tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45929677589101536342024-02-06T19:29:34.356-08:00Views from the Children's Advocacy InstituteCAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-44579948791721563402012-07-18T10:56:00.001-07:002012-07-18T10:56:23.957-07:00We've moved!Please make sure to visit <a href="http://caichildlaw.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">our new blog site</a> as well as the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/" target="_blank">main CAI website</a>. All the content you see here is also over there. Thanks for finding us, and please make sure to connect with us on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/caichildlaw" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ChildrensAdvocacyInstitute" target="_blank">Facebook</a> as well.<br />
<br />
-CAI Team<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://caichildlaw.wordpress.com/"><img alt="http://caichildlaw.wordpress.com/" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Qceo2udw5mu3MuF1UZewAlDswtkQcbooFSsJpCM4bVIpoy9FIKzmRdKVcgltYei5m3Vp-uRWHgV4zB4XNARhYPpvOEmXSzsPFF24y0jEJPhJtyeG0W2NELBg75gMDY2nxxj_3ot28jT3/s1600/Cai+Blog+Screenshot.jpg" title="http://caichildlaw.wordpress.com/" /></a></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-20181689242162674272012-04-17T11:31:00.000-07:002012-07-25T11:47:31.758-07:00Child Fatalities and Near Fatalities – Do We Need the Details?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifddExUHpNWgieWqdqpsowe7LBtTd7yxujpe73n1DLrO3RHBT836ZzZjHqxkYMejxutmOUISAPsEa0kRgoI9Zuce0k8BwIltusgyMzeSuvEWSbp7tnMSk0GSXrxaljB-QY5E7OUHMfxHtk/s1600/State+Secrecy+Report+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifddExUHpNWgieWqdqpsowe7LBtTd7yxujpe73n1DLrO3RHBT836ZzZjHqxkYMejxutmOUISAPsEa0kRgoI9Zuce0k8BwIltusgyMzeSuvEWSbp7tnMSk0GSXrxaljB-QY5E7OUHMfxHtk/s320/State+Secrecy+Report+Cover.jpg" width="245" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) continues to work tirelessly to shine light
on one of our nation’s<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>biggest
tragedies<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– child deaths due to abuse or
neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As phrased by political
cartoonist </span><a href="http://blog.chron.com/nickanderson/2012/06/homeland-insecurity/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Nick
Anderson</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, these are “very real weapons of mass destruction.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why are the private details of these
tragedies important for public consumption?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The short answer is simply that we can learn from them and do better. We
need to continue to shout from the rooftops until we see real change to protect
our children.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">On
average, more than 4,000 children are removed from their homes and enter foster
care each week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>According to </span><a href="http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/acrossstates/Rankings.aspx?ind=6269"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">the
Annie E. Casey Foundation's Kids Count Data Center</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, more than 250,000 children
entered foster care in 2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unfortunately, not all removals from a parent’s home are warranted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/13/parents-wrongly-accused-of-child-abuse-struggle-to-get-kids-back.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">The
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Daily Beast</i> recently reported</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
that in that same year, “nearly 40 percent of children who had been removed
from their homes – more than 85,000 children that year – were later returned
with no finding of abuse or neglect, according to the Department of Health and
Human Services.”</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">How was
it that these children were returned to their homes without a finding of abuse
or neglect?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because when a child is
removed, counsel are appointed for the parents, a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Guardian ad Litem</i> is appointed for the child, and a series of
hearings must occur (including an initial hearing within 48 hours of the
child’s initial removal) to assure both that reasonable efforts were made to
avoid removal and that reasonable efforts are being made to reunify the child
and parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are several checks in
place to assure that when a child is removed from her home the removal decision
was correctly made.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But what about the children that
aren’t removed, and instead are left in their home, perhaps erroneously?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We can’t assume that all non-removals are correctly
decided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Logic and the numbers simply do
not bear that out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since there’s no
system of checks in place for them, we can only hope to learn from their tragic
cases after the fact by accessing and analyzing public records.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) established a national
collection and analysis program on states’ data regarding child abuse and
neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>States voluntarily submit their
own data and it is then used to create </span><a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm09/cm09.pdf"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">annual reports</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
which help better understand child abuse causes, demographics, and the systems
assisting children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As part of this data
collection, DHHS looks at child fatalities due to abuse and neglect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 2009, 34 states reported their child
fatality data.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those 34 reporting
states, nearly one in every eight child fatalities involved children whose
families had received family preservation services in the past 5 years. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">But it
is imperative to go beyond the cases that escalated to the point of receiving
services, and beyond states’ self-reports to instead take a look at cases where
there were <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">any </i>prior child protective
services contact.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CAI requested information from all of
California’s 58 counties on fatalities and near fatalities due to child abuse
and neglect for the period of July 21, 2006 through December 31, 2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>During that time period, there were 30 near-fatalities
and 53 fatalities reported.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the 30
cases of near-fatalities, 63% (19) of the children’s families had a child
protective services history and 37% (11) had a child protective services
history which CAI identified as substantially related to the reported near
fatality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Of the 53 fatalities, 82% (41)
of the children’s families had a child protective services history and 53% (28)
had a child protective services history which CAI identified as substantially
related to the reported fatality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By
going beyond the self-reported numbers, CAI can see an unfortunate trend where
more than three-quarters of all child fatalities due to abuse or neglect
involve families with a child protective services history.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">While
there are checks in place to ensure the propriety of a child’s removal from
their home, this doesn’t help the children that are being left in homes where
abuse was known to be occurring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When
this happens, there is no systemic check in place to save these children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the cases where our system has failed
and where we must step in.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Anecdotal
evidence shows that when we learn from these deaths – often because they are
reported in the media – positive systemic change can occur.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reporting of various child deaths in </span><a href="http://www.utsandiego.com/uniontrib/20081026/news_1n28foster.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">San
Diego</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">, </span><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2010/06/25/2847994/review-cps-errors-bias-contributed.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Sacramento</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">,
and </span><a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/25/local/la-me-child-death-20100725"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Los
Angeles</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> counties have all lead local agencies to revisit and improve their
practices with respect to child protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When a child’s death to due abuse or neglect occurs, it is imperative to
do more than look the other way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is why CAI continues to put
pressure on states to release all their information related to child abuse and
neglect deaths.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The information we learn
can often provide great insight into system’s failings and is the only silver
lining we can hold on to from these most tragic cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-34715998798478187082011-10-11T09:51:00.000-07:002012-02-06T12:02:53.335-08:00The Status of Children in 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJ7K15AGm-F69L-C2wflRfiPccGs5Ec2YUeS3BYsiP1YDGwFpMbKOU64hYQ1OMXXTRPVH-9oAwkL_7jlC5-3u3JdgEit3y5MzbzevwtfPzD0rBNPc0If26dAW_fQPKquw2zYPp3dYDq-T/s1600/toddlers+on+stairs+BW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJ7K15AGm-F69L-C2wflRfiPccGs5Ec2YUeS3BYsiP1YDGwFpMbKOU64hYQ1OMXXTRPVH-9oAwkL_7jlC5-3u3JdgEit3y5MzbzevwtfPzD0rBNPc0If26dAW_fQPKquw2zYPp3dYDq-T/s320/toddlers+on+stairs+BW.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: green; font-family: Garamond, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 22px;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-size: large;">The Evolving Background: Children and Intergenerational Equity</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: green;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It is not unusual for people in the here and now to be blind to the later judgment of human history. From any era, a view of prior history has hindsight and perspective often lost in contemporary passions. Here in 2011, we certainly look back to find a sordid human history that includes ineffable cruelty to people who are a bit different—often in the name of righteousness. In its time each such cruelty was, for at least a large population, insulated from the harsh judgment of cruelty and hypocrisy that the distance of time will bring. We look back now and easily condemn numerous historical acts accepted in their time, from witch burning and the inquisition to imperialistic wars, to unspeakable genocide. For Americans, we have some basis for national pride in our history of relative tolerance, democratic values and assistance to others. And we also largely agree about our own egregious errors: Slavery and violent racism, the massacre of Sioux women and children at Wounded Knee, the Japanese internment camps, and other affronts to our own values that we quietly concede from the wisdom of later reflection.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> So how will current adults be viewed through that future lens, in fifty or one hundred years? We honor our predecessors partly because of the legacy they left us—we have the feeling that we were somehow in their thoughts. We know that the founders of America were generally wealthy, comfortable adults who risked much for political ideals, and the American generations over the last 230 years since have similarly earned our admiration and gratitude. What Tom Brokaw called the Greatest Generation, in particular, has our deserved respect: Overcoming a depression, defeating fascism, rebuilding Europe, and then creating a system of public education that was the envy of the world for their children, and at the same time creating a national system of transportation, water development, parks and many other investments in their nation and children. They enacted civil rights laws and created a safety net for children and for the elderly. They built a nation of productivity, one that reveres human freedom and has a tradition of sacrifice for its children and grandchildren.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> But the current generation of Boomers does not appear to closely follow their precedent. On the environmental side, there is substantial disregard for future impacts, ranging from wasteful exploitation of one billion years of accumulated oil, gas and coal accumulation, to the creation of non-biodegradable waste, over-population, ocean degradation and a host of serious future costs. Beyond the concern over our permanent imprint on the planet is an equally troubling indicator of debt imposition on those who follow us. The collection of pension and extraordinary medical care by the Boomers as they reach senior status may have strong social justice foundations—where and if the generation benefitting pays for its costs. Data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office published in 2008 projects an accumulating deficit, primarily for Medicare and Social Security, which will exceed $52 trillion in obligations over the following 75 years. Related obligations (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and debt interest) subsumed 48% of the federal budget in 2006 and now make up the majority of it. Discretionary spending has declined from 67% of the budget in 1967, to less than 38% today (see </span><a href="http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08501cg.pdf"><span style="line-height: 150%;">http://www.gao.gov/cghome/d08501cg.pdf</span></a><span style="line-height: 150%;">). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> And it now appears that these numbers have been overly conservative. More recent data suggests that the total projected debt may be closer to $60 trillion rather than $52. Those factors include a $4 trillion increase in the national debt since the 2006 data. That now $56 trillion assumes little increase in medical costs when the opposite has been the pattern. Indeed, these costs for the elderly know little likely limitation. It does not include unfunded increases that are likely from trends in prescription benefits and a plethora of new medical benefits — from routine hip replacements and major eye surgeries to power chairs, Viagra, and organ replacement options. Any limitation on what could easily be an account to subsume all other accounts is subject to demagogic references as “rationing” health care, or to government “death panels” who will kill Grandma. This focus on one group is interesting in light of the effective denial of all health care coverage to eight million children (at one-seventh the per capita cost). But that is little discussed and is apparently quite tolerable. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The $56 trillion does not include unfunded, sometimes extraordinarily generous pensions for local and state employees, teachers, utility workers and others with substantial presence in state capitals. The total is now approaching $60 trillion and is likely to grow at over $1 trillion per year through 2011 and beyond. How much is $60 trillion? It comes out to over $500,000 per American family. To carry this understated sum of at a modest 4.5% (not to pay any of it off), our grandchildren will have to pay over $24,000 per family per year in current dollars, about one-half of total median family income before taxes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Changing demographics makes these future consequences both more likely and of greater concern. As noted, we have promised to the current generation of elderly (those now age 50 and above) a legally enforceable commitment to provide benefits that vastly exceed their contribution to its financing. Adding to this unusual imbalance are two demographic changes — longer lives and smaller families. A much reduced population of young and producing adults per elderly beneficiary will now be paying their unfunded liability. The pyramid allowing four or five persons in productive adult years to pay for each senior citizen is suffering substantial reduction. The population pyramid is looking less like a broad Egyptian structure and more like the Washington Monument — with a lot of weight on the bottom part. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Adding to the concern is the disastrous consequence of either another economic downturn or even a small increase in required interest payments to finance these current and future deficits. A two percent increase in the amount needed to print more money based on government bond sale would have a momentous impact on the burden of these unfunded obligations — as if they are not already frightening enough. How ironic that the major source of current security for the United States is the full faith and credit from the People’s Republic of China, a totalitarian regime. Our officials rightly warn of the pitfalls of dependency on Middle Eastern nations and the OPEC cartel, but less attention is paid to our supine posture before a communist regime with nuclear weapons that is now our largest national creditor. The share of U.S. debt held by foreign investors was 28% as recently as 1996. It is now over 50%.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Our political vision has been clouded by the anti-government, anti-deficit demonstrations of the “tea party” movement, which has distracted from this legitimate critique with class warfare rhetoric. The problem we have is that some of these conservatives eschew contribution to the next generation, and glorify — or at least rationalize — self-indulgence. It is as if we are not somewhat of an interdependent community, as if we have no obligation to others, as if everything we have achieved we each accomplished alone and without assistance. Public schools did not educate us or our colleagues or customers, the roads beneath our vehicles magically appeared, the water running through our showers was arranged by each of us acting alone, the monopolies generating our electricity are best left to exact what they will, our parks will occur through private charity alone, our cities will develop best by unimpeded market decision (until the guy next door decides to put in a gas station), and so on. They buttress this theme with anti-government rhetoric that is the longstanding hallmark of American demagoguery. Certainly skepticism about “the state” is well warranted, but not blind, categorical rejection. And the “tea party” folk do not help their cause by objecting primarily to the $14 trillion federal budget deficit — which is of concern, but has some justification — while largely ignoring the much larger unfunded liability for politically sacrosanct Social Security and especially Medicare. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> In return, liberal America ignores the critique wholly. Representative Ryan will introduce a certainly flawed Medicare reform proposal in early 2011. But rather than acknowledge the deficit problem or propose a less flawed alternative that might involve some additional contribution from the Boomer beneficiaries, the left will seize upon the tried and true demagoguery of the right. Mark these words: They will use the same rhetoric about “attacking health care for the elderly” that was used unfairly by the right against the President’s health care reform statute. One part of this dilemma is the large number of high-voting/contributing elderly entitlement beneficiaries. Another part is the excessive influence over Democrats of public employee unions — with their protection of often untenable pension burdens to be imposed on future taxpayers. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Children suffer from a double whammy — their interests are not advanced by either political party. Democrats eschew personal responsibility and government accountability, and sign off on virtually unlimited future debt for our children. Meanwhile, Republicans rationalize public disinvestment, except for a blank check to the Department of Defense (leading to a nation with 4% of the world’s population now expending about as much on military accounts as the rest of the world combined). <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The current political debate is a distractive argument between two “teams.” Each of them is willing to mislead about the other. It seems to be a reflection of human character: The love of allegiances with “groupings” and “labels” so our team can compete and vanquish their miserable adversaries. The Yankees will prevail! The Cardinals will win! The Packers, with their tradition and character, will return as champions! It is as if forty-year-old baseball or football fanatics have formed political teams and are immaturely filtering all reality to promote their side. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It is interesting that respected Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Samuelson, who passed away in December of 2009, is often cited for legitimate government deficit spending in times of recession. He also took the lead in warning about the combined deficit we are imposing on future generations. Neither party is really paying attention to both sides of his legacy either.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Exacerbating the problem, it is a diffuse and gradual dilemma steeped in economics and jargon, and so it evokes little interest from the media, or from the short-sound-bite culture we have become. A thought too long to be thumbed into a twitter message confines political discussion to sloganeering and name calling. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> And children are otherwise not at the table where political and budget decisions are being made. One thing we at CAI have learned over the past twenty years is that government is primarily a mediator between those who contend before it. And it is irresistible to come up with a benefit that kicks the can down the road to those who will follow — and who are not at the table. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> To add to the political weakness, children are lightly represented where decisions are made. For example, one study has established that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) alone spends more than 25 times as much on federal registered lobbying as do all of the child advocates at the U.S. Capitol combined (over $25 million per annum versus just under $1 million). The elderly vote heavily, and the median age of large campaign contributors is over 68 years of age. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps; line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-size: large;">California’s Continuing Child Disinvestment </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: green;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> California not only reflects the ethical problems of the Boomers, but it accentuates them. California is among the wealthiest jurisdictions in the world, but we complain about our rather average burden, including property tax levels that are among the lowest in the nation. The structure of the state’s property tax reflects the intergenerational inequity outlined above. It is an <i>ad valorem</i> tax (Latin for a tax on market value). But we have substantially frozen real property at just above 1977 levels for us older folks (rates can increase no more than 2% per annum while market growth since 1977 is many, many times that rate). This means that young adults who do not have parents to inherit property from or cannot otherwise maintain the artificially low market value assessment, commonly pay five to ten times what Boomers pay in taxes for the same value property and the same public services. The Proposition 13 limitation of taxation to 1% of a property’s value is not the problem — instead, it is how it is assessed, on a dishonest market value basis, so the elderly who owned in 1977 and before, can take billions from younger generations.<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/mdelgado/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/356HJNP9/The%20Status%20of%20Children%20in%202011.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a> The practice of wildly disproportionate taxation favoring those who were here earlier than others is a rather naked violation of the American tradition of fairness and intergenerational equity. The exploitation of our young by the Boomers in our state is not only unquestioned, any criticism of the arrangement is considered political suicide by those in both parties. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> California is perhaps the worst offender nationally in its unfunded pension and medical coverage benefits for public employees. It has joined the ubiquitous “defined benefit” format of current public pensions. California adds to the national unfunded liability of $60 trillion discussed above with high additional unfunded liability for state workers, school district teachers and employees, and city and county personnel. The City of San Diego alone has an over $2 billion unfunded public pension/medical obligation liability. Teachers, special district employees and even utility retirees have piled up substantial pension/medical obligation deficits for our children to pay. Some public employees are now able to retire at age 55 or younger at full salary — and some make substantially more than full salary upon retirement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Regrettably, the California example of adult self-indulgence reaches beyond long-term debt deferral practices. The year 2010 was the state’s fifth straight year of public child-investment contraction. The 2009–11 federal subsidies to states are not in prospect for 2011–12. Some recovery, evident in early 2011, is likely to reduce the projected $20 billion deficit, but only marginally. Cuts are likely to hit the child safety net yet again, as they have since 2006. As noted in last year’s message, the Legislature’s “Suspense File” process shoves any bill costing public funds into a special category in the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees. The vast majority of them die without vote or accountability — as has now been the case since 2007. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Our manifestation of generational self-indulgence has taken many forms, as updated below from last year’s discouraging message:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0.75in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br />
<ul><li><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Child poverty is increasing and the public safety net is being withdrawn in a steady pattern of strangulation. One generation ago, the basic safety net of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and Food Stamps approximated the federal poverty line in California; it has since fallen to less than 50% of that benchmark. The federal poverty line itself represents less than one-half of the California Budget Project’s calculated “self sufficiency” budget for California.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">C</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">alifornia has one of the lowest levels of participation in federal food stamps in the nation — as its state government gives those who need food help little priority — even when the funds to provide it are entirely federal.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Child care assistance is in jeopardy for 2011–12, including especially for the many single parents who require such care in order to maintain employment.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite the passage of federal health reform legislation in early 2010, almost one million California children lack basic health care coverage — while coverage is universally assured for the elderly (who cost seven times as much each).<span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">Indeed, the state General Fund was unable in 2010 to provide even the one-third state match for new child enrollment in Healthy Families, and has had to expropriate funds intended for other purposes, including the special fund approved by voters to help children ages 0–5. </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For families whose children remain uncovered, this means little preventive care and reliance on emergency-room care — with billing at three to five times the cost paid by private and public insurers. An operation and short stay in the hospital means financial ruin for working poor families. Taking a child in for treatment continues to feed the largest source of personal bankruptcy in the state: collection of medical bills.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">The new federal health care reform law will extend private insurance dependency coverage of children to age 26 (the median age of self-sufficiency).</span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">And California is among the first to create an “Exchange” under the new law — one that will give families the bargaining power to buy affordable coverage. </span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">It might help. </span><span style="line-height: 24px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;">And Massachusetts has proved it is possible.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"> </span>California’s foster children suffer alarming outcomes upon reaching adulthood. <span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">A large percentage of them do not obtain a high school diploma, and only about 3% obtain any post-high school degree.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">They are substantially unemployed, have very high arrest rates, and the largest group in our homeless shelters are not military veterans, but former foster youth. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">California’s dependency court judges assume parental jurisdiction of all of these children.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">In a democracy, we together are their parents — and we are neglectful.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our payments to family foster care providers — from which adoptions most often occur — stand at about 1/10<sup style="line-height: 150%;">th</sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;"> the amount per child paid to the commercial group homes who have skilled lobbyists at the Capitol. The amount paid to foster families is 35% below the enumerated out-of-pocket costs that federal law requires they be paid. And the number of foster children in the more desirable family foster care homes has gone from 15,000 to below 5,000 in the past eight years — as costs have increased and compensation has not. There can be little supply when taking on a child will require the sacrifice of your savings and pension — as has increasingly been the case in our state.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">We hope that 2011 will rectify that violation, as the Ninth Circuit has commanded in CAI’s </span><i style="line-height: 150%;">Wagner</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;"> case (discussed below). </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Another fiscal shortfall occurs as foster children age into adulthood at 18. While we all as individual parents provide about $50,000 as a median amount for our children after age 18, the state provides less than 1/5<sup>th</sup> this amount, and it is skewed to a small number. The few former foster youth able to reach college might be able to access Cal Grants, the Guardian Scholar program, or the Transition Housing Placement Program that gives limited, temporary funds in a “top down”, social worker-administered application for a small number of youth. This scheme is well-intentioned, and it helps some — but these programs do not approach the help we give our own children who are not parented by us through the state. Nor is the recent federal Fostering Connections Act implementation likely to seriously rectify this shortfall as it is likely to be implemented under California’s AB 12 vehicle (discussed below).</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">K–12 education investment is in sharp decline. The state has dropped to 47</span><sup style="line-height: 150%;">th</sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;"> among the 50 states in per pupil spending — and class sizes now fall to 49</span><sup style="line-height: 150%;">th</sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">, with thousands more teacher lay-offs now in process. The state is also near the bottom of the nation in non-teacher support at its public schools: librarians, nurses and counselors.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Higher education fees and tuition are at record levels as state officials, eschewing evil “tax increases”, make an exception by increasing higher education tuition (as well as increasing fees for child care and foster care licensure).<span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">General Fund spending on prisons used to be much less than higher education investment.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">Today the General Fund spending on correctional programs is $10 billion — double the General Fund commitment to the once-famed UC and California State college systems.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">Apart from General Fund retraction, federal Pell grants have now fallen to a small fraction of annual tuition.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">College kids now graduate with unprecedented debt.</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 150%;">The Cal Grant system has not kept pace with higher education costs for the students covered.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Symptomatic of the overall malaise, public higher education capacity (especially classes offered) is being slashed. And a substantial percentage of public higher education loan amounts are now directed at “for profit” vocational schools that advertise heavily, do not disclose often dismal employment success of graduates, and leave their students with six figure debts and growing default rates against public accounts. The sacrifice here demanded of California’s adults is far less than our parents’ performance for us. </span></span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">To</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px;"> increase revenues to address these deficiencies, the state can select from a relatively painless menu:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 4.5pt .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">tax corporations at a level typical of other states;</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">eliminate corporate tax avoidance;</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">tax alcohol at the level other states commonly assess;</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">restore the longstanding 2% vehicle license fee improvidently reduced by former Governor Schwarzenegger, an action that caused California to lose $5 billion per annum in revenues; </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">examine closely the <i>nearly $50 billion</i> in annual tax credits, deductions and exemptions that currently exist (which are not examined annually — or ever — and require a two-thirds vote to end);</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: green; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">apply sales taxation to professional services;</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: green; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">tax internet sales and allocate to states; and/or</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: green; font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;">reform property taxation by assessing all property at actual value — perhaps reducing the 1% of value tax limit to ½ of 1% in the bargain.</span></span></li>
</ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Importantly, the 2001/2003 federal tax cuts gave California’s wealthy class $37 billion per year in additional income. Some combination of the measures listed above to recapture about one-third of this amount would retain most of the tax subsidy while (a) eliminating the state deficit; (b) allowing the state to capture federal matching funds otherwise foregone; (c) restoring safety net protection and educational opportunity; (d) medically covering the state’s children (as every other civilized nation accomplishes); while (e) allowing spending decisions to be made at the state level consistent with stated principles of federalism. While fiscal conservatives properly objected to the 90% income tax rates for the wealthy brackets applicable in the 1970s, current high rates are less than half those levels, and are further undermined by credits and exceptions that lead the net tax paid as a percentage of income to be less than that assessed the lower middle class. Meanwhile, major industries have used a burgeoning tax advice legal industry to avoid contribution and route income into or through foreign tax havens. The oil industry, in particular, which should pay an add-on fee for the external cost of unrenewable resource exhaustion visited on the future, instead receives the opposite — tax subsidies to stimulate extraction.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The Republican philosophy has some important messages to impart about the limitations of government, the importance of outcome measurement and accountability of agencies, the need to use market and self-regulating forces rather than “top down” dictation of policy by public authority, the tendency of Democrats to sequentially expand a social service establishment by hiring more and more public employees, and the failure to demand personal responsibility. Indeed, it appears from those of us observing liberal politics over the past thirty years that the inexorable extension of what is consistently advocated is fewer and fewer children with responsible parents, and more cared for by 10, 20, 30 or more social workers, each performing a narrow task — and for whom these children are unavoidably part of a transitory “caseload.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The personal responsibility theme of conservative concern includes the most momentous decision human beings make — to create a child. That message is in particular order where unwed births rise from levels of 8% a generation ago to 40% today — with most of the involved children living in poverty amidst a collapsing safety net. Interestingly, the children of married couples live in families with median incomes well above $50,000 — almost <i>five times</i> the family income of their contemporaries born to unwed mothers. Absent fathers of such children pay an average of less than $60 per month per child, and almost half of that money goes to state/federal accounts as TANF compensation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: -.75in -.5in 0in .25in .5in 1.0in 1.5in 2.0in 2.5in 3.0in 3.5in 4.0in 4.5in 5.0in 5.5in 6.0in 6.5in 7.0in 7.5in 8.0in 8.5in 9.0in 9.5in 10.0in 10.5in 11.0in 11.5in 12.0in 12.5in 13.0in;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Regrettably, both parties appear to avoid discussing these cultural problems. The adult-centric media characterizes such subject matter as a politically incorrect insult to “single mothers” or women in general. Or perhaps is it subtle discrimination against homosexual adults or parents. Or perhaps it is racially biased because of the high incidence of paternal abandonment among African-Americans. It appears that the often similar categories of the children involved — with their due share of females, homosexuals and minorities — do not count.