Intro to the Child Welfare System - S3E1 'A Chance At Life'

Interested in becoming a foster parent? Find info here Every Child Arkansas
Read the SmartJustice Season 3 magazine

Welcome to season 3 of SmartJustice we're calling 'A Chance At Life'. This season we focus on the well-being and future of children, youth and families in the child welfare system.

In this edition, we spotlight visionary individuals who are reshaping
the system and breathing new life into the concept of care and support.
In February of 2023, Governor Sanders issued a compelling executive order, underscoring the need to Protect Children, Support Families, and Improve Foster Care.

As you read, we encourage you to consider your
role in this narrative. Whether through fostering,
adopting, mentoring, or supporting, your contribution
can make Arkansas a beacon of opportunity
and promise for every child.
Together, we can shape destinies and improve
futures, weaving a tapestry of acts that make
Arkansas the best place to raise a family.

Restore Hope https://www.restorehopear.org

A Chance At Life was written and recorded by artist/producer Jason Truby and licensed for use through Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. Watch the music video that includes the artist and community members passionate about making Arkansas a great place to raise a family. 

Transcript

00;00;06;06 - 00;00;27;25
Intro
What impacts one of our families directly impacts us all. Directly impacts us all. A family in crisis affects loved ones, neighbors, schools, businesses, social services, and too often our justice system. You have to come to realize that many of those families need more help than any one of us can provide. In recognition of this truth, we are compelled to act.

00;00;27;27 - 00;00;42;22
Intro
We are compelled to act. We believe that hope is fuel for action. Hope the fuel for action. Fuel for action. We will restore hope. We will restore hope. We will not stand by while families in our community are in crisis.

00;00;42;29 - 00;00;45;05
Intro
We believe that change is possible.

00;00;45;07 - 00;00;46;26
Intro
Is possible.

00;00;46;28 - 00;00;49;06
Intro
Do not be about claiming credit.

00;00;49;09 - 00;01;13;04
Intro
But rather changing lives and restoring hope and building our community. Building our community. We will work thorugh differences and break down silos. And break down silos. And break down silos. We will recognize the profound importance of life basics food, clothing, shelter and health care. We will look below surface symptoms.

00;01;13;06 - 00;01;16;10
Intro
To discover root causes.

00;01;16;12 - 00;01;21;04
Intro
We will meet the needs. We will meet the needs of the whole person and whole family.

00;01;21;04 - 00;01;22;02
Intro
And the whole family.

00;01;22;08 - 00;01;45;00
Intro
And the whole family. We will not ignore the impact of addiction, mental illness, trauma and physical restraints. We will seek the change that comes from recovery, wellness and healthy living. We will build on the foundation of wellness by educating families about physical, emotional, social, spiritual.

00;01;45;00 - 00;01;48;20
Intro
And intellectual wellness.

00;01;48;23 - 00;01;59;10
Intro
We will work hard. We work hard and will work hard at the task at hand, while empowering, while empowering individuals work toward a stable, long term career.

00;01;59;13 - 00;02;01;14
Intro
A stable long term career.

00;02;01;17 - 00;02;06;01
Intro
We will step in. We will step in. We will make change.

00;02;06;02 - 00;02;08;16
Intro
We will make changes for ourselves.

00;02;08;19 - 00;02;09;17
Intro
For our families.

00;02;09;17 - 00;02;10;11
Intro
For our families.

00;02;10;14 - 00;02;19;02
Intro
Our families. For our community. For our community. And we will restore hope. We will. We will restore our hope. Restore hope.

00;02;19;07 - 00;02;23;13
Intro
We will restore hope.

00;02;23;16 - 00;02;31;22
Narrator
This is season three of the Smart Justice Podcast. A Chance at Life.

00;02;31;25 - 00;02;38;08
Paul Chapman
Crime and Punishment are hot topics. Are there solutions different than what we're hearing about at national level?

00;02;38;10 - 00;02;43;02
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
Kids find themselves just struggling to survive, doing the best they can.

00;02;43;05 - 00;02;48;24
Paul Chapman
There is a different way to approach justice that has a better return on investment.

00;02;48;26 - 00;02;54;19
Misha Martin
We don't want people to be dependent. We want to help them get to stability.

00;02;54;22 - 00;03;00;17
Paul Chapman
That seems to strengthen both law enforcement and courts.

00;03;00;20 - 00;03;02;17
Jerome Strickland
The number one goal in most cases.

00;03;02;17 - 00;03;03;21
Jerome Strickland
We want reunification.

00;03;03;22 - 00;03;11;22
Paul Chapman
And tie that together with community resources and then track the impact to communities and better outcomes.

00;03;11;23 - 00;03;15;25
Secretary Kristi Putnam
The best place for a child who's in our foster care system is with a family.

00;03;16;01 - 00;03;19;23
Paul Chapman
And we're calling this approach Smart Justice.

