Foster care in Tennessee: When the leaders of the “child welfare” agency forgot their disguises

The Tennessee family police agency has a plan for what to do
with foster children who get out of line.

Decades ago, the father of family defense and family advocacy (and also the President of NCCPR), Prof. Martin Guggenheim, cut to the heart of the failure of family policing when he said: “There’s a lot of hate disguised as love in this system.” 

I thought of that when I watched two top “child welfare” officials in Tennessee forget their disguises. I’m not even talking about contempt for parents; they forgot to disguise what they really think of the children – once they get older and are no longer cute little “kiddos.” 

It happened at a legislative hearing in Tennessee concerning a bill supported by the state family police agency, the Department of Children’s Services. The bill would essentially allow DCS to throw foster youth into jail whenever the agency felt they’d gotten out of line - if even threatened to get out of line. 

Oh, wait. I’m sure DCS would want you to know these are not “jails” – rather, they are what news accounts call “jail-like facilities” - detention centers where, under current law, you are not allowed to place a child unless that child is convicted of a crime. But that’s certainly not a jail! 

Tennessee already allows foster youth who committed no crime to be handcuffed. As WTVF-TV in Nashville reports, the cuffs were used on a 12-year-old believed to be autistic, who refused to go to bed. 

But that’s not enough for DCS Legislative Director Jim Layman and DCS Commissioner Margie Quin, who testified in favor of the throw-foster-kids-in-jail bill. 

The leader of the Tennessee "child welfare" agency is demanding
accountability -- from the children. (Still frame from WTVF)

The story was first reported by WPLN Public Radio, then WTVF. They cover much the same ground,  but the video story has one advantage: Even in short soundbites, you can see and practically feel what those DCS officials really think of the children they are supposed to protect.  Watch as Quin says foster youth need to be effectively jailed to be held accountable for “violent” behavior because "that lack of accountability gives rise to additional violent behavior." 

It’s even more striking when the comments of those who would be the victimizers if this bill becomes law are compared to the love and understanding shown by one of those who could have been a victim, former foster youth Ella Bet-Ami.  You can see it all here.

And you can hear WPLN's story here:

 Of course, when foster youth commit violent acts, they already can be criminally charged and placed in “jail-like facilities.” So who does Quin really have in mind? 

Ella Bet-Ami knows what the rhetoric about violent behavior is really all about. Here’s an excerpt from WPLN’s story: 

“We don’t get to make mistakes,” Bet-Ami said. “We don’t get to have temper tantrums. We don’t get to have bad days. We’re not allowed to be children.” … She said that kids like her are living on a knife’s edge — getting into trouble could cost them their home, their foster family, and under a new proposal, their freedom. 

“Foster children are entitled to a childhood in the same way other children are entitled to a childhood,” she said. “It should not be a childhood with the sword of prison dangling over their heads.” 

Don’t believe the usual excuses 

What you heard and saw in these stories is young people like Ms. Bet-Ami described as so incredibly difficult that somehow they’d have to be jailed – and, says Quin, held accountable. Remember that when you hear officials all over the country say that it’s the rest of us who don’t understand when they tell us that the children supposedly are just sooooo much more difficult now, with oh sooooo complex behavioral needs that they simply can’t be placed in a home setting. 

It’s not true of young people like Ms. Bet-Ami. But it’s also not true when it comes to children who really do have serious behavioral problems. Because the research is overwhelming that institutionalization of any kind, let alone a jail, doesn’t work and often does enormous harm. That’s true even when institutions aren’t rife with abuse. But often, of course, abuse is rampant, as with institutions in, among other places, Arizona, Kentucky, Indiana, Utah, Iowa, Oklahoma, Rhode Island,  Washington State, Arkansas, New York, Connecticut, Ohio,  Idaho – and Tennessee. 

In contrast, what has been proven to work is bringing Wraparound programs right into a family home or, when a child really must be removed, into a foster home.  You won’t find many young people more “difficult” than the one the late Karl Dennis, the father of Wraparound, talks about in this video: 

And no, the problem isn’t a “shortage” of foster homes either. Tennessee tears apart families at a rate more than 80% above the national average, even when rates of child poverty are factored in. It's an ugly track record that goes back decades.  Tennessee also already uses so-called "congregate care" - group homes and institutions - at a rate well over double the national average, while using the least harmful form of foster care, kinship foster care, at a rate less than one-third the national average. 

Stop taking away children when parents are guilty of nothing more than, say, driving while Black, as happened in a notorious Tennessee case, spend the money you’re spending on institutionalizing kids on Wraparound services instead, and there will be plenty of good, safe family placements for the children who need them. 

But of course that would require an agency led by people with guts, vision and imagination – or at least an agency led by people who are a bit less hostile toward the kids they’re supposed to be protecting. 

Two footnotes 

1. Tennessee is among the first states to sign on to a new federal child welfare initiative. But I wonder if Gov. Bill Lee and Commissioner Margie Quin need to reread the document. The initiative is called a home for every child, not a cell for every child. 

2. On the matter of accountability. Commissioner Quin: 

● You run a system that tears apart families at a rate more than 80% above the national average.

● You run a system that allows an autistic 12-year-old to be handcuffed for refusing to go to bed.

● You run a system willing to tear apart a family for driving while Black.

● You oversee facilities rife with abuse. 

So by all means, Commissioner Quin. Tell us again why it’s the children who need to be held accountable.