What kids in poverty really need

People who wind up in Washington's child- welfare system are often beset by "profound deprivation."

Mark Courtney, whose organization conducted a study of the system, told me the depth of poverty has been a surprise even to people who regularly deal with child welfare.

Data from a new study shows half of those families had problems securing housing, some were homeless, and two-thirds were so broke they needed food stamps.

The study is part of an effort to transform the way this state helps its most endangered children, and it underscores the need to address poverty as a core part of that effort.

The study was done for the state Department of Social and Health Services, which usually makes news only when something has gone terribly wrong and the lawyers are circling.

But the people it serves and the rest of us desperately need for it to work well. That is especially true when children's futures and even their lives are at stake.

That is why the agency is in the midst of a transformation in its approach to the deep problems we ask it to solve.

I actually feel upbeat about the prospects after a conversation with Courtney, who holds the Ballmer Endowed Chair for Child Well-Being in the University of Washington School of Social Work.

Courtney is a national leader in welfare reform. He came to Seattle in 2007 from the University of Chicago to direct a new collaboration, Partners for Our Children, which joins public and private money and leadership to improve this state's child-welfare system.

Susan Dreyfus, the new secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, and Edwina Uehara, dean of the UW School of Social Work, are on the Partners board and both committed to changing how child welfare works.

They are particularly committed to making the endeavor a partnership between caseworkers and the families involved, and to breaking down the boundaries between organizations that touch children's lives.

Child welfare, Courtney said, has been focused on safety, on removing children from abusive situations, though most often families are investigated for neglect, not abuse.

The approach that caseworkers take has been weighted toward procedures. Check these things off the list and the agency won't be sued if something goes wrong.

That's too limited.

Parents in the study, which was conducted by Partners for Our Children, said they needed housing, clothing, steady jobs. Yet when caseworkers were surveyed, they tended not to rank those things so high, partly, Courtney believes, because there is so little they can do about them.

Well, the agency is changing what it asks of caseworkers, with an emphasis on doing what is necessary to achieve better outcomes, in essence do what's needed for the child to thrive.

New partnerships should make it easier for a caseworker to work across agencies, say with housing providers, if what a family needs most urgently is a place to stay.

Partners for Our Children is expected to play a role in that by being a trusted third party in discussions among stakeholders.

Cooperation across lines of responsibility will help address the poverty-driven problems that create stresses and increase the odds of abuse and neglect.

The challenges are entrenched, but Courtney said, "The good news is that leadership can fix these problems."

Jerry Large's column appears Monday and Thursday. Reach him at 206-464-3346 or jlarge@seattletimes.com.