00;03;19;25 - 00;03;40;24
Narrator
Smart Justice is a work of Restore Hope and partner organizations. Restore Hope as a software and services organization that helps communities achieve better outcomes for justice and child welfare efforts. Smart Justice is focused on optimizing the system by improving the relationships among its parts.

00;03;40;26 - 00;04;13;00
Paul Chapman
Hey, welcome to season three of Smart Justice. In this season that we're calling A Chance at Life, we're talking about child welfare and what we can do to help improve the outcomes in the child welfare system. This season I'll be joined by a friend of mine, Dr. Andrew Baker, who has a long history, both personally and then also as volunteer and a professional nature, helping lead the state in getting better outcomes for children and for families that are in child welfare.

00;04;13;04 - 00;04;45;29
Paul Chapman
Andrew, thanks for joining us this season. We've known each other for several years, but as way of introduction, you are a professor at Harding and have been for a long time. You and your wife have fostered for many years your adoptive parents and but then also you serve as a chairman of the Parent Council. Commission or. Correct. And then you also serve on another board that is for the prevention of child abuse and and sexual abuse.

00;04;46;01 - 00;04;51;02
Paul Chapman
So how did you get involved in this? Because you're in pretty deep.

00;04;51;04 - 00;05;16;29
Dr. Andrew Baker
We're definitely in deep. You know, it started for me in the house I grew up in, right, and with parents, grew up in a minister's home, but a dad and mom who cared deeply about the community they were in. Have an adopted sister who was adopted before I was even born. Our family specifically, we had a season in which we said, Hey, let's get involved in foster care.

00;05;17;01 - 00;05;35;26
Dr. Andrew Baker
And then you just start asking questions. And I have a deep belief that better is possible. You start getting involved in one thing, leads to another thing. And so, you know, you know, one conversation leads to another conversation, and then you find yourself sitting at tables trying to say better is possible.

00;05;35;29 - 00;06;10;09
Paul Chapman
You know, one of the things, as we've kind of talked about the issues and the barriers to doing better in child welfare for helping, you know, families that are caught in the system have a chance at life, one of the things that we have found that's true is that there are a number of stakeholders, in fact, a number of stakeholders when a family is in that level of crisis is so great that that itself can be difficult to kind of manage the communication amongst everyone.

00;06;10;09 - 00;06;21;22
Paul Chapman
And so could you just kind of reflect on from your your perspective, you know, how you've seen that play out as you've been a foster parent?

00;06;21;24 - 00;06;44;09
Dr. Andrew Baker
I tell a story often in many contexts about one of our first experiences for my family in foster care and to be at a staffing. First, we were... these children were living in our home and we showed up and the caseworker said, Why are you here? Foster parents don't come to staffings And my answer was, Well, this one does.

00;06;44;11 - 00;07;07;25
Dr. Andrew Baker
If they're living in my house, we're going to be involved in every aspect that we can be involved in, Right. And then to get in that room and there's people in that room doing a job, and it's a job that's very important, whether it was a caseworker for DHS, whether it's an ad litem, whether it's parent counsel, whether it's the supervisor, like you have these stakeholders, as you said, that are there and they're at that table.

00;07;07;27 - 00;07;29;22
Dr. Andrew Baker
One of the questions I always want to ask in the world of child welfare is who's at the table being merciful, who's at the table asking that very first question that you learn if you're a person who goes to graduate school for counseling, what's the first good question of any counselor? What makes this action make sense? Not justifying. Like I can't make wrongs right, but what makes that action make sense?

00;07;29;25 - 00;07;56;02
Dr. Andrew Baker
Well, sometimes you'll find cases where you're going third and fourth generation of families, where the kids have been put in foster care. Right. They've always been in that place. They've always been in a place of poverty and survival. And when I'm waking up every day just wanting to know if I have a chance to make it through the day, that's a very different life than a person who wakes up and knows they're going to own the day.

00;07;56;02 - 00;08;04;18
Dr. Andrew Baker
Right? Or in trying to create systems in which resilience can be found. It's a struggle.

00;08;04;20 - 00;08;39;10
Paul Chapman
Well, we've had the opportunity to sit down with two child welfare leaders in the state of Arkansas to help us as we go on this multi-episode journey, try to understand child welfare and the context in which families that are struggling in Arkansas find themselves and their children. And so we're going to sit down with the Deputy Director or the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services over Youth and Families,

00;08;39;10 - 00;08;44;01
Paul Chapman
Misha Martin and the Director for Children and Family Services, Tiffany Wright.

00;08;44;04 - 00;08;47;10
Dr. Andrew Baker
You're setting with two rock stars in my opinion.

00;08;47;13 - 00;09;10;21
Paul Chapman
All right. Thanks for joining us to talk about child welfare in Arkansas. Before we kind of get started with particulars, can we just set a context for child welfare? There are many actors. There are a lot of families that are engaged and foster care is just one part of child welfare. But can you kind of give us the scope of child welfare?

