service to children and families,” said Butler County Commissioner Michael A. Fox. “In a quarter-century, that discussion has never occurred, and the value of that discussion was enormous.”
The retreat on Tuesday and Wednesday, spearheaded by the board of commissioners, focused on the county's Children Services Board (CSB). State audits say the agency has improved, but still has too few caseworkers, insufficient computer technology and ineffective case-handling methods.
Mr. Fox said the success of any CSB improvement plan depends on scores of professionals: juvenile court personnel, police, lawyers, government officials and social workers — all of whom attended the retreat.
Participants began working on an action plan. They said the common thread of CSB's problems continues to be its secrecy.
“What's clear from all of this is that Butler County has been a closed club,” said retreat participant Richard Wexler, Washington, D.C., director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. “The degree of secrecy within the (juvenile) court struck me.”
While it's common for juvenile courts to exclude people who aren't directly involved in cases, “It's an affront to common decency” to shut out parents, he said.
“My case was decided while I was in the hallway,” said Angie Caputo, a Middletown mother who says her teen daughter was wrongfully removed from her custody in 1996. “I wasn't even allowed to know what evidence was presented in my case. That's a violation of our rights, and it happens all the time in this county.”
Mr. Wexler said Kathy Vallance, CSB's new director, is pushing the board toward greater openness.
Ms. Vallance commented: “I thought the retreat was candid, and we were able to deal with some of the barriers that have confronted us in the past.”
The Public Strategies Group Inc., a St. Paul, Minn., consulting company known for its “reinventing government” strategies, studied Butler County's system and said emphasis on confidentiality creates problems.
“At times, parents have been wrongfully accused, yet powerless to stop the agency from taking their children and placing them in foster care ... and even when the agency has been wrongfully accused by parents, its confidentiality policies have prevented it from defending itself,” the group said in a report compiled before the retreat.
Among the consultants' suggestions for openness:
ăSet up evening court hours.
ăUse mediation-style family conferences to resolve disputes.
ăContinue the recently instituted practice of responding publicly and promptly to allegations raised in the press.
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