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It appears that Republicans have largely surrendered their principles of personal responsibility. Instead of a partnership for children, with support for investment conditional on this list of defensible principles, they simply demand state contraction (except for the military and prisons). They dare not offend the elderly — the welfare state there is sacrosanct. Personal responsibility is not demanded — they will just remove the safety net for the kids. And people do not pay their own way, they steal from those who follow. There has been an implicit deal struck that allows each party to essentially sacrifice its laudable pro-child agenda in return for the excision of the other party’s counterpart. There has not been a “contract with America” by public officials, but an undiscussed “contract on children” by both parties. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>About The Author:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Professor Robert C. Fellmeth is a tenured law professor at the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law and is Founder and Executive Director of USD's Center for Public Interest Law and its Children's Advocacy Institute. He is the holder of the Price Chair in Public Interest Law at the USD School of Law, one of two such chairs in the nation. In 1997-98, the School of Law honored him for his "outstanding, balanced, cumulative career contributions supporting the mission and goals of USD." Citing his 33-year career as a tenured professor at the School of Law and his extensive scholarship, USD's School of Leadership and Education Sciences in 2009 added him to its list of "remarkable Leaders in Education" for "legendary contributions to the field of education made by individuals from San Diego and Imperial Counties."</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Fellmeth was one of the original "Nader's Raiders," organizing the student groups in 1968 and directing the Nader Congress Project in 1970-72. As a deputy district attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Diego from 1973 - 1981, he litigated 22 antitrust actions and founded the nation's first antitrust unit in a district attorney's office. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He currently chairs the Board of Directors of Public Citizen Foundation, chairs the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counsel for Children, serves as a member of the board for First Star, and is counsel to the board of Voices for America's Children. He has served on the board of directors of Consumers Union and California Common Cause. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He has taught at the National Judicial College, the National College of District Attorneys, and the California Judicial College. He has authored or co-authored 14 books or treatises, including The Nader Report on the FTC (Baron, 1968), The Politics of Land (Grossman, 1970), California Administrative and Antitrust Law: Regulation of Business, Trades, and Professions (Butterworths Legal Publishers) and California White Collar Crime (LEXIS Publishing). His latest treatise is Child Rights and Remedies (Clarity Press, 2006), a text on child advocacy.</span></span></div></div><div><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" /><div id="ftn1"><div class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/mdelgado/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/356HJNP9/The%20Status%20of%20Children%20in%202011.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference">[1]</span></span></a> The purported basis for this inequity, to prevent the elderly on a fixed income from losing their homes as the value rises, is easily resolved by delaying taxation until the death of the owning couple; the pressure from increased value is easily accommodated by a small portion of the sale of a property that will have increased many fold in value. </span></div></div></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-88431093791216735932011-03-16T09:28:00.000-07:002011-10-11T10:05:43.240-07:00The Fleecing of Foster Youth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6vJtqhiKIxZWt9JU09gdg3iTuzU0SiBxByrU_h2WzClDqU9rfSXtm5W_URxFmbHitI_6oiPYBp16-1mVczfO0t5Hrok0lKIbt4x21DHuewhccBJC55PZpVObqv2gd8gS5sywUiiiX714/s1600/Homeless_Hungry_Youth.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6vJtqhiKIxZWt9JU09gdg3iTuzU0SiBxByrU_h2WzClDqU9rfSXtm5W_URxFmbHitI_6oiPYBp16-1mVczfO0t5Hrok0lKIbt4x21DHuewhccBJC55PZpVObqv2gd8gS5sywUiiiX714/s320/Homeless_Hungry_Youth.JPG" width="213" /></a></div><br />
<br />
States across the country regularly confiscate the assets of foster children, including Social Security survivor and disability benefits -- all but ensuring these youths’ failure as they “age out” of the foster care system at age 18, according to a new report released today.<br />
<br />
Each year, about 30,000 of the nation’s 500,000 foster children turn 18 and become legally emancipated. The rates of homelessness, educational failure and unemployment among these foster alumni far outstrip rates for other youths.<br />
<br />
The Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) and First Star report documents that many state governments have been legally confiscating the funds of foster children. These assets flow from Social Security benefits earned by deceased family members or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits. States apply for the benefits – many times without informing the children -- then redirect the funds to state agencies for foster care services those agencies are legally obligated to provide.<br />
<br />
The report, entitled “<a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/Fleecing.htm">The Fleecing of Foster Children: How We Confiscate Their Assets and Undermine Their Financial Security,</a>” released at a congressional briefing on Capitol Hill, describes in detail how many of the young victims end up homeless and without resources as state after state confiscates their personal assets. Child advocates believe the problem will only get worse as more states address their budget problems.<br />
<br />
“Parents don’t charge their children for food, clothing and shelter, and states shouldn’t charge foster children, either,” said Robert C. Fellmeth, CAI Executive Director. “States are breaking their commitment to foster children by this practice of confiscating benefits and assets and applying the money toward their support.”<br />
<br />
“Foster children are removed from their homes by the state for their own protection, supplanting parental authority. For the states to turn around and punish them by taking the children’s own money and leaving them destitute when they age out of the system is a violation of these vulnerable kids who need support to stand on their own.”<br />
<br />
According to the report, a 2003 Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to apply for foster children’s survivor and disability benefits and use the funds for their support. The report cites a Congressional Research Service study that found states collect over $150 million in these federal benefits, including Social Security benefits (also known as Old Age Survivors & Disability Insurance or OASDI) that children are entitled to because their deceased parents paid into the Social Security system.<br />
<br />
The report cites an analysis that shows the cost of young people aging out of the foster care system each year who can’t function properly on their own is approximately $5.7 billion, in the form of lost earnings (and thus lost tax revenues), criminal justice system expenditures, and government cash assistance and health programs. On an individual level, each foster youth who drops out of high school costs the public sector $209,100 over a lifetime due to lost wages and greater need for public support services.<br />
<br />
”The system is failing foster children,” said Peter Samuelson, co-founder and Chairman of First Star. “The damage these children suffer by having no assets after foster care ends up costing society substantially more than the confiscation of their small funds. They depend entirely on the courts and state officials, and they have no place else to turn.”<br />
<br />
In addition, many foster children become victims of identity theft, as their social security numbers pass through the hands of numerous agencies and individuals throughout their time in the system. The report includes individual stories of foster children who discover that, although they have never applied for loans or credit, they have defaulted on credit cards, car loans and student loans.<br />
<br />
Jaleesa Suell, 21, is a George Washington University student who was in foster care in California. At the congressional briefing and press conference, she described her ordeal when she discovered someone had ruined her credit by stealing her social security number and defaulting on loan. She is now unable to obtain a student credit card and build a credit history that will enable her to rent an apartment or acquire a car loan.<br />
<br />
The CAI and First Star report recommends passage of two federal bills that would give children the start they need to find a home, or begin college, and live independently once they are ineligible for foster care at age 18. These two bills, which would result in long-term revenue savings, would end the confiscation of their existing assets, and require states to inform these children that they may have assets. The two bills are:<br />
<br />
<b>The Foster Children Self-Support Act, </b>which would ensure that foster children are able to use their<br />
Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits to address their needs, improve their<br />
lives and create a basic safety net when they age out of foster care. Key provisions would:<br />
<ul><li>Restrict state agencies from using a child’s benefits as a general revenue source;<br />
<br />
</li>
<li>Exclude conserved funds as well as personal earnings, inherited assets, and civil judgments from the $2,000 resource limit under the SSI program;</li>
</ul><ul><li>Require that all foster children be screened for OASDI and SSI eligibility while in care, and require child welfare agencies to notify the child's attorney and/or guardian;</li>
</ul><ul><li>Develop and implement a “Plan for Achieving Self Support” that is specific to each child receiving Social Security benefits;</li>
</ul><ul><li>Create an Individual Development Account (IDA) for each child receiving benefits, so that these Social Security assets would be conserved to assist the youth in obtaining housing, education, or job training after emancipation from foster care.</li>
</ul><b>The Foster Youth Financial Security Act</b> would require that states assist children in foster care in making the transition to independent living by redressing identity theft or credit fraud issues. It would ensure that youths transitioning out of care have basic documents and tools for achieving independence. The bill would protect against identity theft and credit fraud by requiring that foster care agencies review the credit reports of all foster children, and take action to clear them if there is an inaccuracy, prior to leaving care, and end the use of a child’s Social Security number as an identifier. The bill would ensure that youths leave foster care with the documents they need, and require agencies to help them apply for state benefits and financial aid, educate<br />
them about obtaining health and auto insurance, and provide them and any interested caretakers with financial literacy courses.<br />
<br />
Both bills died in the House Ways & Means Committee last year, but are expected to be reintroduced this session.<br />
<br />
<i><u><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">About the Authors:</span></b></u></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"></span><br />
<div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-size: x-small;">The Children’s Advocacy Institute</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The Children’s Advocacy Institute, of the University of San Diego School of Law, works to improve the</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">health, safety, and well being of children. In addition to its academic component, CAI engages in</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">regulatory and legislative advocacy, impact litigation and public education in order to ensure that</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">children’s interests are represented effectively whenever and wherever government makes policy and</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">budget decisions that will impact them. Visit www.caichildlaw.org.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #073763; font-size: x-small;">First Star</span></b></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">First Star is a national 501(c)(3) non-profit that improves the lives of America’s abused and neglected</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">children by strengthening their rights, illuminating systemic failures, and igniting reform to correct them.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">We pursue our mission through research, public engagement, policy advocacy, and litigation. Visit</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">www.firststar.org.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">The primary authors of the report mentioned in this blog are Melanie Delgado, Children’s Advocacy Institute (CAI) Staff Attorney; Kriste Draper, CAI Staff Attorney; Amy Harfeld, CAI National Child Advocacy and Policy Consultant; Christina Riehl, CAI Senior Staff Attorney; and Elisa Weichel, CAI Administrative Director / Staff Attorney.</span></i></div><div style="font-size: 16px;"><i><br />
</i></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-2754944368460603252011-02-28T11:22:00.000-08:002011-03-16T09:30:08.202-07:00I’ve Always Had my Voice<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a single lifetime it is amazing what obstacles can be overcome and the successes that reveal themselves. Being taken away from my home at the tender age of ten gave me a 1<sup>st</sup> hand account of State Dependency. I can personally say State Dependents cannot escape the system or how others view them. Foster care meant constantly paying for the mistakes my parents made at a very high price. I no longer had a Mom and Dad, I lost out on having a childhood, I was often judged, I moved from home to home, I was stripped of everything I knew, and I moved from school to school. I was forced to live my life as a State Dependent; however, I turned my life into a success.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being a State Dependent made me pay for my parents’ mistakes. Both of my parents made bad choices which lead to significant family problems. My Mother and Father were both drug addicts long before I was born. After my arrival the drug use worsened; my Father used drugs to calm his schizophrenia, and my Mother used drugs just for the high. As years went by, my Father became a raging alcoholic. He began to batter my Mother until her face was purple and his hand was red and swollen. My Mother did not just stand there; fights would break out daily between them until my Mother threated to call the police if he did not leave. After my Father moved out, my Mothers’ drug use continued. When she didn’t have money for drugs, she looked the other way while her friend took a payment he felt was just. In many cases I was the payment. My mother did many of things to make me feel she did not love me. Each time my Mother would enter a relationship things seemed good, until the drugs over took both of their minds. I have been beaten with a hose, cooking pan, thrown into walls, thrown through a window, pushed out of a moving car, and so much more. My Mother would put it out of her mind, and act as though the abuse towards me did not exist. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My Mother always went shopping whether or not she had the funds. She got away with shop lifting for a while, but ultimately she was arrested and we were removed from our home. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being a State Dependent took away any hopes of getting the chance to have a childhood. Since age 7, I was forced to stay home and be a mother to my younger sister. I didn’t go to school, I no longer had friends, and I had to grow up much faster in order to gain the knowledge necessary to fend for myself and a young infant. When my two sisters and I were taken away, my social worker said nobody would want three girls. I used my voice to make it very clear that I did not care what happened to me as long as my sisters stayed together, it did not take long for me to wish I had not said it. Because I did not only miss my family, but I missed being able to protect them and spend time with them.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being a State Dependent offered justification when others judged me as if I was psychotic. Altering the way my teachers, mentor, peers, and paid staff looked at me. When asked how the comments made me feel, I tilted my head back and laughed heartily. Cringing inside from nervous laughter, I retreated into my mind, sometimes running away at top speed, and then as I open my eyes, I turn and walk away like stars on the red carpet. How many people could handle being raped in their Mother’s house and know nothing was done to bring their rapist to justice? After this horrific incident I was the subject of an uncomfortable interrogation. I was made to feel like a common criminal. I was also made to relive my ordeal by recording two videos of the incident forcing me to say all the devastating details of what he did to me step by step, over and over for law enforcement. After this incident I began to care not how I look to others but how I look to myself.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being a State Dependent stripped me of my identity, my freedom, and my family. The only things the system gave me were a county judge and a court appointed social worker. A judge cannot visit me and sooth my hurt or discomfort. When I was 12, I was placed at Polinsky Child Center. The neighborhood was not well known to me, making it hard to plot an escape route. I was denied the privilege to communicate with, or see any of my family members. Without my family I felt lousy, and I did not really know what to do. I chose to be defiant because I was very angry. I would try to make deals with my social worker. I would be good, and in exchange, I was allowed to see members of my family and talk to them. When denied, I would do anything rebellious to make her rethink her decision and I did not care how I looked to other people. Once you become a State Dependent it becomes stamped on your forehead for everyone to know, for everyone to see, without the option to hide. I would run away on a daily basis, but no matter how far I ran I could not change the fact that I was still a foster child.