In Our Opinion:
Can Danieal Save the System?

Debra Schilling Wolfe, MEd and Richard J. Gelles, PhD

The Grand Jury’s report on the tragic death of 14-year old Danieal Kelly could be subtitled, “how not to protect a child.” The report describes in graphic detail how the Philadelphia Department of Human Services and an agency contracted to provide in-home services failed protect Danieal, not once, but repeatedly; the systemic ball was dropped over and over again. This was not a failure of one, two, or even three caseworkers and supervisors - Danieal’s death was the result of a complete system breakdown.

A photo of a smiling child, confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, has appeared with the headlines. Inside the more than 200-page Grand Jury report is a very different photo, that of a child horribly neglected, with bedsores and worse, who would have appeared to be on the verge of death had anybody bothered to notice. The horrific death of this child and the public outcry from the Grand Jury’s findings once again brings to light the critical life and death decisions made all across the country, every day, by child welfare workers who are charged with protecting our most vulnerable children.

It is a sadly repeated truth that change in child welfare agencies tends to only occur after truly catastrophic events. It is also a national tragedy that cases like Danieal’s occur with frightening regularity. How many children’s lives have been lost in order to serve as a wake-up call that something is terribly wrong? With each case that makes the headlines, we naively hope that this will be the case that makes a difference. Experience tells us otherwise.

It is encouraging that Mayor Nutter and the leadership of the Philadelphia Department of Human Services did not choose to respond by simply throwing more money, more staff, and more training onto the pyre. It is also heartening to see that the Mayor and his team are looking at systemic failure, rather than merely blaming the caseworkers on the front line. The majority of caseworkers and staff at DHS are caring and competent, and do the best they can with the tools they have at hand. However, the best they can is often not enough when children’s lives are at stake.

It is absolutely necessary that Mayor Nutter, Deputy Mayor Schwarz, and Commissioner Ambrose look up from the current crisis and develop a longer view on how to reform DHS. With the benefit of recommendations from a comprehensive Child Welfare Review Panel Report issued in June of 2007, the new city administration has the roadmap to implement critical change. Initiated during the interim Commissioner’s tenure, system reform has clearly begun. Yet, with more recommendations than one can count, full implementation of the panel’s recommendations will be a daunting task.

Numerous changes are needed in order for DHS to shift from an agency fraught with dysfunction to one that can truly respond to the needs of victims of child abuse and neglect. The following recommendations are a necessary foundation of system reform.

• Remember that the client is the child. Danieal’s caseworkers, when they actually visited her home, saw Mrs. Kelly as their client and struggled to help her cope with the many stressors in her life. Danieal was virtually invisible, not because the caseworkers were callous, but because they forgot she was their client.
• Follow the recommendations of the Child Welfare Review panel report and spend individual time with the child to ascertain his or her well-being. If Danieal were truly seen, enrolled in school, or taken to a physician, she would be alive today.
• Casework supervisors are the critical vector in the system. Supervisors need training, tools, and systemic support to do their jobs. DHS supervisors need to meet as a group to provide critical input into agency policies and procedures. Training supervisors must be a priority.
• Communication is critical among those involved in child abuse and neglect cases. Case reviews and decision-making needs to include all those involved with a case, not merely the caseworker and his or her supervisor. By having everyone at the table and all case information shared, a more informed case plan can be developed and risk to the child reduced.
• Caseworkers need appropriate education and training to be prepared to do their jobs. With a minimum of a BSW or a Masters degree in Social Work, Counseling, or a related field, caseworkers will be best equipped to make the life and death decisions required. With the new benefit of a federal loan-forgiveness program for child welfare social workers, there is now financial support for professionally trained social workers to enter the workforce.
• Finally, Mayor Nutter should appoint an Ombudsman as an external monitor of DHS. We have seen only too clearly that a child welfare system cannot adequately monitor itself. The creation of an outside monitor with unfettered access to information creates a watchdog for future cases and a source of systemic feedback.

Sadly, no child welfare system, no matter how well it functions, can guarantee that no child under its watch will die. We can, however, greatly improve the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children by employing thoughtful, consistent practice in a culture with its eyes focused on the protection of children. In his justifiable indignation, Mayor Nutter stated that he would respond with “aggression” if someone failed to protect his own child. We are encouraged that the Mayor will do whatever it takes to assure the well-being of his other 6,500 children, those in the care and custody of the City of Philadelphia.

This editorial was originally published in part in the Philadelphia Inquirer on August 8, 2008.