Press Release

Child welfare bureau complaints up 36%
Many involve families with mental illness

By FELICIA THOMAS-LYNN
fthomas-lynn@journalsentinel.com
Posted: April 26, 2008

The agency charged with keeping abused and neglected children in Milwaukee County safe is failing to meet the needs of their parents with mental health issues that could put children at greater risk, according to a report by the Office of the Milwaukee Ombudsman for Child Welfare.

The report, released Friday, is an annual review of complaints the office has received against the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare in 2007.

The ombudsman office was created three years ago as a neutral, independent office that reviews case-specific concerns regarding the safety, permanence and well-being of children and families involved with the bureau. Its recommendations to the bureau and state officials are advisory.

"The ombudsman office received many complaints from individuals with chronic and persistent mental health issues," said Lisa Drouin, director of the office, who released the report during a meeting of the Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership Council.

"Many of these individuals are clearly challenged, in some instances prohibitively so, by trying to understand the child welfare system," she said. "These individuals require a significant amount of staff time and resources to achieve successful communication and outcomes."

Last year, the office responded to 109 new complaints, an increase of 36% from 2006. Most of the complaints were filed by parents and other relatives, and the top five concerns were regarding the lack of action by the bureau staff, placement concerns, concerns of not receiving fair treatment by bureau staff, visitation concerns and service delivery concerns.

Denise Revels Robinson, the bureau's director, said the agency will issue a written response to the findings in the report.

Last October, a 5-month-old boy died about a half-hour after a visitation worker employed by the bureau left him alone and unsupervised with his mentally ill mother.

Drouin said that, given the bureau's time constraints, lack of training and understanding of mental illness, and lack of resources for this population, staff members have appeared to struggle to provide adequate services.

The ombudsman office recommended that the bureau seek outside consultation to find successful models for working with the mentally ill, and consider beginning an enhanced program to better meet their needs.

It also recommended that the bureau develop a plan to improve contact with relatives of children in out-of-home care and also a plan to ensure that the bureau is getting fathers to participate in the case-planning process.

Some of the members of the council were concerned that earlier recommendations in previous annual reports were still showing up in the recently released annual review and called for deadlines to be set.

Others in the community were critical of the number of reports the agency handled in its office over the course of a year. Out of the 109 complaints the ombudsman's office received, 68 were referred back to the bureau for resolution.

"If the primary way the complaint is handled is sending it back to the bureau, then I have concerns about the value that the public is receiving," said Lance Jones, program manager for Court Appointed Special Advocates, a program of Kids Matter, a children's advocacy group.

From the April 26, 2008, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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