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Being a State Dependent was not something I was proud of; I lied about my life to all of my (so called) friends, with hope they would never know the truth. In eight years I lived in 14 different placements (either in a foster home or a group home) and went to over five different high schools. When moving to a new placement I used my voice to fight for the right to attend public school. No matter what school I was attending I always expressed how I didn’t want to be treated any differently. One very exciting and interesting event took place in my life on August 10, 2007, the day my case was terminated by the Juvenile Court System of San Diego. I shall never forget overflowing with joy and happiness. I am not a drug addict. I am not an alcoholic. I am not homeless. I am a high school graduate. I am employed. And I am chasing my dreams. I beat the statistics of a foster child making me the person I am today. Through all my hurt I learned to take all the bad and use it to fuel a better tomorrow. I would like people to see me as accomplished. I beat everybody’s doubt and negativity.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After being a State Dependent I turned my life into a success story. I still have times where I struggle with flashbacks of my childhood but, then again, I am only human. I am a college student, a mentor, an intern with The County of San Diego, a P.R.I.D.E. speaker (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education), on the HYPE board (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence,) and a new member to the CAI Youth Board (Children’s Advocacy Institute). I am a former foster youth who wants to make a difference in the system, to help current youth know that there are options, and provide resources to succeed. I am no longer a victim of the system, I am a survivor.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When dealt a sour hand in a game of cards, the option is always there to redeal the cards. However, in life we do not get that option. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It is truly amazing how many obstacles can be overcome and how many successes can be revealed in a single lifetime. I was treated horribly while I was in the system, and I was only there because of my parents. I have finally escaped<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4592967758910153634&postID=275494436846060325" name="_GoBack"></a></span> the stereotypes and negative views due to the foster system. I have since been reunited with my family. I aim to fix the system and help youth know what is available to them. While growing up in the system I just wanted to be loved and cared about. If I can offer a glimmer of hope to those who feel hopeless, my experiences will have meaning.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><u>About the Author:</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Helena Kelly is a passionate advocate for foster children. She spent several years of her childhood in the Dependency system and strives to improve the system for those children who will follow her. Helena is a college student, a mentor, an intern with the County of San Diego, a P.R.I.D.E. speaker (Parent Resources for Information, Development, and Education), she serves on the HYPE board (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence) and she serves on the Children's Advocacy Institute's Youth Advisory Board.</span></span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-22210756703227208962011-02-14T12:42:00.000-08:002011-02-28T11:15:08.314-08:00What Sort of Parent are You?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisparz4y9qPZ_WLBtxlLlpvyABOMwiTzsfKBNjffh0Zem4ywbARtbR7T30HpKbEJbmrp_b2yL9Z1ck9v_PJqbxQguTc6rVybWvec__vdKLFGTHlyEJbT_WFH1Hzaem5avmVUwuM0i9RfZL/s1600/Holding+Hands+child+adult.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisparz4y9qPZ_WLBtxlLlpvyABOMwiTzsfKBNjffh0Zem4ywbARtbR7T30HpKbEJbmrp_b2yL9Z1ck9v_PJqbxQguTc6rVybWvec__vdKLFGTHlyEJbT_WFH1Hzaem5avmVUwuM0i9RfZL/s320/Holding+Hands+child+adult.JPG" width="211" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Pitching Foster Children’s Issues in an Era of Financial Conservatism and Program Cuts </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As I conduct my advocacy work for the Children’s Advocacy Institute, I am often faced with the challenge of trying to convince socially conservative legislators, staffers, and wonks that it is in their moral, economic, and political best interest to support positive outcomes for foster children. In an environment where big business continues to spend billions of dollars on lobbying to protect and promote their issues, I am at a distinct disadvantage.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What I do have cornered is the moral high ground, and I have learned some effective tactics to leverage that. My currency? Guilt, shame, and “family values.” This is how I often spin it:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How many children do you have? <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What kind of parent are you? <o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How are your kids doing?<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Many will answer these questions intuitively -- perhaps you have three children, or are one of three children. You are a loving parent who sacrifices for your child, who works to provide your kids with every educational and other advantage, and one who prepares from early on for your child’s financial and educational stability. Or you were fortunate to have had parents who did so for you. Your children are thriving, or if they aren’t, you are doing everything possible to give them the best chance to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But your family is actually larger than you think -- much larger. Every child who is removed from his or her home and placed into foster care each year (over 500,000 nationwide) becomes a ward of the state. This means that the biological parents temporarily lose the right to care for and make decisions for their children, and the state takes over that role. Perhaps you live in California. As a taxpayer, you are one of the legal parents of the over 68,000 children in foster care in the state. You probably never considered this before and feel shocked and overwhelmed at the idea. Good. Imagine how they feel.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The children who live in foster care have done nothing wrong. Quite the opposite. They have been abused and or neglected by the very people charged most intimately with their care and well-being--- their parents. This is a devastating experience with serious and far-reaching emotional and practical consequences. Once they are placed into state custody, they depend on the state (which breaks down to each and every taxpayer in a state) to take care of them, provide for their needs, protect them from harm, and plan for their futures. That’s what parents do. Yet, as well as you might be providing this to your own biological children, you have overlooked your responsibility to do so for the many foster children who are counting on you. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When these youth leave foster care to forge independent lives, their prospects are grim. A recent study reveals that by age 24, 22–33% of foster youth are not connected to the labor market. At age 24, foster care alumni who are employed earn less than half, on average, than their counterparts who have no history of foster care. Although most foster youth express a desire to attend college, only about 3% of foster care alumni have earned a four-year degree. Many studies have found that former foster youth experience homelessness at high rates -- some estimate that nearly half of foster youth will have been homeless by age 24. Many foster youth experience chronic health problems as a result of the abuse and neglect they endured before their entry into the foster care system and up to 85% of foster youth experience mental health issues. Further, recent studies have found that less than one-third of foster care alumni are employed full-time at age 24.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These children in foster care are not “somebody else’s” children. They are <i>our</i> children. Yours and mine. They have nobody else. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is all too easy to shirk our responsibility for these children. Somebody else had them and failed to take care of them adequately. You have your own kids to worry about. This is their problem, right? Wrong. If your heart is cold to the sadness and pain of these children, perhaps your wallet is a better listener. Think again about your own children or childhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What would happen if you did not provide your children with proper medical care and treatment? They would endure worse illnesses, increased need for medication, more frequent and longer hospital visits, and probably a greater chance of acquiring a serious and chronic physical or psychological condition. Who pays for these increased medical costs? Yes, you, the taxpayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you didn’t encourage your child to graduate from school and/or attend college, and save for those expenses, what would happen? Job prospects and earning potential are greatly diminished. Chances of relying on public support are much higher. The costs of unemployment, underemployment, or poverty are passed along. To whom? Right again -- to you, the taxpayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you weren’t there to support your children as they transitioned to adulthood -- by providing them with a place to live during school vacations or during the summer, and then while they saved up for their own place, they would face a much higher risk of experiencing homelessness and ending up either in a shelter, in an ER, or on public benefits. Who does this cost? You got it- you, the taxpayer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are the tactics that elicit the greatest understanding and support in this very difficult economic and political climate. Politicians in Washington, DC not only don’t want to hear anything about spending or, heaven forbid, “investing”, they aren’t interested in hearing about anything that doesn’t reduce the deficit or slash spending. I try to address that mentality in this way: If you take a long-term view of the economic impact of our collective bad parenting, it is clear that not only is it morally wrong to treat these children so thoughtlessly, but it is fiscally irresponsible as well. Let us work towards reducing the deficit and slashing spending by minimizing the huge financial drain that these children will present us with if we do not provide them with the tools and resources to become responsible and self-sufficient adults. The 5.7 billion dollars that are spent on the needs of this population once they leave foster could be greatly reduced if we simply committed to being better parents.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Whether you are driven by moral or fiscal considerations, let’s take responsibility for these children who are relying on us to parent them well. We owe them no less than we owe our own children, and they deserve not to be penalized any further for their own parents’ mistakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first step towards doing the right thing by these kids is by answering the questions presented at the beginning of this piece and acknowledging that we ourselves are neglectful parents to the hundreds of thousands of children in foster care, that our kids aren’t doing well, and that we must do better. I must confess that I am not at all sorry when I bring a legislator, staffer, or pundit to tears by framing this issue in such stark terms. If it is true that the heartstrings are a direct line to the purse strings, let us usher in a flood.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amy Harfeld has been an advocate, educator, and public interest attorney for over 15 years. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she served after graduating as a Teach for America corps member in Los Angeles, where she taught 7th grade and coached basketball. While in Los Angeles, she obtained her secondary teaching degree from Cal State LA. After getting a front line view into the myriad social injustices faced by at-risk children, she decided to pursue social justice through the law. She obtained her JD from the City University of New York School of Law. While at CUNY Law, she published an article on juvenile and human rights in the New York City Law Review, clerked at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and completed several public interest internships. After graduating, Amy prosecuted child abuse and neglect cases for New York City's Children's Services. She was then hired to pioneer a legal services program for formerly incarcerated parents at the Fortune Society. From 2007 to 2010, Amy served as the Executive Director of First Star, a national child welfare non-profit in Washington D.C. Currently, Amy works as a consultant, directing national policy for the Children's Advocacy Institute and the National Association of Counsel for Children, and working with the ABA's Commission on Youth at Risk</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif;">.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-7514218208470520492011-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:002011-02-14T12:43:51.494-08:00A few cracks in the system<div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv10kiwKHQuBzNlcNvT6TwmU2c9HdnYiTQst65TbP3utciztWBLJQi6iZ8-mgWPWfg2D9Zsyw_grSiDRJHKiph6X3q_zPsixpH-0XPvhY27ZORN_9Cre3hKvi5HpNmg1YCHRHOoMC7WuGB/s1600/Teenage+girl.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv10kiwKHQuBzNlcNvT6TwmU2c9HdnYiTQst65TbP3utciztWBLJQi6iZ8-mgWPWfg2D9Zsyw_grSiDRJHKiph6X3q_zPsixpH-0XPvhY27ZORN_9Cre3hKvi5HpNmg1YCHRHOoMC7WuGB/s320/Teenage+girl.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Medical:</u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> Many people who are not aware of the cracks that the system has will tell me, “You are doing so well, I guess we are doing something right,” however, deep down inside I know of all of the behind the scenes injustices that are going on. One in particular is that when a youth ages out he/she is not told that their medical insurance will expire unless it’s renewed each year. Failure to renew leads to insurance being cancelled, reapplying down at the county building which takes forever, a three to sixth month response period, then finally insurance may be activated or not. Yet what’s worse to come is that if the application is denied, this “achieving” adult will be left with no health insurance. Which poses the question: what is the child welfare system doing right?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Financial:</u></b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4592967758910153634&postID=751421820847052049" name="_GoBack"></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">As I look back at the many obstacles that I have overcome and still overcoming since my first year in college, one that stands out is fighting for my CHAFEE grant. Since my freshman year until now I have calculated an average of five to six visits per academic year to the financial-aid office too simply check the status of my CHAFEE grant. One reason that the financial-aid counselor will tell me that the CHAFEE grant is late is that the state has yet to release its budget. So my options become very narrow with the registrar’s office when having to pay up front registration fees, tuition fees and so forth, or face the consequence of being dropped from classes with a $75 late fee charge. Since my freshman year I have learned my lesson, work extra hard during the summer and save my financial-aid from the previous year in order to pay for the upcoming fees of the new academic year. Even though it limits me to a very strict budget and picking up two jobs in order to pay for everything on time, while the state figures out when to release its new budget. One thing that I keep hoping for is for the state to take education seriously and moreover the education of foster youth since we only make up about 1% of the population who actually graduate from college.<br />
<br />
<b>About the Author:</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Author is a member of CAI's youth Advisory Board and a full time college student who spent several years in foster care in San Diego, California.</span></span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-14673097882586460522011-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:002011-02-09T16:33:56.438-08:00It Costs More to Kennel a Dog...<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskXxA5GOI0CFT0EE2c44lby0Vm4OdzQN9vq7J5Whwk_pr84okJLAYQNeL-mLkq9MVy9vEkrHYOJ8ehfFxZrWUwjTCSXVJfTjyzQqC7U5deghgbhBiEgMZbFSC2OOsTXumXx8Lz619tmuE/s1600/Child+in+Crib+BW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskXxA5GOI0CFT0EE2c44lby0Vm4OdzQN9vq7J5Whwk_pr84okJLAYQNeL-mLkq9MVy9vEkrHYOJ8ehfFxZrWUwjTCSXVJfTjyzQqC7U5deghgbhBiEgMZbFSC2OOsTXumXx8Lz619tmuE/s320/Child+in+Crib+BW.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Did you know that it costs more to kennel a dog than the State pays foster parents to take care of our neediest children? It’s true! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Through a cooperative federal-state program, California agrees to reimburse foster parents for the cost of providing foster children with food, clothing, shelter, and other various necessities. In return for this agreement, the federal government pays 50% of California’s cost for these reimbursements. It’s worth noting that these are simply reimbursements for costs – we still require foster parents to volunteer their time and they are in no way compensated for their time. They are simply reimbursed for their added expenses. In establishing this cooperative federal-state program (also known as the Child Welfare Act), Congress realized the importance of making sure that foster parents don’t have to take from their own savings or retirement accounts to appropriately care for a foster child. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, California has not lived up to its end of the agreement. California has never actually calculated how much it costs a foster parent to provide the necessities and has, subsequently, allowed the rates we pay foster parents to drop so low that, depending on the age of the child, we don’t cover approximately half of foster parents’ costs. This is the reality even when we don’t add in the cost of childcare. Because of this disparity, California counties have experienced an average decline of 30 percent in licensed foster family homes. Sacramento, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Sonoma counties report losses as high as 45 to 50 percent, and San Bernardino County has reported a decline of 61 percent. Because of the increasing shortage of available foster families in California, thousands of children are unnecessarily relegated to institutionalized group homes. These group homes not only produce worse outcomes for children than family homes (higher incidences of arrests, use of public welfare programs, homelessness, illness, and unemployment), they are, on average 5 times more expensive than foster homes – even if we were fully reimbursing foster parents for their costs. Yes, you read that correctly, because we are short-changing foster parents and are, thus, diminishing their supply, we are relegating our foster children to live in settings that provide worse outcomes at a higher cost to our State.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Outrageous, you say? You’re right! So, what can be done? We, at the Children’s Advocacy Institute, filed litigation more than three years ago requiring California to come into compliance with the mandates of the Child Welfare Act. (Find out more about our litigation at <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/FC_Litig.htm">http://www.caichildlaw.org/FC_Litig.htm</a>.) More than two years ago, judgment was entered in our favor. The Court found that California has not adequately assessed the cost to foster parents of providing foster care and has underfunded foster parents. Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the past two years. Rates are the same as they were. In May of last year, California <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">finally</i> commissioned a study concerning how to set rates by taking into account the cost factors required by the Child Welfare Act. Unfortunately, we have yet to see either the results of that study or any actual changes to foster parent’s rates. The Court has given the state until April 8, 2011, at noon, to complete implementation of a new method for determining the rates of payments to foster parents. While increasing the rates makes sense economically and for the good of our foster children, I’m not holding my breath. But, we will be ready with further motions to file in Court until this issue is resolved.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the meantime, you can support your local foster parents. Contact your local child welfare agency to see where you can drop off needed supplies. Check with your child’s extra-curricular provider to see if they will donate a spot in karate or dance classes (or any other classes). If so, again, let your local child welfare agency know. Or, go here <a href="http://www.sleeptrain.com/local-foster-kids.aspx">http://www.sleeptrain.com/local-foster-kids.aspx</a> to either donate money online or find out where you can drop off supplies. They are currently holding a pajama drive because, as a State, we are not providing adequate funding to give our foster children pajamas to sleep in at night.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">Christina Riehl s</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">erves as CAI Senior Staff Attorney in the San Diego office, primarily handling CAI's litigation and related activities. Before joining CAI, Christina worked as staff attorney with the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, where she represented minor clients in dependency court proceedings. Prior to that, she interned with the Honorable Susan Huguenor. Riehl is a graduate of the USD School of Law, where she participated in the CAI academic program.</span></span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-60313167849867919092011-01-12T12:58:00.000-08:002011-01-24T07:30:26.697-08:00What does 2011 hold for California's Children?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDzbr0z7XBD_FCvV8yn2P51XrySm6XKsgefgZYWFB3fhD5SFeGbq9s21LGv4i-kulHopT-x6T0kyz5DZDB7ldlsIZrwFb_fMIix-CRyPzp7KIeBR3Dm33hEfzlf1CE6KSd-AEHj4BWqmW/s1600/child2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDzbr0z7XBD_FCvV8yn2P51XrySm6XKsgefgZYWFB3fhD5SFeGbq9s21LGv4i-kulHopT-x6T0kyz5DZDB7ldlsIZrwFb_fMIix-CRyPzp7KIeBR3Dm33hEfzlf1CE6KSd-AEHj4BWqmW/s1600/child2.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">When it comes to crystal balling 2011 and what it portends for California's children, the images that can be seen are fuzzy; decidedly low definition.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">For those of us who work on children's issues in or around state government, it appeals to our vanity to emphasize Sacramento politics in our children's forecast. But the truth is that the schizophrenic nature of the economic recovery will prove more broadly and deeply hurtful to California's children in 2011 than the state budget fiasco.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Every study underscores the tight connection between the financial well-being of families and therefore children and well-being of families and therefore children.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Unsurprisingly, children living with parents who are not economically stressed fare far better than children being raised in families that are barely and frantically scraping by. It is a mistake, however, to see this as just a problem of material wealth, although, obviously, the urgent concern when times are economically bad is that children have shelter, clothes, food, and health care. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Where their parents are concerned, the radar of children is finely tuned -- their survival depends upon it. And so the devastating and permanently life-altering, non material consequences for parents of joblesness -- fear, depression, stress and anxiety, divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, a loss of hope, a leaden omnipresent sense of failure -- will inevitably change the trajectories of their children, odds are for the worse.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Even while some corporations happily report unprecedented earnings, and even as the capital markets surge toward restoration of pre-recessionary levels, huge swaths of California suffer unemployment rates still significantly over ten percent. But because unemployment rates don't count people who have given up looking or count people who have taken jobs at wages far below what they were making before, an unemployment rate of, say, 12 percent comes nowhere close to revealing the true number of children and families that will cry or be scared or feel anxious or go without meals or go without healthful meals or needed health care or happy birthdays in 2011.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">The now apparently permanent chasm between the fates of Wall Street and Main Street and what it foretells for the well-being of California's children in 2011 and beyond is to me the single most frightening portend for our State's (and nation's) future. When meshed with an appreciation for the might of the former to dictate the policies that shape the lives of the latter, the prospects for the vast majority of our children to live better lives than mine look dim and grim, for 2011 and beyond.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Which brings me back to Sacramento. Governor Jerry Brown's budget is not so far different that Governor Schwarzenegger's last budget where children are concerned to warrant much ink. Both make wretched slashing cuts to programs benefitting children. Those cuts will irrevocably hurt tens of thousands of blameless kids. Some children will die in abusive homes when no CPS worker is available to searchingly review their circumstances. Some children will be forever crippled by failing to obtain needed health care. Many will be homeless or less visibly end up in desperate cul-de-sac lives of crime, drug abuse, or dysfunctional and violent relationships because government programs that can successfully break the cycle of poverty no longer exist or are insufficiently available. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">The budget also utterly fails to twist state bureaucracies toward articulated goals and priorities, toward sunshine and changing the way services are delivered to be more friendly and less expensive. And, even while everyone knows the nexus between poverty, illiteracy, poor health, and broken families and costly prison stays, the budget makes cuts that are fiscally stupid; cuts that would get any investment advisor fired, if judged by an ROI (return on investment) point of view. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">The 2011 proposed state budget is in the main common.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">None of this is predestined. All of it is symptomatic of who pays and who doesn't pay the costs of political campaigns of both parties.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">If a few children were billionaires and looked out for other children the way labor or chambers of commerce represent their members, these cuts would never be spoken of aloud, let alone proposed.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Thus, the similarity between these budgets should not raise an eyebrow. Elected officials must make daily decisions within a context and reality they didn't make with typically little bandwidth both to do the urgent thing and the long term thing of changing the reality they work in at the same time. The way overall politics dysfunctions under the last governor is the same as for the new one.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">What is really different, however, about this Governor isn't his budget. It is his apparent commitment to use the full wattgage of his ambition, intellect, strategic experience, and boldness, to present the argument for government as a needed component of civil society squarely to the California electorate. </div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">By premising his budget forthrightly on tax increases and by already laying out in stark terms the civil consequences of a denuded social fabric, this Governor at this early stage appears courageously poised to call the question on what kind of civil society Californians want to have.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">Like Kirk re-programming the supposedly unwinnable Kobayashi Maru Starfleet test, Brown is apparently seeking to do what very few politicians ever do: win by changing the context within the game that is being played. Democrats of uncommon eloquence and brilliance have shrunk before this challenge -- Clinton, Obama -- in favor of short run, needed progress.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoPlainText">The decision of these two presidents to get what was immediately gettable legislatively wasn't necessarily wrong. Yet to lay the foundation for a rejiggered economy where the vast majority of families and children benefit from the brilliance of market-provided prosperity, we need to talk candidly substantively and unpopularly about first principles; about wealth, about generational opportunity, about the commonweal and the common good, and come to some consensus about what we are willing to pay for.</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="MsoPlainText">We need to talk about what government means and doesn't mean. Governor Brown seems eager to have that conversation and the one word that keeps bouncing around inside my skull is:</div><div class="MsoPlainText"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoPlainText">Finally!<br />
<br />
<b>About the Author:</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Ed Howard is CPIL/CAI Senior Counsel. His expertise in California legislative politics and policy stems from his years as Special Counsel and Chief Policy Advisor to a State Senator and Chief Consultant of two standing California legislative committees. During his years as a staffer in the Legislature, he spearheaded the enactment of numerous and nationally trend-setting laws in the areas of privacy, technology, IT procurement, the regulation of licensed professions, health care, and consumer rights. His legislative portfolio not only included detailed legislative drafting, research, negotiating, and advocacy within the Capitol with elected officials and their staff, but also major speechwriting and political strategizing.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Howard received his B.A. from The George Washington University’s political science program in Washington, D.C. and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School, where he was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Constitutional Law and was selected as Chief Justice of the Moot Court. He is a member of the State Bar of California, and as well is admitted to practice law before the Ninth Circuit and United States Supreme Courts.</span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-10390823294616312992010-12-27T08:31:00.000-08:002011-01-12T13:03:51.317-08:00SANTA? I’ve been a very good boy this year. Can I please have a brand new loving foster family AND an “educational liason” for Christmas?!<div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After researching the process of becoming a foster parent and digesting the statistical realities facing the youth in our current foster care system, it is safe to say that the current state of affairs is rife with inefficiencies. Most of the issues stem from the fact that agency workers have to play “dual roles” throughout the foster care process. As a result, potential parents are blindsided by the realities of the support they will receive, and what their own generosity will reap in terms improving the life of a child. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With the ultimate goals of increasing the number of foster parents, lowering the barriers to those considering becoming foster parents, and increasing the widespread success of foster youths transitions into society, the system must address certain systemic failures that have existed for quite some time. Under the current system, many foster parents become discouraged that they are really making a difference. Without more effective actions, to make tangible improvements, public perception will remain that those youths involved are inevitably headed down an irreversible path to failure. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Since Assembly Bill 490s inception in January of 2004, and continuing through the 2007 California Foster Youth Education Summit, the identified areas of concern regarding youths in the foster care system have persisted. A major factor that was thought to contribute to poor educational statistics is that foster children are frequently moved from home-to-home and school-to-school. The transitional problems mentioned included misplaced school records and failure to give proper course credit. Also, the learning process was interrupted and ultimately disjointed by these school and home relocations. Despite keeping the “child’s best interests in mind”, these relocations did not necessarily yield the best result. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the time of the Assembly Bill 490, it was clear that one step in the “best interest of a child” would be to provide them with an “educational liaison” who could help with the educational and school transitions affecting the foster youths. Most of the issues identified with these transitions were not difficult to correct. They simply needed to be addressed in a timely and complete manner. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the 2007 California Foster Youth Education Summit (CFYES), educational statistics had not improved. 75% of foster students </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">still </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">functioned below their grade level with 83% still being held back by the third grade. Since AB 490 was passed, high school statistics had also not improved with a 46% high school dropout rate with </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">still</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> fewer than 10% of the youths enrolled in college.</span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What is mystifying is that in the years between AB 490, and this CFYES, the same culprits were identified but evidently had not been addressed sufficiently. “Instability” related to multiple home removals and school changes were again identified. Another hinderance mentioned was a lack of “consistent educational monitoring, intervention, and support”. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Apparently, the suggestion of an “educational liason” mentioned in AB 490 was not effectively put into action. Instead, what was done was to simply continue on the same path of stretching agency workers duties to include that of serving the </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">quasi-role</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of an “educational liason”. Deliniating a separate “educational liason” was a much needed change that did not occur. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the 2007 CFYES, additional “systemic issues” were metioned concerning a “</span><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">lack of clarity </span></i></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">between child welfare and educational personnel about shared responsibility for the educational outcomes of the foster youth.” If a youth education summit regarding California’s foster youths cannot show improvement in previously identified educational problems, how can parents new to the foster care system, be expected to succeed when the foster care support structure they are a part of remains flawed? </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This lack of clearly defined roles and agency workers continuing to act in “dual roles” appears to be the achilles heel of the foster care system. Agency workers functioning in “dual roles” is prevelant throughout the current recruiting and screening processes of potential foster parents, as well as with the “ongoing education” efforts provided to parents. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Now it is nearly 2011. Is the problem solved? Not quite. With new federal funding available, we are faced with a perfect opportunity to fund an initiative to place “educational liasons” with all of the students in the foster care system. A conscious effort must be made by California agencies to assign an “educational liason” (EL) to each foster child. With an entirely separate role from the other agency workers involved, ELs can monitor students through their entire school careers- elementary, middle, and high school. In coordination with tutors (if necessary) and agency workers, ELs can become familiar with the students academic history, their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their family history. As a result, we can ensure that the majority of these school-related transitional issues can be avoided. </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font: 12.0px 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Without a reliable support networ<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">k at schools via</span> the presence of </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">effective and singularly focused </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">educational liasons, the educational survival of California foster youths falls on the doorstep of the foster parents. Parents who are unable to pick up the slack regarding the educational transition of these youths will then subject themselves to the negative fallout that a foster child in their care will be unable to succeed on their own; in both school and their adult lives. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br />
<div style="text-indent: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-family: inherit; font-size: small; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"></span></b></span></b><br />
<div style="display: inline !important; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Times; line-height: 28px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: 36px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: normal;">Brian Reed is a student at the University of San Diego School of Law. He is currently taking part in the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/academic-program.htm" style="color: #303282; text-decoration: none;">Children's Advocacy Policy clinic </a>and is working on issues related to increasing the number of foster parents in California's foster care system.</span></span></span></b></span></b></span></div></div><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #454545; font-weight: normal;"></span></b><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small; line-height: normal;"><br />
</span></span></b></div></div><div><br />
