Children Who Become Homeless

This image is from the Homeless Grapevine photo class, and shows the image of a Mom caring for her child. The subject of the photo is not related at all to the incident discussed.


Who Do We Represent?

The Plain Dealer announced today a panel that would investigate the death of a homeless toddler earlier this year. Alexandria Hamilton died after being scalded in a motel. Her mother had a number of complaints of neglect and her children had been assigned to foster care in the past. Only a few weeks before the child's death the family stayed in one of the Cleveland shelters. I have no idea about the specifics of this case, but I know that some of the homeless social service providers are concerned that we did not do all we could to protect this child or the Mom. The bottom line is that a homeless child died, and just as the Department of Children and Family Services is conducting a review, the homeless system should conduct a similar review.

It raises bigger issues that we should address to avoid any future problems. It is unlikely that without extraordinary and unusual intervention by a homeless social service could we have changed the outcome in the Hamilton case. But a review of the homeless social service system and its interaction with children may prevent a future death. Government which funds all these services should request a review and make the participation of the homeless services mandatory.

The first confusion that needs to be addressed locally is who does the case worker at the shelter represent--the Mom or the homeless child? For licensed social workers this is clear and they have rules for their interaction with both mother and child, but unfortunately not all the homeless social service providers are social workers. We need to have every shelter clearly define their role when a Mom comes to the shelter, and those guidelines should be posted. At what point will they call the Department of Children and Family Services? See, many Moms avoid the shelter because they think that they will be reported just for taking their child to a shelter. There is also the Catch 22 that we have set up some facilities as absolutely not appropriate for children, but what do we do when every other shelter bed in the community is full? This was a much bigger problem six years ago in Cleveland compared to today, but it is still a problem. If a Mom takes her child to a shelter that is really not appropriate for children, but she has no other choice do we call the child abuse hotline? Is she better risking her child's well being in a car or in a shelter that is overcrowded and has a sizable population of women actively using? From the Mom's perspective since it is unclear at what point a shelter staff member will call the child abuse/neglect hotline, they often risk spending the nights in the car over the unknown of the shelter.

I have personally seen cases in which the mere fact that a Mom cannot provide adequate housing as the basis of a case being opened at Children and Family Services. Once a case is opened there are hearings and monitoring and oversight that takes place to protect the child. These are critical and a vital oversight role for the government to protect innocent victims, but often times poverty, foreclosure, loss of job or a chronic health condition disrupts the housing of a family. The agency has to balance the well being of a child with the economic struggles of a family, and there is no margin for error. This is one of the few instances in which a mistaken unification order or the closing of neglect case that results in the death of an toddler can be easily traced back to the decision of a single government employee. It is hard to hide behind a bureaucracy or rely on a private entity/charity to make these decisions in child abuse/neglect cases. Heads usually roll when a child dies after charges of neglect were overturned. My concern is that it is safer and the easier decision to take the homeless child away from the mother and put them in the custody of the County.

Finally, how do we improve our internal communication system within the shelters to keep in contact with women who leave the shelters with their children? How do we maintain contact with the homeless family after they leave the shelter to make sure that they are not living in a worse environment? Is there a way to assign a child advocate to every family that enters the shelters that will remain in regular contact with those children as they move through the system so that they are constantly moving closer to a stable home? This could prevent any loss of school time, assist with the smooth transition between shelters, or assist with determination of neglect. We have privacy and massive government bureaucracy's to contend with, but if it saves one child's life and reduces the time a kid remains homeless, it will be worth it.

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.