00;09;10;29 - 00;09;32;27
Misha Martin
So really, people may not realize, but everything starts at the beginning with the Arkansas child abuse hotline that's at state police. And on any given year, they get approximately 60,000 calls. And of those calls, about 30 to 35000 are accepted for an actual allegation or some type of intervention with the family, because there's an allegation of abuse or neglect.

00;09;32;29 - 00;09;55;07
Misha Martin
What many people don't realize is that Children and Family Services serves more children in their home than they do in foster care. And on any given year, that's about 14,000 children across the state. And then today, there's about 4100 children that are in foster care. And over the years, over the last seven years, we've been as high as 5200.

00;09;55;09 - 00;10;15;17
Misha Martin
And right now, we're around 4100 children in foster care. And when kids are in foster care, they're with us until they have some permanency. So a lot of people hear about adoption. Some kids are adopted from foster care, but most of the kids either go to a family member or are reunified with their biological family or a parent.

00;10;15;20 - 00;10;20;09
Paul Chapman
What does it look like when we serve children in their home? What does that look like?

00;10;20;11 - 00;10;45;00
Triffany Wright
Yeah. So DCFS is responsible for providing those critical services to children that are in the home with their caretaker. So that is routinely visiting them, making sure we're meeting them where they are and getting them the right services that they need in order to keep those kids safe in that home with their caretaker. Every case looks a little bit different depending on our reason for involvement.

00;10;45;03 - 00;10;54;16
Triffany Wright
But again, we're what we're watching for the risks and the safety and just monitoring and making sure we're supporting that family so they don't have to have involvement with us.

00;10;54;19 - 00;11;07;16
Paul Chapman
What's the decision point whether there's a Protective Services in-home case or a removal? What's kind of the the thing or a couple of things that are the decision point there?

00;11;07;17 - 00;11;32;04
Misha Martin
Well, the lawyer in me wants to jump to this question and then I'll have the social worker follow up with it. So the legal answer is that there has to be immediate danger so that child cannot remain in the home. It is not safe today for that child to remain in the home. And there is no services, supports or intervention that can be put in place where that child can remain with that caregiver and in that home.

00;11;32;04 - 00;11;50;02
Misha Martin
So, I mean, it's a really high standard, right? If we're going to take some of these kids away, they have to be in immediate safety danger. Now, over the last few years, DCFS has implemented some evidence based practices to help our workers actually assess safety and assess risk. So typically, you want to pick up on that?

00;11;50;03 - 00;12;26;20
Triffany Wright
Yeah. And really, it's about digging in and figuring out what is our reason that we're here right now and is there anything we can do to safety plan in order to alleviate where the danger or what we're doing? And so can we find the community supports to put in place that will be there the next morning. Can we find where's where's grandma and or the aunt or the uncle or maybe it's the neighbor that can be a support to this parent and then, well, is the family willing and ready to cooperate and walk alongside a provider?

00;12;26;20 - 00;12;42;06
Triffany Wright
Right. So we have intensive in-home services across the state and they are really getting in and providing that family with wraparound services and support. And it's really about is there really anything we can do before we have to remove because that is the last thing that we want to do.

00;12;42;08 - 00;12;50;28
Paul Chapman
If we've got 4100 children in foster care, how many children are being cared for, kind of in-home?

00;12;51;00 - 00;13;00;27
Misha Martin
On any... So over a year period of time, there's about 14000 to 15000. But like on a period in time, it's usually around 7000.

00;13;01;00 - 00;13;09;06
Paul Chapman
7000. Okay. So that's a much more significant kind of effort from DCFS then.

00;13;09;08 - 00;13;43;04
Misha Martin
Yeah. So I think people don't realize how small children and Family Services actually is. So like those numbers are pretty big. And don’t forget you have investigations and we haven't talked about all of our different cases, but across the state we have less than 1100 workers across the state. So while children and Family Services is responsible for investigating, assessing safety and then ultimately providing care and custody of kids in foster care, there is a community responsibility and other partners involved in mental health systems, substance abuse system.

00;13;43;07 - 00;13;56;09
Misha Martin
There's other players in the system that have to work with at risk families that don't quite get to that level of abuse or neglect. And frankly, the school system plays a huge part in serving children that are at risk.

00;13;56;16 - 00;14;02;20
Paul Chapman
Okay, So a call comes in to the hotline and it gets routed to DCFS. What happens then?

00;14;02;22 - 00;14;29;05
Misha Martin
So the call could either be referred to what we call differential response or to investigation. But either way, somebody from DCFS is going to go and go out to the home or somewhere to see the child within 72 or 24 hours, depending on what type of allegation it is. And at every point that... we teach our staff this, at every point that they see a child, their responsibility is is their safety.