</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-42629018945037752592010-12-08T10:18:00.000-08:002010-12-08T10:26:13.314-08:00CAI's Homeless Youth Outreach Project<object height="390" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-VK9K3Yf3vA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-VK9K3Yf3vA&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Kriste Draper has been a tireless advocate for homeless youth for over a decade. After Law School, Kriste started the Homeless Youth Outreach Project. The Project provides homeless youth with assistance designed not only to get them off the street into housing, but also to help them build a solid foundation of education, career, and healthy living that will help them to get on with their lives and stay off of the street for good. Learn more about the Homeless Outreach Project, and how it works here: <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.com/hyop.htm">http://www.caichildlaw.com/hyop.htm</a><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">The Homeless Youth Outreach Project needs funding to continue helping these youth, and you can help. The Project was recently selected to compete for $50,000 in funding from Pepsi Refresh. Please take a few moments of your time to sign up and vote, then vote for the project every day. The top 10 projects at the end of December will get $50,000 in funding. There are also projects competing for $5,000, $25,000 and $250,000 in funding (though only two projects will be chosen for $250), so feel free to vote for projects in other funding categories as well. Your support is very much appreciated and will make a world of difference for homeless youth in San Diego. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Follow this link to help support the Homeless Outreach Project in San Diego. <a href="http://www.refresheverything.com/homelessyouthoutreachproject">http://www.refresheverything.com/homelessyouthoutreachproject</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Thank you for your support!!</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-6542287415438276442010-11-29T11:57:00.000-08:002010-12-08T10:20:37.034-08:00What is SB 39?<div style="font: 12.0px Times; line-height: 28.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In October of 2007 the California legislature passed Senate Bill 39 (SB 39), which mandates procedures for publicly disclosing instances of child abuse or neglect that result in the death or near death of a child within the foster care system. Through requesting the information mandated by S.B. 39, which includes prior abuse reports and details of how the child died, we hope to better understand how the foster care system works and should work. One of the benefits of S.B. 39, is that it was passed with the intent to increase public disclosure so that the foster care system would be more accountable. One way in which this is possible is that S.B. 39 provides an opportunity for groups like CAI to study the correlation between repeat reports of abuse and child deaths. As we continue to gather S.B. 39 information, we at CAI hope to be in a better position to encourage positive change in foster care. </span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; line-height: 28.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Times; line-height: 28.0px; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-indent: 36.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Overall, the work we are doing on fatality reporting is not always filled with happy endings. But we believe that no child should needlessly die. Often these children are left without a voice and without someone to advocate their cause. In an increasingly overburdened system there is always the possibility it will allow one too many instances of child abuse to occur before that child is moved to a new home. Increasing our understanding of the reporting procedures is just one way we at CAI are showing our commitment to correcting the system. We don’t want deaths to just be numbers we pass over and are momentarily saddened by. In the spirit of S.B. 39, we hope that facts attached to every instance that an innocent child was so mistreated that he or she dies will provide a story that can eventually be used in system changing way. Our hope is that the brighter the spotlight is on the issues facing the foster care system, the more people will be compelled to demand change in it. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;"><b>About the Author:</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small; line-height: normal;">Braden Bohlinger is a student at the University of San Diego School of Law. He is currently taking part in the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/academic-program.htm">Children's Advocacy Policy clinic </a>and is working on issues related to S.B. 39.</span></span></div><div><br />
</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-3738154545341489822010-11-23T10:07:00.000-08:002010-11-29T11:54:37.812-08:00Thanksgiving Traditions<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;"></div><div style="text-indent: 0px;"><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX-VwgmD6gjQflCQ-KgFzDW3427ArI7Wzd3pJp8VwMfTaET1-xBsm0UtGrB08F9hRaBVe-0j5K1cBoawHiLvRT05daPP9LoHjmoo2ScCKs6opuIGchP-rYYCrhVrAzzQaN8J5ZKs2nlq0m/s1600/Thanksgiving.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX-VwgmD6gjQflCQ-KgFzDW3427ArI7Wzd3pJp8VwMfTaET1-xBsm0UtGrB08F9hRaBVe-0j5K1cBoawHiLvRT05daPP9LoHjmoo2ScCKs6opuIGchP-rYYCrhVrAzzQaN8J5ZKs2nlq0m/s320/Thanksgiving.JPG" width="216" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">As the Thanksgiving Holiday approaches, many of us are happily anticipating reuniting with our families. I am looking forward to my mom’s fabulous pumpkin pie and the pastries that my dad makes. I am excited to see my sisters, to spend time chatting and laughing with these three women who are such an important part of my life. I am eager to see my nieces and nephews and how they have grown. I can’t wait to wake up to the smell of bacon and the medley of other delicious aromas that float up the stairs on Thanksgiving morning at my parents’ house. I look forward the sound of my family talking and laughing over coffee on Thanksgiving morning. We will have breakfast, go to church, then come home, prepare food together as we talk, laugh and reminisce, and then our entire family will have an enormous Thanksgiving dinner together. This is our tradition. Families all over have their own traditions on this Holiday as well. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">Since I have been working with foster youth, however, Thanksgiving has another layer of meaning. As I am eagerly anticipating seeing my family, my sisters, my grandma, my nieces and nephews, I am reminded that there are children and youth in the foster care system who do not have a family with whom they can spend Thanksgiving. Many are in group homes, have been separated from their siblings, or are in an unfamiliar place with people who are relative strangers to them. These children and youth will not wake to their family busily preparing for whatever holiday traditions they hold dear during this time of the year. Some facilities will do their best to provide the foster children and youth who reside within them a special Thanksgiving experience, but it will not be the same. It will not be the same as spending the Holiday with a loving, caring family. It is difficult to establish tradition for a child who is moving from place to place and may spend Thanksgiving in a different place, with different surroundings and different people each year. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><b><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><br />
</span></b></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><b><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here are some things that you can do, big and small, to make a difference </span></span></b></b><b><b><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">for foster youth </span></span></b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; font-variant: small-caps;"><b>this Holiday Season: </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">1)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>You can <a href="http://www.casey.org/Locations/California/SanDiego/default.htm">become a foster parent</a>:<br />
California and other states lack foster families. The result is that too many children are placed in impersonal (and expensive) group homes rather than with caring families. A foster family can provide stability, a caring environment, and the family so many of these children and youth need during the Holiday season and beyond.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">2)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>You can <a href="http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/hhsa/programs/cs/volunteers_in_child_welfare_services/index.html">become a mentor</a>:<br />
Foster children and youth quite often move from placement to placement, their social workers change, their attorneys change, their schools often change, their circle of friends changes. Some youth will stop attempting to connect to avoid the pain of having the loss over and over and over again. These youth need a consistent, caring adult in their lives. Someone who can make Holidays a little more special. Someone they can count on, who will be there. There are several non-profits that provide mentors for foster youth, and some county child welfare departments do this as well.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">3)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>You can become a <a href="http://www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5301295/k.BE9A/Home.htm">Court Appointed Special Advocate: </a><br />
Court Appointed Special Advocates act in the role of a mentor and monitor a child’s progress, and in some cases ensure a child’s educational stability. CASAs provide a much needed stable adult presence in the life of a foster child. In San Diego, CA, the local CASA organization is <a href="http://www.voices4children.com/index.php?/Volunteer-Opportunities/">Voices for Children</a>. If you are outside of San Diego, you can get information on your local CASA organization and volunteer opportunities from <a href="http://www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5301295/k.BE9A/Home.htm">National CASA</a>. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">4)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>Become an Educational Representative:<br />
Many youth in the foster care and delinquency system need someone to advocate for their educational rights and ensure that they receive a the free appropriate public education to which they are entitled. It is also a way to help these youth maintain stability in school and have a consistent adult in their lives. CAI has an <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/Ed_Reps_Training.htm">Educational Representative program</a>. If you are not in the San Diego area, your local <a href="http://www.casaforchildren.org/site/c.mtJSJ7MPIsE/b.5301295/k.BE9A/Home.htm">CASA organization</a> may have an Educational Representative program for which you can volunteer.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">5)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>You can contact <a href="http://www.jitfosteryouth.org/volunteer.html">Just In Time for Foster Youth</a> or a similar nonprofit in your area to help a former foster youth establish a home of his or her own, volunteer and / or contribute to the organization’s holiday activities (many have events where they give gifts and have meals for the youth). If there is no such organization in your area, look at what Just In Time is doing, and see if there is a way you can replicate this wonderful work. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">6)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>You can start a Transition Life Coach (TLC) program with a community group or religious organization to help an older foster youth form ties with responsible, caring adults and to help these youth form the networks and have the resources that they need to succeed as they transition into adult life. For more information, visit CAI’s website: <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/TransitionalServices.htm">http://www.caichildlaw.org/TransitionalServices.htm</a></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">7)<span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span>Donate to organizations, like the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/">Children’s Advocacy Institute</a> that advocate for foster children in the courts, the legislature, and in front of administrative bodies to help ensure that these children and youth have access to the same opportunities as their peers who are not in foster care. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">8) Contact your local Child Welfare organization or a local non-profit to see what you can donate. Many of these organizations accept donations of gifts and/or gift cards for the foster children and youth with whom they work.<br />
<br />
About the Author:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Melanie Delgado serves as Staff Attorney for the<a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/" style="color: #006699; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">Children's Advocacy Institute</a>. Her research and work focuses primarily on transition age foster youth and she is the primary author of<a href="http://www.caichildlaw.com/special-reports.htm">two reports</a> on the subject. Delgado is a graduate of the USD School of Law, where she participated in the CAI academic program, and was a co-recipient of the James A. D'Angelo Outstanding Child Advocate Award in 2006.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-34288615064331846472010-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:002010-11-23T10:09:22.539-08:00There is a Dual Jurisdiction Problem in California<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt66FWesnhui7oC5d8DfI-cWeR-y81xP9Io89GnAQfnSw6mHcNQGTaU3vBZVBPWN2WegBHnJYfbz_ddDEjFo_hBe4l2s9_1BoRx8LDBPei4LB7VemOgt3hPOCVCDvtL1xmaH5xK3mL8s9/s1600/Gavel+clip+art.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBt66FWesnhui7oC5d8DfI-cWeR-y81xP9Io89GnAQfnSw6mHcNQGTaU3vBZVBPWN2WegBHnJYfbz_ddDEjFo_hBe4l2s9_1BoRx8LDBPei4LB7VemOgt3hPOCVCDvtL1xmaH5xK3mL8s9/s320/Gavel+clip+art.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><b><u><br />
</u></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In California, the state assumes parental authority over a minor child if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the child’s current guardian is “unfit,” and continued placement in the home is no longer in the child’s best interest. Once the state becomes the child’s parental authority by law, the child is declared a “dependent of the state.” This declaration triggers a duty in the court to find the child a suitable replacement home, and to provide her with the care and attention she deserves. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The dual calendar issue in juvenile justice arises when a dependant child of the state commits a crime. More specifically, California law follows a “separate jurisdiction” approach to dual calendar cases. Under this approach, once a minor’s case falls within the dual jurisdiction of the court, the judge will hold a §241.1 hearing to determine under which system the case should remain. The judge is faced with the decision of whether to handle the child’s case under the dependency system, or alternatively to handle it under the delinquency system. This decision creates the “dual calendar issue” because essentially the judge is forced to choose between the two systems, which consequentially forces the judge to choose between the benefits each system has to offer. For example, if the delinquency court retains jurisdiction of the case, the dependency case and all the services provided by child welfare services are terminated. This is completely contrary to the legislative intent for establishing a juvenile justice system in the first place. The system was built around the notion of doing things only if they are “in the best interest of the child.” The foundation of the juvenile justice system is based on the idea of rehabilitation, not retribution. Terminating a child’s welfare benefits as a consequence of committing a crime is not in the child’s best interest. Children are entitled to the most efficient, well-rounded approach to their rehabilitation and reunification efforts. If the judge is forced to choose between the two systems, the child will automatically lose the necessary treatment services unique to either system. For example, if the judge decides to handle the case under the delinquency system, the child will benefit from the structure and discipline of that system; however the child will automatically loose all the benefits she receives under the dependency system. On the other hand, if the judge decides to handle the case under the dependency system, the child will retain her child welfare benefits, but she will lose the structure and discipline the delinquency system has to offer. Ultimately, the child always loses under a separate jurisdiction approach. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alternatively, California should follow a “concurrent jurisdiction” approach. Under this approach, the child’s case may be heard under the dependency system and the delinquency system simultaneously. Cases heard under the concurrent jurisdiction approach have more successful outcomes than those heard under an alternative approach because court procedure allows the child to receive the benefits of both the dependency and delinquency systems. For example, if a dependency child commits a crime, she will continue to be treated by child welfare services, while simultaneously being held accountable for her actions. This includes psychological, emotional, and behavioral therapy, along with any detention or incarceration decisions determined by the severity of the crime. Furthermore, states that follow a concurrent jurisdiction approach focus on community based alternatives to secure confinement. States provide at-risk youth with continued support in areas such as school, mental and emotional health, social relationships, and family harmony. The goal with this approach is to treat the child in the least restrictive setting that is consistent with public safety. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In California, the laws governing dual jurisdiction cases needs to be reformed. The State needs to enact a statewide mandate that governs how these cases are handled. Court procedure needs to be uniform across all counties. Every agency involved in the process needs to be on the same page, and held accountable for their roles and responsibilities in each child’s life. This is the only way a child will receive the care and attention she deserves once she is forcibly taken away from her family. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<br />
<br />
