CSPAN - Indiana's Child Welfare System"
Aired: 2025-04-07
Duration: 06:57


=== Working Together for Kids (06:56) ===

[00:00:00]  Following its passage by the Senate.
[00:00:02]  Also, Jamison Greer, the United States Trade Representative, testifies on the president's agenda after he imposed tariffs on several U.S. partners.
[00:00:10]  First, on Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee, and then on Wednesday before the House Ways and Means Committee.
[00:00:16]  Watch live this week on the C-SPAN networks or on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app.
[00:00:21]  Also, head over to C-SPAN.org for scheduling information or to watch live or on demand anytime.
[00:00:27]  c-span democracy unfiltered democracy It isn't just an idea, it's a process, a process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles.
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[00:01:08]  Nearly 3,500 students across 42 states and D.C. participated in this year's C-SPAN Student Cam Documentary Competition.
[00:01:17]  This year, we asked students to create short videos with messages to the president exploring issues important to them or their communities.
[00:01:24]  All this month, we're featuring our top 21 winning entries.
[00:01:28]  One of this year's second-place high school central winners is a 12th grader from Homestead High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where C-SPAN is available through Comcast.
[00:01:37]  Their winning documentary is titled Kids First: Indiana's Child Welfare System.
[00:01:42]  And the irony of the child welfare system is, from my perspective, it was not child-centered.
[00:01:53]  Every two minutes, someone calls the Indiana Child Abuse Hotline.
[00:01:58]  90% of reports end after an assessment, but for the 10% that continue on, there's been multiple times where if we had not pulled kids out of a situation, they would be dead.
[00:02:11]  Child protective services is important to protect kids from danger, but some kids remain in unsafe situations, including four-year-old Judah Morgan.
[00:02:22]  He was removed from his parents for numerous reasons.
[00:02:27]  And for some reason that nobody has ever been able to explain, it was abruptly decided after four years that they were going to reunify him.
[00:02:35]  He was reunified, and unfortunately, shortly after that, was killed in an absolutely horrific fashion by his biological parents.
[00:02:46]  Even though most cases aren't as extreme, living in situations without stability can still harm kids' emotional well-being.
[00:02:55]  So, all of the foster homes until the age of eight, I lived in seven different homes in the foster system in Los Angeles.
[00:03:00]  My daughter, in particular, who really suffered in our child welfare system and it was very needless, she had seven years total of child welfare experience when this was all said and done.
[00:03:12]  Kids should not stay in the foster care system that long.
[00:03:15]  Putting kids first means getting them to permanency quickly, whether that's reunification, adoption, or guardianship.
[00:03:26]  That's what's best for these kids, is to get back with their parents, to get back to a safe environment where, you know, DCS will never have to be involved again.
[00:03:35]  Over in the state capitol, legislators work on House Bill 1369 to achieve this goal.
[00:03:40]  Things were too vague, too open to interpretation, so we didn't have parental rights terminated and we didn't have permanency happening in a timely manner.
[00:03:52]  House Bill 1369 hoped to solve this by giving specific examples of reasons to terminate parental rights.
[00:03:59]  When the state intervenes, the best interest of the child's safety is the number one concern.
[00:04:05]  This bill was not a solitary effort.
[00:04:08]  And at the same time, I was working with the executive branch, Department of Child Services, I also reached out to the judicial branch.
[00:04:15]  While many improvements have been made, there is still much work to be done.
[00:04:20]  Each year, more than 100,000 children in the United States foster care system wait for permanent homes.
[00:04:27]  Bureaucratic red tape from Washington gets in the way of caseworkers caring for children.
[00:04:33]  Indiana is one of the few states in the country that does not have any sort of right to counsel for any group of children in foster care.
[00:04:41]  Working for DCS was hard, but it was also so rewarding.
[00:04:45]  But what made me get to a point where I couldn't do it anymore was the management.
[00:04:50]  Making sure we have the right leaders in place is very important because that really sets the tone in the culture of our Department of Child Services.
[00:04:58]  Thankfully, Indiana Department of Child Services Director Eric Miller has consistently been open to working with others involved in the child welfare system.
[00:05:08]  As an agency, we desire to collaborate with policymakers.
[00:05:12]  We work together on the bill that I did last year.
[00:05:15]  We built good relationships.
[00:05:17]  It's been really refreshing to have people willing to collaborate with those of us on the ground.
[00:05:23]  We need the same collaboration across the board if we want to see improvements.
[00:05:28]  We need to hear from the youth.
[00:05:30]  The youth voice is very important.
[00:05:32]  From our public defenders, from the CASAS, from DCS and the courts.
[00:05:37]  I think when we all hear each other out and understand the issues from each other's perspective, that's how we get the best results.
[00:05:45]  Even beyond that, we need different parties to work together.
[00:05:48]  Bipartisanship has been a defining feature of federal child welfare legislation.
[00:05:54]  We need different branches of government to work together.
[00:05:57]  I had a bill draft.
[00:05:58]  I would send it to the judges and say, please share this with your members.
[00:06:02]  Please give me feedback.
[00:06:03]  We have an absolutely amazing legislature here in the state of Indiana.
[00:06:08]  I have had so much support and the willingness of the senators and House representatives to speak with us and our families and listen and actually act and do something.
[00:06:20]  Finally, we need different levels of government to work together.
[00:06:25]  Mr. President, you must prioritize child welfare programs and provide support to states with input from all perspectives.
[00:06:35]  Let's all be working together towards the same goal.
[00:06:38]  We all know we needed better permanency timelines.
[00:06:40]  We all know we need more safety.
[00:06:42]  With all of us working together, we can put kids first every single time.
[00:06:52]  Be sure to watch all of the winning entries on our website at studentcam.org.