00;14;29;07 - 00;14;48;15
Misha Martin
And then the next thing is if they're safe, but they're remaining in the home, they're thinking about services, but at the same time, they're thinking about services, they're still investigating whether they're talking to people or whether abuse or neglect happened. They're continuing to assess whether this rises to the level of removal. They're thinking about what services are needed to be offered.

00;14;48;22 - 00;15;18;19
Misha Martin
Initially, there might be a decision whether to remove or not remove. At the conclusion of the investigation, which usually lasts 45 days. They either make a true finding or they unsubstantiate. But recently we changed policy to to use an evidence based tool to determine which families are at the at the need of intervention. So even if we unsubstantiate but families are at risk, we can now open a service case on that.

00;15;18;19 - 00;15;41;23
Misha Martin
But if the cases are found true, it's typical practice that we open a case, an in-home case. But at any point during all that we're trying to prove abuse or neglect, we're trying to assess safety continually. We're trying to offer services. Any point of that child is in immediate danger, that child is placed into foster care, which foster care is not really a placement.

00;15;41;23 - 00;15;55;05
Misha Martin
So I even hate I hate using that term. Right. But they what we what we mean by that is they are in the state custody and the state is the parent or custodian. And I'll turn over Tiffany, you want to pick it up on what happens when removal happens.

00;15;55;05 - 00;16;18;24
Triffany Wright
Yeah. So after we've made the decision to remove our first and foremost priority is a placement. There are other things that happen. We have to we have to have them seen by a medical professional. We're still gathering information, pertinent health information about from the parents, because now we're charged with taking care of these kids. And we need to know everything we need to know about them.

00;16;18;24 - 00;16;42;08
Triffany Wright
But we're also looking for placement. And our first priority is always to look for safe and appropriate relatives. And we have a team of staff team that does that 24 hours a day going out, assessing relatives, determining if they're safe and appropriate, and finding the best placement for that child. And then from there, if we've said no more relatives, we've exhausted everything.

00;16;42;08 - 00;17;07;02
Triffany Wright
We can't find an appropriate relative, then we start looking for foster parents or resource parents and going through what's in my county, what's in my neighboring county, even though we don't always do that so well. And then if we exhaust all of that, then we're looking at shelter placements. And that can... that's gets complicated based on your age because no one 12 or under... we believe we do not want anyone 12 or under in an emergency shelter.

00;17;07;04 - 00;17;27;12
Triffany Wright
And the assistant director of field operations actually has to approve that. So it's a whole conversation and we push hard and we want to make sure we use all of those relatives. So that first I would say that first 24, 72 to 72 hours are the critical, right? We're making key decisions about the children and what and the parents.

00;17;27;12 - 00;17;45;03
Triffany Wright
We can not forget the parents. So we still need to be having conversations with them. We should be giving them updates about what's happening with their kids, Where are their children? What where did they end up and just making sure they know what's coming next. Right. And that typically leads us into the courtroom.

00;17;45;06 - 00;18;09;22
Misha Martin
Once we remove a child within 72 hours, we have to get a court to sign an order. The worker has to put an affidavit together, which is a sworn statement alleging the abuse or neglect, and that that judge signs an emergency order within 72 hours and then within five business days of that order being signed, they have to have a probable cause hearing.

00;18;09;27 - 00;18;38;03
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
My name is Tjuana Byrd Manning, and I am excited to serve as a division circuit court judge here for Pulaski and Perry counties overseeing juvenile matters. So there are three categories of cases that come before this court. FINS cases which involve children who are excessively missing school, who repeatedly run away or have other behavioral health issues that need to be addressed, But they've not committed any kind of criminal offense.

00;18;38;03 - 00;19;04;17
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And so parents, police, community members can file a FINS petition to get that child before the court for services. FINS stands for Families in Need of Services. And the second category of cases is delinquency and delinquency cases are where children have been arrested and charged, not necessarily arrested, but have been charged with criminal offenses and come before the court for those cases to be adjudicated.

00;19;04;20 - 00;19;29;04
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And then the third category would be our child welfare or dependency neglect cases, which are kids who are in foster care, who have been removed from the legal custody of their parents to protect them from a risk of harm of some sort of abuse or neglect. The bigger category of cases that come before the court and the dependency neglect cases are neglect.

00;19;29;06 - 00;19;56;16
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And those range in issues related to mental health, substance use, parents who get into criminal trouble and there's no other legal caretaker for a child. We do have some abuse cases. It's physical abuse, sexual abuse. Sometimes it's educational neglect where a child has just not been sent to school. And very often there are other factors that contribute to why a parent is not seeing a child to school.