About the Author:<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">Jessica R. Springer is a law student at the University of San Diego School of Law. She is currently taking part in the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/academic-program.htm">Children's Advocacy Policy Clinic</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">and is working on issues related to California's dual jurisdiction system.</span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-56709547360299425982010-11-01T10:14:00.000-07:002010-11-19T07:25:04.055-08:00The Myths about Homeless Youth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedFAk7TzBFYnIU6TkNERLpNJcI8tMMwSc-TCH8JUTdy9_Oa3VC0s2FBUgliHChYsdovBx42qjjd2wjgavHdvhUE9X4paTiCirK1Uc4uw3JcsTeM_R9tv-9H6MI0EoFYDybgKk0C2NW8fO/s1600/41330.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedFAk7TzBFYnIU6TkNERLpNJcI8tMMwSc-TCH8JUTdy9_Oa3VC0s2FBUgliHChYsdovBx42qjjd2wjgavHdvhUE9X4paTiCirK1Uc4uw3JcsTeM_R9tv-9H6MI0EoFYDybgKk0C2NW8fO/s320/41330.JPG" width="211" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Garamond, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The toughest part of my job is not working with homeless youth but trying to educate my fellow citizens about youth homelessness. I am going to share with you the top two myths that I hear, in hopes that next time you see a kid on the street asking for money or just goofing off you will refrain from judgment and show a little compassion.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Myth #1: </span></span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Kids Choose to Runaway From Home</span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Reality: NOT ALL KIDS HAVE A HOME TO GO TO! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have this idea that kids choose to run away from home when in reality the majority of homeless youth are there because they were THROWN OUT of their homes. Here is the reality folks – some parents choose their new spouse or partner over their children. Some parents do not have the means to provide for their kids. Some parents do not feel that it is their responsibility to care for their children once they hit their teenage years. It is an uncomfortable reality but one I see every day. Not all parents are able or are willing to provide for their children, especially as their children get older and start testing the boundaries.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For those youth that do choose to run to the streets, let’s really think about the choice they had to make. For many of these youth the choice is this: Stay in a home where you are being physically and/o<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12pt;">r sexually abused, stay in a home where you are starving, stay in a home riddled with drug use or with parents suffering from such severe mental health issues they cannot care for you or run to the streets in hopes of finding a better life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Choosing the streets is no more a choice for many of these kids than choosing to pay sales tax is for the rest of us. It is out of necessity and survival that this choice is made and I would challenge anyone to ask themselves this question. If a child is “choosing” to sleep outside in the cold, in the rain, willing to jump into dumpsters looking for food or be spat on while asking for change for a hamburger what must their other options (if they had any) look like? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Myth #2: </span></span></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Homeless Youth Just Need To Go And Get A Job Like The Rest Of Us</span></span></span></span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now I am not sure this is truly a myth, because it is true statement. Any youth who is homeless does need a job or a means to provide for themselves financially. However, let us stop and think about what it takes for a homeless youth to get a job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">1. <u>The age factor, “Developmental Reality”</u>: Developmentally a 17-year-old no matter what their living situation is is going to act and behave like a 17-year-old, meaning that working full time and being responsible with money and delaying gratification are usually the farthest things from a 17-year-old’s mind. Let us take a moment and think back to when we were 17. Now be honest. How many of you were chomping at the bit to get up early, pound the pavement for that full-time minimum wage job? How many of you, once you had that job, just couldn’t wait to put all of your hard earned money into a savings account and watch it grow so you could afford your first apartment? How many of you looked forward to missing your friend’s party or turned down a date so you could take that extra shift at work?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The reality is that for most of us didn’t. We were thinking of things that are important to teenagers like getting a boyfriend or girlfriend, looking good, hanging-out with friends and testing the boundaries our parents had set for us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Even if a youth can overcome their developmental handicap of being stuck in the world of instant gratification lets think about what it takes for a homeless teenager to get their first job.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. <u>Basic Needs v. Getting a Job.</u></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></o:p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we think about getting a job there are quite a few things we take for granted.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"></div><ol><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have food to eat for breakfast before we go looking for a job.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have clean clothes to wear for an interview.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have a place to shower to make sure we are clean before we meet an employer.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have access to medical care and the means to pay for prescriptions to get ourselves healthy enough to look for a job.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have a phone number to leave with an employer for a call back.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have identification to prove who we are.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have a bed to sleep in to make sure we are rested before an interview.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have an alarm clock to wake us up on time.</span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font: normal normal normal 7pt/normal 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">We have a computer to print out our resumes and submit electronic applications.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></span></li>
</ol><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">HOMELESS YOUTH HAVE NONE OF THESE THINGS! Going to get a job is not a simple or easy task when you are starving. Going to an interview without being able to bathe and in clothes that have not been washed in over week is just not possible. Getting over strep throat without penicillin or applying for a job without leaving a call back number for an employer to contact you is simply not realistic. It is easy to say “just go get a job” but it is another thing to actually make it happen. I have worked with kids who have waited over 6 months just to get a birth certificate so they could get an ID and be able to prove who they are!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next time you see a kid asking for money on the street just stop and think. Would I be out looking for a job if I had not had a meal in over a day or would I be sitting on the street corner asking for a dollar so I could go to McDonald’s and hit up the dollar menu for a cheeseburger? For those of you who still think you would be out pounding the pavement looking for work, I challenge you to leave work this evening with nothing but the clothes on your back and head for the streets. Leave your car, wallet and cell phone behind and find a nice piece of sidewalk to curl up on this evening. Feel free tomorrow morning to get up in the clothes you slept in and head straight into Horton Plaza looking for minimum wage job applications to fill out. I promise you that when your throat starts hurting from sleeping in the cold and your tummy starts growling because you have not eaten since lunch the day before, you will be looking less at long-term stable employment and more for what is going to get you fed, washed and clothed right now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So next time you see a homeless kid on the streets asking for money or blocking the sidewalk because he is trying to show off for his girlfriend remember that that child is still just a child. Remember that it is we, as society and as parents, that have failed these children in the first place and that maybe what they need is our compassion instead of our contempt. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Kriste Draper</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">CAI Staff Attorney</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Director of the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/hyop.htm">Homeless Outreach Project at CAI</a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you would like to learn more about Kriste's work at the Homeless Outreach Project and ways in which you can donate or help, please visit <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/hyop.htm">http://www.caichildlaw.org/hyop.htm</a> or contact Kriste Draper at 619-260-4806.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">About the Author:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px;">Kriste Draper serves as Staff Attorney for the Children's Advocacy Institute. Her primary responsibilities are to direct the <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/hyop.htm">Homeless Youth Outreach Project</a>, providing legal services to homeless youth throughout San Diego County. Draper has been a strong advocate for homeless youth for over a decade; she started her work with the homeless at age 17. Draper is a graduate of the USD School of Law, where she participated in the CAI academic program, and was a co-recipient of the James A. D'Angelo Outstanding Child Advocate Award in 2006.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Garamond, serif;"><br />
</span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-18550467348622345232010-10-25T13:36:00.000-07:002010-11-01T10:15:47.106-07:00Halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQccnvBmKcEx8J9P5RK_CGwbKdwqa_0ygzVut_2ChWABJ9BMGiC63JkGDBCGTKuewwLgavTQP1hwaBUYmgXYlCUMFDlhEGm6xVXbWnLLOzFGYTH06hyphenhyphenFWokC83zyZFDdkOUuHX1kGP914/s1600/Boy_with_Pumpkin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSQccnvBmKcEx8J9P5RK_CGwbKdwqa_0ygzVut_2ChWABJ9BMGiC63JkGDBCGTKuewwLgavTQP1hwaBUYmgXYlCUMFDlhEGm6xVXbWnLLOzFGYTH06hyphenhyphenFWokC83zyZFDdkOUuHX1kGP914/s320/Boy_with_Pumpkin.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 13px;"> Photograph by:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 13px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 13px;">Arvind Balaraman</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Halloween is right around the corner. This “holiday” that is first and foremost for kids, seems to be gaining in importance every year. As the stores fill with Halloween treats earlier and earlier each year and we, consumers, are asked to start buying sweet treats and costumes as early as August, I’ve started thinking about what Halloween is like for all of our children in foster care.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As so many children are indulged (and, let’s admit it, over-indulged) this coming Sunday, I think it’s imperative that we all take a moment to think about what it is like to spend this holiday when you are being raised by “a system”. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Recently, I overheard the experience of two of our clients who live in a group home. They were sharing their Halloween experience. They had two options….go to watch a scary movie or go to the dollar store, pick up a mask (not a costume, just a mask) and go trick-or-treating. These two boys were lucky. Not only did they have options but their options resembled those of non-system children. However, I’m forced to also think about the differences. These boys got to choose a mask…not a costume, a mask. That’s it. Plus, what to do with their candy when they returned home? Sleep with it under their pillow to make sure one of the other kids in the home (maybe a kid who chose to go to the movie instead) wouldn’t then decide to help themselves? What about the joy of opening the door when smaller children come around to collect their treats? There are so many aspects to the holiday and, as a part of a group being raised by the system, it’s hard to imagine that each aspect will be able to be experienced.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then, I think about the children who are being raised in foster homes. We know that foster parents receive far less each month than the actual cost of raising a foster child. So, will the foster parent reach into their own savings (again) for a Halloween costume? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Even in a foster home, children are still being raised by a “system”. Foster parents are bound by regulations to apply the “prudent parent standard” when deciding which freedoms to provide to their foster child. However, it’s a hard question to ask….does a prudent parent allow their young teenager to go out trick-or-treating without an adult? What if that prudent parent has the watchful eyes of a court system, social workers, and a licensing department on them? What if that foster parent feels comfortable allowing their own young teen out alone but just met their young, teenage foster child? What if something happens? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What about carving a pumpkin? Foster home licensing regulations require that sharp knives be kept out of reach. Have you ever tried carving a pumpkin with a butter knife? And that doesn’t even answer the question about who will buy our foster children their pumpkin. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When looking at the simple childhood joys of Halloween, it becomes easy to see that a system has a difficult time raising a child. With each experience of a foster child that mirrors the experience of a non-foster child, we are able to create a more closely-even playing field upon adulthood. However, we must acknowledge that foster children are raised with a different set of experiences and, as much as we try otherwise, a different set of rules. These differences shape who they become as adults. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As you are enjoying the holiday with your children and your family, please take a moment to think about our children who are being raised by our State. Let’s think about how we can make next Halloween just a little bit more child-friendly for our system-raised foster children.<br />
<br />
- Christina Riehl<br />
Senior Staff Attorney at CAI<br />
<br />
About the Author:<br />
Christina Riehl s<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">erves as CAI Senior Staff Attorney in the San Diego office, primarily handling CAI's litigation and related activities. Before joining CAI, Christina worked as staff attorney with the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles, where she represented minor clients in dependency court proceedings. Prior to that, she interned with the Honorable Susan Huguenor. Riehl is a graduate of the USD School of Law, where she participated in the CAI academic program.</span></div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-39511070244907784802010-10-19T11:45:00.000-07:002010-10-19T11:45:02.032-07:00Life After AB 12<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">On September 30, Governor Schwarzenegger signed<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/09-10/bill/asm/ab_0001-0050/ab_12_bill_20100930_chaptered.pdf">AB 12<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></span></a><span style="color: black;">into law. AB 12 is an extraordinary step forward in helping older foster youth in California, especially given the budget problems the state is currently experiencing. Implemented in phases, AB 12 will eventually allow foster youth to remain in care until age 21. AB 12 is possible due to the Federal Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2008, which will provide federal matching funds for youth in foster care to age 21.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">To understand the importance of AB 12, it is important to first understand the position of foster youth in California. Many experts consider a young person have attained self sufficiency around age 26, after completing college, starting a career, and / or having a family. However, until the passage of AB 12 foster youth in California were expected to survive on their own 8 years earlier, at age 18. The results have been devastating: foster youth are vastly over-represented in the homeless population — with one in four becoming homeless for some period within 13 months of aging out of the system. Though the majority of foster youth aspire to obtain a college degree, only 3% of them ever graduate from a four-year university. Foster youth experience mental illness at rates much higher than their peers with no history of foster care; they also experience higher rates of unemployment than their peers, and those who are employed earn substantially less than their peers. AB 12 will help many older foster youth<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>avoid these negative outcomes — or at least postpone them for a few years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">There is a tendency toward the perception that once a major piece of legislation like AB 12 passes, the problem is solved and the state should move on to other issues. The passage of AB 12 must not be the end of California's efforts to improve the lives of our foster youth. The legislation alone will not improve outcomes for these youth. Without proper implementation, the bill may serve only to delay the negative outcomes foster youth now experience after age 18. California needs to work to ensure that AB 12 lives up to its promise; in addition, California must continue to innovate and work toward helping the foster youth entrusted to its care.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">First, AB 12 authorizes two new placement types for youth over age 18 — THP-Plus foster care and the supervised independent living placement. Both the federal Fostering Connections Act and the California's AB 12 recognize that youth over age 18 need age-appropriate options for placement. California must ensure that any placement types for foster youth over age 18 are age-appropriate, individualized, and do not place overly burdensome requirements on the youth, many of whom are attending college or trade school, or starting their careers. This must be considered as the implementing rules are drafted and as the youth begin to utilize the placements. Simply expanding the group home model currently in place for youth under the age of 18 will not work for young adults post age 18.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">Second, California must continue to look for innovative approaches to assist older foster youth as they approach independence. The state must consider options for youth who may not want to remain “in the system” and for those who may need extra assistance, such as those who are parenting, experiencing mental health issues or emotional difficulties, and those who are experiencing trouble with school. California counties should consider utilizing funding from Proposition 63 (the Mental Health Services Act) or other sources to supplement funding from AB 12 to provide the most beneficial assistance possible to older foster youth. California counties should also consider implementing innovative programs like the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/TransitionalServices.htm">Transition Life Coach<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></span></a><span style="color: black;">as alternatives or supplements to AB 12.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">Third, California must continue to educate social workers, dependency attorneys and others who work with older foster youth. These professionals must be aware of all the resources available to older foster youth both to prepare them before they leave the system and to assist them after they leave the system. Many former foster youth do not know how to go back to the system to receive assistance or obtain documentation relating to their history upon leaving foster care. Even with extended availability of assistance from foster care, every foster youth must have a practical understanding regarding resources and procedures for accessing services and information, upon leaving foster care. This is best accomplished by ensuring that those who work most closely with the youth are aware of resources and procedures.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">Finally, the legislature and the governor need to make foster youth a priority in the budget. These are the state’s own children. California has taken parental responsibility for these children. While AB 12 was an acknowledgement of California’s responsibility to its own children, the groundbreaking legislation was followed by an <a href="http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2010/100618_Budget_Comparision.pdf">$80 million cut to child welfare services.