Vermilion County Action Team Laurie Krolikowski & Susan Werner

Where is Vermilion County?

Who lives in Vermilion County? Racial Breakdown There are 81,941 people in Vermilion County  White: 85%  African American: 13%  Hispanic: 3.44%  Asian: 0.6%  Native American: 1.8%  “Other”: 3.11%

What is the socioeconomic status of the people in Vermilion County?  The median income in Vermilion County is $37,277 compared to the state of Illinois median of $54,124.  20% of the people live in poverty.  In August 2008, it was estimated that 8.9% of the population of Vermilion County lived in extreme poverty (annual income of less than half of the poverty line- $10,325 for a family of 4).

What is the socioeconomic status of the people in Vermilion County? (cont.)  Vermilion County has seen an increase in “extreme poverty” since the year According to Robert Hill’s article the likelihood of abuse and neglect go up as income declines (Hill, 2006).  Vermilion County has a higher rate of child abuse as compared to the state and central region (IL Criminal Justice Information Authority, 2003, 2004 & IL Dept of Children and Family Services ).

How many indicated reports were there in Vermilion County?  For the fiscal years (FY) the number of children and the ethnic differences that experienced an indicated report of child abuse and/or neglect were: –All children: An average of children experienced an indicated report or 1.6% of the children in Vermilion County.  African American children: An average of 74.4 or 2.5% of the African American children in Vermilion County. African American children accounted for 23.3% of the reports.  White children: An average of or 1.5% of the White children in Vermilion County. White children accounted for 72.9% of the reports.

How many indicated reports were there in Vermilion County?

What is length of stay in care in Vermilion County?  For the fiscal years , the median length of stay by race was: –All children: The average median length of stay was 23.4 months. –African American children: The average median length of stay was 26.1 months. –White children: The average median length of stay was 18.9 months. –Hispanic children: The average median length of stay was 37 months. –Children of other ethnicities: The average median length of stay was 17 months.

What is length of stay in care in Vermilion County?

How long does it take for kids to reach permanency in Vermilion County?  Permanency at 12 Months:  African American children:19.9%  White children: 27.7%  Hispanic children: 11.8%  Other children: 28.8%  Permanency at 24 Months:  African American children: 39.5%  White children: 48.4%  Hispanic children: 33.3%  Other children: 45.5%

How long does it take for kids to reach permanency in Vermilion County?  Permanency at 36 months:  African American children: 56.1%  White children: 69.4%  Hispanic children: 46.7%  Other children: 55.6%

How long does it take for kids to reach permanency in Vermilion County?

Vermilion County is lower than the national average.  According to the research in the Government Accountability Office report, African American children stay in foster care on average 9 months longer than white children (GAO, 2008). In Vermilion County the average is slightly lower, and African American children stay 7.2 months longer than white children (Child & Family Research Center).

How are they addressing concerns? One of the new and exciting ways that Vermilion County social service agencies are working to address concerns is through…………. FAMILY TREAMENT COURT

Why is the idea for Family Treatment Court important?  According to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (1999) 80% of the confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect have substance abuse as a precipitating factor.  If a parent is unable to maintain a drug free lifestyle and make other significant changes in their lives, reunification with their children may be delayed or never occur.  Families that have substance abuse problems often have additional challenges such as poor housing, mental health problems, physical health problems, transportation issues, lack appropriate childcare, educational challenge and unemployment.

Why is the idea of Family Treatment Court important (cont.)?  Parent often struggle with the mandates the court gives them. Often they cannot get into treatment as soon as they would like, do not have a comprehensive case management plan or have structured visitation with their children.  Family Treatment court uses the best practices model to effectively manage cases. This is done to ensure the children's best interest and provide all necessary services to the parents.

What is Family Treatment Court?  The Family Treatment court brings the professionals as an interdisciplinary team.  All cases are reviewed weekly by the team.  Incentives are given to the parent for meeting goals.  It extends beyond substance abuse treatment and deals with other issues such as domestic violence, mental and physical health, pending criminal charges, housing, child care and employment. These factors can further complicate or delay reunification and increase the time children remain in the foster care system.

Who is involved in Family Treatment Court?  Parent  Judge  Child Welfare Case Worker  Substance Abuse Counselor  Any additional professional services

The 4 stages of Family Treatment Court  Phase 1: Weekly meeting with probation, weekly court date and weekly drug screen.  Phase 2: Minimum 4 months of no rule violations, weekly court date, every other week drug screen.  Phase 3: Minimum 6 months of no rule violations, every other week court date and drug screen  Phase 4: Minimum 10 months of no rule violations, monthly court date and drug screen

How does Family Treatment Court address the issue of permanency?  It is important to remember that according to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse (1999) 80% of the confirmed cases of child abuse and neglect have substance abuse as a precipitating factor.  Parents need to be substance free to be good parents and FTC helps parents regain custody of their children by helping them gain their sobriety and address all other barriers to that reunification.

Quoted from the Northwest Professional Consortium, Inc. (2005):  “On average across sites, parents enrolled in family treatment drug courts were more likely than parents in traditional child welfare cases processing to be reunified with their children and less likely to have terminations of parental rights. On average, family treatment court cases were shorter than traditional child welfare cases.”

References Children and Family Research Center: University of Illinois School of Social Work. Practice Resource and Outcome Monitoring Data Heartland Alliance for Human Rights (2008). Poverty trends in Vermilion County Hill, Robert, (2006). Casey CSSP. Alliance for Racial Equality in the Child Welfare System: Synthesis of Research on Disproportionality in Child Welfare. Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, (2003). A profile of juvenile justice activities and juvenile delinquency risk factors in Vermilion County.

References (cont.) Illinois Department of Children and Family Services ( ). Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics. United States Government Accountability Office (2008). African American Children in Foster Care. HHS and Congressional Action Could Help Reduce Proportion in Care. United States Census Bureau ( ). American Fact Finder Vermilion County Illinois. Wheeler, M. & Carson, L. Family treatment court: Applying the drug court model in child maltreatment cases. Drug Court Practitioner fact sheet June 2006 Vol. 1