00;19;56;18 - 00;20;26;15
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
Poverty is clearly a common thread amongst a lot of the neglect cases that we have. Sometimes there are issues related to having secure shelter, so there are unsheltered folks who just are struggling to make it and don't know how to access resources to be able to get them out of that condition and then find themselves getting into other problems that exacerbate that homelessness issue, that bring them before the court.

00;20;26;17 - 00;20;51;19
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And then once the case gets before the court, then the parent gets an attorney. DHS has an attorney. There's an attorney ad litem, which is an attorney who is appointed to represent the best interest of the child. Sometimes, if a parent or a child has a mental incapacity, the court can appoint a guardian ad litem who represents that person's best interest.

00;20;51;19 - 00;21;20;14
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
From the mental health perspective. We have CASA, which is court appointed special advocates, and as many times as I can appoint them, I do. And a CASA is assigned to a case. And so they never have more than two cases at any given time which may have multiple children in a case. But they are assigned essentially to follow that case from beginning until its conclusion and provide additional eyes and ears for the court.

00;21;20;19 - 00;21;41;28
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
They have access to information that doesn't require them to be a lawyer and issue a subpoena, because I signed an order that essentially allows them pretty free access to all kinds of information that's helpful to the court to make a decision about what's in the best interests of that child moving forward and in any particular case.

00;21;42;00 - 00;22;02;00
Paul Chapman
So another stakeholder that could be present in a case, a removal is a court appointed special advocate, a CASA, either an employee or volunteer. I got to sit down with Dr. Phil Goad, who's been a CASA volunteer for a number of years here in central Arkansas.

00;22;02;02 - 00;22;03;07
Paul Chapman
Phil.

00;22;03;10 - 00;22;17;00
Paul Chapman
I understand that when a child is taken into foster care, that one of the stakeholders that may be involved in that case is a court appointed special advocate.

00;22;17;06 - 00;22;17;25
Phil Goad
Yes.

00;22;17;28 - 00;22;23;07
Paul Chapman
Yeah. And so could you tell us a little bit about what a CASA is and what you do and how long you've been one?

00;22;23;09 - 00;22;47;03
Phil Goad
Sure. Back 12 years ago when I went to an information meeting, my wife and I were thinking about maybe being respite care foster families. And in the middle of that presentation, they talked about a court appointed special advocate. And my career was very much involved in the legal setting. So as an expert witness and in cases around the country and different types.

00;22;47;05 - 00;23;14;10
Phil Goad
So I was very familiar with the court setting and now I heard about an opportunity to take that experience and use it for something that really matters. And a court appointed special advocate is actually an officer of the court. You go through training and I am the advocate. I speak out for that child. Every time a child goes into care, there's things that are supposed to be done for that child, for him or her, and that their parents are supposed to do.

00;23;14;13 - 00;23;33;03
Phil Goad
So I do my part to make sure that what's required in the court order is actually taken care of. And so I'm the one I'm the only one really in the whole case, except perhaps the attorney ad lidum that represents them. But my sole job is to speak up for the child.

00;23;33;06 - 00;23;36;22
Paul Chapman
What are some of the things that you're looking for as a CASA?

00;23;36;24 - 00;23;58;04
Phil Goad
Yeah. So I look at the school I go meet with their their teachers. I get to know their parents. I want to know if the parents are doing the things that are required in the court order. For example, there's a few times where I've had cases where there were drugs involved. So there are drug testing requirements that they have to do.

00;23;58;06 - 00;24;21;18
Phil Goad
And so I keep an eye on that. I get to know the foster families. I, I call them. I talk to them and say, is there anything that you need that that that you're not getting or that I could help you with? So we just stay engaged with what's happening. They're following it through the the case, go to court when there's a hearing I go to court.

00;24;21;20 - 00;24;41;18
Phil Goad
And I write a report for the for the judge to review that gives a summary of what I've observed. And I always have recommendations. A CASA recommends what you want, what you recommend happening, and they can take that or not. But then they will come out with an with at that hearing. Here's what I'm saying should be done.

00;24;41;18 - 00;24;42;11
Phil Goad
So.

00;24;42;13 - 00;24;46;29
Paul Chapman
Phil, what's the value of having a CASA on a child welfare case?

00;24;47;01 - 00;25;13;26
Phil Goad
I think that the main value is a CASA’s role is to speak up for that child, to advocate, the court appointed special advocate for that child. And so we get involved with the foster families and support them, like are they needing certain kinds of help? Sometimes the the caseworker might be real busy and is having a hard time getting information for them or responding.

00;25;13;29 - 00;25;44;13
Phil Goad
I can get involved with that. The cases like that, I'm on right now, I will try to find solutions that for the child, for we've had a child that had health care issues that needed some help. Issues with their school so would talk to their teacher, just trying to find out a little bit more and then bring that information back to the whole team that served the child and say, here's what I think I have right now.