</a> California’s own children will not succeed if the state’s budget continues to treat them as an afterthought, a source from which to cut money to avoid closing corporate tax loopholes. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">California advocates and law makers should be commended for the passage of AB 12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is an extraordinary piece of legislation with the potential to vastly improve the lives of California’s foster youth. Now they must continue the momentum, implement AB 12 in a way that most benefits older foster youth and continue to look for innovative approaches to ensure a successful transition to adulthood for California's own children.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;">-Melanie Delgado</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"> Staff Attorney, CAI</div>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4592967758910153634.post-70758992136335203952010-10-11T11:00:00.000-07:002010-10-19T11:24:35.460-07:00The Status of Children in Today's Society<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The Greatest Generation survived a depression, fought a world war against three major military powers, rebuilt Europe, and profoundly invested in its children—creating an infrastructure of transportation, parks, water development, generously provided safety net for children, and public education that was the envy of the world. We, their children—today’s Boomer adults—are not passing it down the line. Our legacy appears to be the disassembling of this historical commitment to children. California reflects some of the hallmarks of this self-indulgence—a jurisdiction whose adult generation has gained uncommon wealth and comfort from the investment of our predecessors. The manifestation of generational self-indulgence has taken many forms:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ Child poverty is increasing and the public safety net is being withdrawn in a seriatim pattern of strangulation. One generation ago, the basic safety net of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and food stamps approximated the federal poverty line in California; it has since fallen to now approach 50% of that benchmark. The federal poverty line itself represents less than one-half of the California Budget Project’s calculated “self sufficiency” budget for California.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ California has one of the lowest levels of participation in federal food stamps in the nation—as its state government gives those who need food help little priority—even when the funds to provide it are entirely federal.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ Many of the candidates running for office are threatening to eviscerate the meager TANF safety net remaining. They apparently do not understand (or care) that not only are the levels record lows, but parents are barred from help for themselves or their children unless they are looking or preparing for work—and parents face a five-year lifetime limit on help. And they will not mention in their demagoguery that 75% of the recipients are children, or that most of the parents are working or looking for work in a bona fide fashion. Nor will the media—now dominated by five-second sound bites and celebrity reporting—likely call them on their deceit and hypocrisy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ Our current Governor is willing to cut child care assistance radically. This is the Governor who sponsored an initiative to increase after-school child care. The needle in our political spectrum has moved into the extreme “self-indulgence” side, especially for older adults. Assistance for young, working poor families with children is especially lacking. Ironically, many of these folk followed the rules and are now working and need child care help to keep working, or to find a job in a state with double digit unemployment.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ Despite the passage of federal health reform legislation in early 2010, almost one million California children lack basic health care coverage, while coverage for the elderly (who cost seven times as much each) is universally assured. Indeed, the state General Fund was unable in 2009 to provide even the one-third state match for new child enrollment in Healthy Families, and has had to expropriate funds intended for other purposes—including the fund approved by voters to help children ages 0 to 5. For families whose children remain uncovered, this means little preventive care and reliance on emergency room care—with billing at three to five times the cost paid by private and public insurers. An operation and short stay in the hospital means financial ruin for working poor families. Taking a child in for treatment continues to feed the largest source of personal bankruptcy in the state—collection of medical bills.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ K–12 education investment is in sharp decline. The state has dropped to 47th among the 50 states in per pupil spending—and class sizes now fall to 49th, with thousands more teacher lay-offs threatened.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">■ Higher education fees and tuition are at record levels as state officials, eschewing evil “tax increases”, make an exception by increasing higher education tuition (as well as increasing fees for child care and foster care licensure). Federal Pell grants have now fallen to a small fraction of annual tuition. College kids now graduate with unprecedented debt. The State CalGrant system has similarly not kept pace with higher education costs for the students covered. And symptomatic of the overall malaise, higher education capacity is being slashed. Fewer youth will have a chance at college, at any cost. Once the pride of the nation, the state’s public and higher educational systems have declined markedly.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">All of the above are apart and beyond the state’s imminent evisceration of public investment in order to close a budget gap now reaching $20 billion per annum. Reciting these developments in repetition of previous warnings risks the appellation of “chicken little” false alarmism. Except that the sky, while it has not fallen, is in point of fact demonstrably darkening for children.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The federal stimulus package protected the state somewhat in 2009. But it is not in prospect for the last half of 2010 or for 2011. And even as to remaining federal matching funds in accounts for safety net and health coverage, will the state be able to provide its share? That is increasingly in doubt. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">But it is more than an immediate problem. It is an extended and evolving failure of generational performance—an unprecedented accumulation of obligation by one generation for its care and comfort imposed on those who follow it. Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker published a book in 2009, Come Back America. Much of its data is regrettably confirmed by non-partisan sources. Medicare, Social Security, and the federal budgetary debt are now projected to total over $50 trillion in unfunded liability for the next generation—those now being born. Rather than diminishing it, he projects that we are adding $1 trillion a year to that daunting total. And it now appears that his numbers have been overly conservative. We have promised the current group of elderly a set of benefits that vastly exceed their contribution to its financing. California is perhaps the worst offender nationally; it has added to the national total of $50 trillion owed to the two major elderly accounts and the budget deficit additional sums at the state and local level. Through the ubiquitous “defined benefit” format of current public pensions, California adds to the nationally determined total with high unfunded liability for state workers, school district teachers and employees, and city and county personnel. The City of San Diego alone has a $2 billion unfunded public pension liability. Teachers and special district employees, and even utility retirees have piled up substantial pension deficits for our children to pay. Many public employees are now able to retire at age 55—or younger—at full salary. The demographics not only of longer lives, but of smaller families, means that far fewer young will be available to support a relatively larger population of our elderly.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The related problems of the Southern European welfare states (Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal), politically dominated by public employee unions, may well presage our own fate.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Indeed, how ironic it is that the major source of current security for the United States, as our obligations begin to mount, is the full faith and credit from the People’s Republic of China, a totalitarian regime. Our officials rightly warn of the pitfalls of dependency on Middle Eastern nations and the OPEC cartel, but less attention is paid to our supine posture before a communist regime with nuclear weapons—that is now our largest national creditor.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">What is the scale here of deficits and unfunded obligations? How much is $50 trillion—a conservative projection given the power of the organized elderly and advances in joint and organ replacement, and in extended life, and our exclusion of public employee pensions? One trillion is substantially more than one million dollars deposited every day from the time of Christ to the present. To carry this understated sum of $50 trillion at a modest 4.5% (not to pay any of it off), our grandchildren will have to pay over $20,000 per family in current dollars. That is almost one-half of median family income before taxes. Although Nobel Economist Samuelson is talking about it, few others are. In fact, the problem has been clouded by the anti-government, anti-deficit demonstrations of the “tea party” movement, which has contaminated this legitimate and compelling critique with demagogic ramblings, class warfare rhetoric and tribalistic partisanship. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Even if the media were attuned to a problem that is gradual and long range, political influence factors favor the elderly. At the federal level, AARP spends 28 times as much on lobbying as do all child advocates combined ($28 million versus just under $1 million). The elderly vote heavily, and the median age of large campaign contributors is over 68 years of age.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Instead of taxing us at levels approaching those contributed by our parents, we Boomers in California are complaining about our rather average burden, including property tax levels that are among the lowest in the nation. And to exacerbate the disinvestment, those property taxes are slanted to allow our adult generation a cross-subsidy from the young. Those property taxes are an ad valorem tax (Latin for a tax on market value). But we have substantially frozen real property at just above 1977 levels for us older folks, while assessing those who start new businesses or buy new homes at current market rates. That means that the young commonly pay five or ten times what Boomers pay in taxes for the same public services. The Proposition 13 limitation of taxation to 1% of a property’s value is not the problem—instead, it is how it is assessed on dishonest market value bias, taken by one generation from the next. This practice stands as a rather naked violation of the American tradition of fairness and intergenerational equity. The exploitation of our young by the Boomers in our state is not only unquestioned, any criticism of the arrangement is considered political suicide—and that judgment is one of the few bi-partisan agreements extant.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">California represents one of the wealthiest jurisdictions on earth. It is locked into paralysis borne of a deep and abiding generational flaw, and of three antidemocratic structural problems that exacerbate it:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">▸ Both parties have gerrymandered the state to minimize competition, concentrating anti-state zealots in about 20% of the state’s legislative districts;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">▸ Unlike almost every other state, California requires a two-thirds vote to enact a budget; and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">▸ The Republican caucus, curiously eschewing their “individualism” ethic, adopted a rule binding all to vote with its majority. Hence, 18% of the most radical representatives block child investment—a greater affront to democratic values than the often criticized 40% required to block action in the U.S. Senate. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The sacrifice here demanded of California’s adults is trivial compared to our parents’ performance for us. The state can select from a relatively painless menu: tax corporations at a level typical of other states; eliminate corporate tax avoidance through locational dishonesty; tax alcohol at the level other states commonly assess; restore the longstanding 2% vehicle license fee improvidently reduced after more than 20 years and producing $5 billion per annum we are now losing; and/or examine closely the nearly $50 billion in tax credits, deductions and exemptions that currently exist (which are not examined annually—or ever—and require a two-thirds vote to end). Want more options? Apply sales taxation to professional services; tax internet sales and allocate to states; and/or reform property taxation by assessing all property at actual value—perhaps reducing the 1% of value tax limit to ½ of 1% in the bargain.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Importantly, the 2001/2003 federal tax cuts gave California’s wealthy class $37 billion per year in additional income. Some combination of the measures listed above to recapture about one-third of this amount would retain most of the tax subsidy while (a) eliminating the state deficit; (b) allowing the state to capture federal matching funds otherwise foregone; (c) restoring safety net protection and educational opportunity; (d) medically covering the state’s children (as every other civilized nation accomplishes); and (e) allowing spending decisions to be made at the state level consistent with stated conservative principles of federalism.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">But the problem is more complicated than the structural ability of a small minority to determine allegedly democratic outcomes. The Republican philosophy does have some important messages to impart about the limitations of government, the importance of outcome measurement and accountability of agencies, the need to use market and self-regulating forces rather than “top down” dictation of policy by public authority, the tendency of Democrats to sequentially expand a social service establishment by hiring more and more public employees, and the failure to demand personal responsibility.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The last element purportedly a part of conservative concern includes the most momentous decision human beings make—to create a child. That message is in particular order where unwed births rise from levels of 8% a generation ago to 40% today—with most of the involved children living in poverty amidst a collapsing safety net. Interestingly, the children of married couples live in families with median incomes well above $50,000, not 50% more or double, but about five times the family income of their contemporaries born to unwed mothers. The poverty from unwed births is driven by improvident sexual license, contraception ignorance, and paternal abandonment. Absent fathers of such children pay an average of less than $60 per month per child, and almost half of that money goes to state/federal accounts as TANF compensation. Regrettably, it is considered politically incorrect to talk about such things by both parties.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">But the Republicans have largely surrendered these laudable principles. Instead of a partnership for children, where they back child investment conditional on this list of defensible principles, they have surrendered them in order to win from Democrats an ongoing public disinvestment in children. They dare not offend the elderly—the welfare state there is sacrosanct. Personal responsibility is not demanded—they will just remove the safety net for the kids. And people do not pay their own way, they steal from those who follow. There has been an implicit deal struck that allows each party to essentially sacrifice its laudable pro-child agenda in return for the excision of the other party’s counterpart. There has not been a “contract with America” by public officials, but an undiscussed “contract on California’s children” by both parties.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">— Robert C. Fellmeth</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Price Professor of Public Interest Law, University of San Diego School of Law</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Executive Director, Children’s Advocacy Institute</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br />
</span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">About the Author:</div><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br />
</div><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><a href="mailto:cpil@sandiego.edu" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;">Professor Robert C. Fellmeth</a> is a tenured law professor at the University of San Diego (USD) School of Law and Founder and Executive Director of the USD <a href="http://www.cpil.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Center for Public Interest Law</span></a> and its <a href="http://www.caichildlaw.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Children's Advocacy Institute</span></a>. He is the holder of the Price Chair in Public Interest Law at the USD School of Law, one of two such chairs in the nation. In 1997-98, he was honored for his "outstanding, balanced, cumulative career contributions supporting the mission and goals of USD."</div><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">A graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School, Fellmeth was one of the original "Nader's Raiders," organizing the student groups in 1968 and directing the Nader Congress Project in 1970-72. As a deputy district attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Diego from 1973-81, he litigated 22 antitrust actions and founded the nation's first antitrust unit in a district attorney's office.</div><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">He currently chairs the board of directors of Public Citizen Foundation, is a member of the boards for both the National Association of Counsel for Children and First Star, and is counsel to the board of Voices for America's Children. He has served on the board of directors of Consumers Union and California Common Cause.</div><div align="justify" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">He has taught at the National Judicial College, the National College of District Attorneys, and the California Judicial College. He has authored or co-authored 14 books or treatises, including The Nader Report on the FTC (Baron, 1968), The Politics of Land (Grossman, 1970), California Administrative and Antitrust Law: Regulation of Business, Trades and Professions (Butterworths Legal Publishers) and California White Collar Crime (LEXIS Publishing). His latest treatise is Child Rights and Remedies (Clarity Press, 2002), a text on child advocacy.</div></span>CAI Bloghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04085468260545725922noreply@blogger.com0