00;25;44;14 - 00;26;03;16
Phil Goad
Two boys that I'm a CASA for. And for various reasons, they've had to be separated. They're not in the same home right now. So I've been advocating and trying to work with our team towards the point where they can actually come back and stay with one parent. And they're ready now to be adopted when we can get through that.

00;26;03;19 - 00;26;19;09
Phil Goad
That process of getting them reunited in a home where they can live together, then they'll be ready to be adopted. And so I'm involved in that process.

00;26;19;12 - 00;26;50;05
Paul Chapman
All right. So clearly, the importance of being able to provide services, wraparound that family that's struggling is going to be needed if we're going to prevent a removal or if a removal of their children has happened to to reunify that family successfully, then there are several things that that family needs. And you are the chairman of the Parent Council Commission, Correct.

00;26;50;08 - 00;26;53;05
Paul Chapman
And what is the Parent Council Commission?

00;26;53;08 - 00;27;16;09
Dr. Andrew Baker
So parent council is a legal representation of parents in all child welfare cases, in a place in which parents are not able to afford their own legal defense. And so that is the majority of the cases in the state of Arkansas. Every county there is representation in that representation has to be given to parents if deemed appropriate, from the judge.

00;27;16;09 - 00;27;39;17
Dr. Andrew Baker
And so it's really making sure that all the things are being done correctly, right within a case. And within how the situation is handled. Lots of legality that’s at play and lots of legal things. So you have to have a lawyer, right. And that representation has to be given to every case, no matter where it is, no matter when it is.

00;27;39;20 - 00;28;01;26
Dr. Andrew Baker
One of the real challenges is most parents who are having to get legal representation in family court are having to get legal representation in other courtrooms as well. They're not... Their Issues usually are not just in family court. They have multiple issues, and now they're dealing with multiple lawyers in multiple places. And so the complexities just you know, if if let's use an example, right.

00;28;01;26 - 00;28;20;13
Dr. Andrew Baker
Parents got picked up because of drugs and they had the kids in the car. So the kids have been put in DCFS care. So now that is their case in the family court room. And now they've got other charges. Right. In other places and so there's just a lot of complexities. The team within parent counsel, Brian Welch is the executive director for the state of Arkansas.

00;28;20;13 - 00;28;37;25
Dr. Andrew Baker
They do an unbelievable job of just making sure that parents rights are not stamped on or stomped on or taken away like where we live in a system of justice that's supposed to be present and it needs to be present for mom and dad.

00;28;37;28 - 00;29;12;02
Paul Chapman
You know, part of what you kind of said there, Andrew, was there are other things that are going on kind of led to us partnering with different community organizations to launch 100 families in multiple counties and support 100 families, which does many things. But largely it helps all that complexity get coordinated amongst all these different parties so that communication is clear and that help can be given by different professionals that are already resident within the community.

00;29;12;02 - 00;29;34;04
Paul Chapman
And what we're seeing is that outcomes in these child welfare cases are actually much better for the families. When reunification is the goal, if the parent will work with their local community, 100 families alliance with all those members, then they have significantly better. They go from probably not being reunified to probably reunifying.

00;29;34;06 - 00;29;48;04
Dr. Andrew Baker
It's to me one of the greatest things about 100 families without question, is the stats that show you how much more likely reunification is possible for the families who participate with 100 families. There's no there's no question about it.

00;29;48;06 - 00;30;13;20
Paul Chapman
And largely that's filling a role. It's that case manager for the parent to help them understand really what's going on, because there are there's a lot going on not only in their personal struggles that they need help with, but also there are terms that are being set, there are appointments being set, and you're having to then execute on all these different case plans.

00;30;13;20 - 00;30;15;20
Paul Chapman
And that can be quite overwhelming.

00;30;15;22 - 00;30;36;09
Dr. Andrew Baker
Well, if you keep in mind, one of the things I think is great about 100 families is 100 families is helping parents not have to leave court alone. And the number of times that I have seen with my own eyes being in court and watched a mom leave that courtroom alone in complete shock, not sure what just happened.

00;30;36;11 - 00;31;09;04
Dr. Andrew Baker
Right. But it's organizations like 100 families who walk out with that mom and who let them know what happened, but let them know, here's what you need to do. Here's how we're going to proceed. Because the reality is, especially for those who find themselves in the place of living in poverty, one know is all they need to be told, not realizing that there's a good chance somebody told you no who didn't even have the authority to tell you no, they told you no because they just don't want to deal with the hassle or they didn't want to have to take their time to help you again.

00;31;09;07 - 00;31;34;13
Dr. Andrew Baker
It's knowing that, wait a minute. Let's ask a few more questions. Let's help you see that, no if you are truly wanting to be reunified with your kid and willing to make and take the steps necessary for that to be true just because you want to, you're going to get past just want to. You're going to have to show how you are making the right steps in the right direction.

00;31;34;13 - 00;31;56;24
Dr. Andrew Baker
The goal in the state of Arkansas is for your kid to come home. Reunification is supposed to be number one. Does reunification always work out? No, it doesn't. But it works out more times than not, especially when the supports are there for it to happen. And that's the part that I think becomes important for people to realize. Right with the right supports.

00;31;56;24 - 00;32;05;04
Dr. Andrew Baker
It's amazing how many families actually do succeed, and I would call that support when faithful presence of the community is there to help them.

00;32;05;06 - 00;32;19;27
Paul Chapman
You know, one of the things over the years that I've kind of reflected on with the job that the state needs people to do, like DCFS workers, we need that job done and we need that job done.

00;32;19;27 - 00;32;54;06
Dr. Andrew Baker
Well, absolutely. And the reality that poor decisions never make appointments, right? I mean, we act like we can schedule these things. This is called humanity. And, well, most of the time, really, poor decisions don't happen between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. And because of that, that puts this important group of people having to sacrifice a lot, having to sacrifice events and family time. I mean, the sacrifices made by social workers and caseworkers in this state for the sake of someone else, right?

00;32;54;06 - 00;33;07;13
Dr. Andrew Baker
For the sake of someone else's kid, for sake of someone else's family, it's it's really unbelievable. And I have immense, immense respect for those who do it day in, day out.

00;33;07;16 - 00;33;20;06
Paul Chapman
Me. to. Is there anything that we could say that might encourage someone to become a worker or their kids to study social work and become a worker?

00;33;20;09 - 00;33;43;01
Triffany Wright
I mean, the job is hard, but it's worth it. I mean, I did it fresh out of college. I started at DCFS few months later and I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I wouldn't change it. It's hard. It's taxing. But again, I came from a county where we had a lot of community support.

00;33;43;03 - 00;34;04;20
Triffany Wright
I had a strong supervisor and built a strong team, so I never felt like I was going to be alone. I might have been out doing something alone, but I knew if I was having a 911 emergency that I could get support. But I thought, I know on the bad days I think about the days that I did. I helped a family.

00;34;04;26 - 00;34;22;14
Triffany Wright
I helped a kid. Reunification. I see... I if I go back to my county and I'm in Walmart and I see somebody, you know, and I'm like, oh my goodness, look at them. Where, you know, I see some of them will randomly text and be like, Do you remember me? Look at where I'm at now. And I'm like, This is why I do this.

00;34;22;14 - 00;34;42;07
Triffany Wright
So I got yelled at yesterday and I made a big mistake. But let me go look at the families that I did help and bring along. But it's hard as I've never and people won't like you. You'll make bad decisions. They'll think that you're only care about yourself or only care about keeping everybody else happy. But it's really about what's doing best for kids.

00;34;42;09 - 00;35;00;19
Misha Martin
We definitely need more people who are passionate that are willing to do the work to step up because it takes all of us together. But we can't keep kids safe in this community without DCFS. Now we can't keep kids safe in the community without the community, but we also can't totally keep them safe without children and family services.

00;35;00;19 - 00;35;21;14
Triffany Wright
And I don't think you don't understand the gravity of what you're doing until you’re in it. Right. Like, I was like, Yeah, I can do this work. I'm just remember my interview. I was like, I can do this. I'll be fine. I got this. And then I was like, Whoa, That level of like, I'm walking away from this house with someone else's kids and putting them in my car.

00;35;21;14 - 00;35;46;10
Triffany Wright
And I don't know what's about to happen next right? But then you just remember, like, I just remember like watching kids get to go home to their parents, parents succeeding in jumping through every single thing we ask them to do. And I'm like, man, this is why this is why I do this. This is why Because kids deserve it.

00;35;46;10 - 00;35;48;28
Triffany Wright
But people deserve it, right? Humans deserve that.

00;35;48;28 - 00;36;21;20
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
The most amazing days for me are the days when I can play... because I'm good about queuing up a song on the YouTube on a day when we know something good is going to happen. So when a family is able to reunify because a parent has worked his or her butt off to make sure that my child knows that they are a priority, I want to be whole and healthy and a good parent and I queue up “Happy” or “Celebrate.”

00;36;21;23 - 00;36;43;08
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And we have a party in here to celebrate what happens good. And and to get a family back together or to see a family work to get back together. Because all I do, I tell them, I make orders, DHS makes referrals, but parents and kids have to do the work and they do. And when they do, we celebrate that.

00;36;43;08 - 00;36;58;20
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
So that's a good day for me. Of course, if if where families can't get back together. When a child gets a forever family, we make a celebration about that, too. So I always have something queued up over here on the YouTube because we're going to have a party. We're going to celebrate.

00;36;58;22 - 00;37;07;03
Paul Chapman
By the time that you're involved, some bad stuff has happened. And so to really improve odds. I mean, one of the types of things that.

00;37;07;05 - 00;37;25;20
Misha Martin
At every level when I was at Tiffany's level, it was like, obviously there's things that can be improved in children and family services and services that are that are offered. But in her seat, I was frustrated because I knew that there was more to get even further upstream. There was more that we could do as a state.

00;37;25;20 - 00;37;28;24
Triffany Wright
And I think you would agree more doesn't necessarily mean DCFS.

00;37;28;24 - 00;37;29;20
Misha Martin
That's right. That's what I'm.

00;37;29;20 - 00;37;36;11
Triffany Wright
Trying to say. More does not mean DCFS. More means in your community. Get involved and engage in your community.

00;37;36;14 - 00;37;56;11
Paul Chapman
That's you know, that's one of the things being involved in, in kind of justice initiatives is that it absolutely requires a community response. I mean, children are best placed in a family like setting and best if they can stay with their own family and we can strengthen them. But a community problem and therefore it requires a community solution.

00;37;56;18 - 00;38;22;01
Misha Martin
That's right. Yeah. DCFS can't do this work alone. I mean, we are never going to child welfare is never going to be designed to touch every at risk child in this state. Now, we're responsible for for protecting abused and neglected children. Don't get me wrong. But when I say at risk, I include families that are struggling with stability around housing, stability around jobs and stability.

00;38;22;03 - 00;38;50;02
Misha Martin
Yeah, instability around food or food insecurity. So and those are definitely things. You know, I just think about, you know, I was raised in church and the church I was involved with, it very much took care of our own. We were a small enough church that people the at risk families and we would wrap around them why I say we asked me more my parents but you know, like is it taking food to them?

00;38;50;02 - 00;39;21;15
Misha Martin
Is it everybody pulling together to make sure that the kids have clothes? But somewhere along the line, I feel like we started to be like, that's government's responsibility. That's government’s responsibility. And while government has a role, I obviously work for government. There's never going to be a place where DCF can touch every at risk family and some government service intervene, like, but then how do we really connect in the community organizations and partnerships that also help families get stable?

00;39;21;15 - 00;39;52;05
Misha Martin
Because isn't that what we want? We don't want people to be dependent. We want to help them get to stability. But getting people to stability doesn't just stability doesn't just mean them helping them for like one point in time and then walking away like sometimes these families, even though they get to stability, they need a support system that they can call to help them, not necessarily get them totally out of crisis, but navigate a small problem that doesn't become a giant problem.

00;39;52;08 - 00;40;08;07
Triffany Wright
Because otherwise they come. They're going to be back with us again right. Like if they're going to show back, come back to us, because we were that stability for them and it's like we can't be forever. So where are the where's the connections for you to have that stability outside of us?

00;40;08;10 - 00;40;34;12
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
For me, I feel like we lost somewhere along the way the sense of community that I grew up with. And so I think that there are lots of efforts being made to get us back to that place. So that community is involved with families. So kids are less likely to become part of any of the court systems. Children are too often fending for themselves.

00;40;34;12 - 00;41;01;27
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
They are trying to figure out what they're going to eat. They have parents who either don't have the capacity or are stretched too thin or have their own adverse childhood experiences that have carried over into their parenting. Kids find themselves just struggling to survive, doing the best they can, but it's way short of what is needed for kids to be healthy and make the kind of progress that we want them to make.

00;41;01;29 - 00;41;29;06
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
We all have a responsibility. It's everybody's responsibility. It's everybody's responsibility. Our society is what we make it, what we put into it, how we contribute to it. And everyone has you know, I do it as my job, but I do it when I'm not at work because it's that important to me. I'm all I'm going to leave this world sometime.

00;41;29;08 - 00;41;53;11
Judge Tjuana Byrd Manning
And who's going to be left and what have we done to prepare them to be the best, to keep the next generation safe and smart and whole and healthy and good?

00;41;53;14 - 00;42;17;04
Narrator
Thank you for joining us for our first episode of Smart Justice Season 3: A Chance At Life. Join us next episode as we take a closer look at one Arkansas community's efforts to support families involved in the child welfare system. Smart Justice episode hosts are Paul Chapman and Dr. Andrew Baker. And thanks to our guests Misha. Martin, Tiffany Wright, Judge Tjuana Byrd, Manning and Phil Goud.

00;42;17;06 - 00;42;41;04
Narrator
Our Season three theme song, A Chance at Life, is written and produced by Arkansas artist Jason Truby. Other musical credits include “Let Rivers Flow” by Cast of Characters, “Belive in Me” by Moments, “Lonely Company” by Anthony Catacoli, “Road to Home by Solitude” and Open Heart” by Reveille. Smart Justice is produced by Restore Hope. To learn more, visit www.SmartJustice.org.

00;42;41;06 - 00;42;49;02
Music
Two broken pieces made a brand new design

00;42;49;05 - 00;42;50;18
Music
And gave this soul a chance at life.