Thread: For immigrants, child-welfare solutions murky

For immigrants, child-welfare solutions murky
By Rita Price

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
The little girls had just watched their mother die. A brother lay critically injured, and his father -- the driver in the horrific crash -- was being arrested.
Eric Fenner, director of Franklin County Children Services, knew that a scrupulous reading of the law would require him to place the traumatized children in a foster home with strangers.

He couldn't do it.

"My wiggle room is this: I can make a decision that's in the best interest of the children," Fenner said.

In the case of Daira and Gabi Reyes Gomez Cruz, Fenner decided that the only humane thing to do was to allow the sisters to go home with the worried relatives who had assembled at the agency's E. Mound Street intake office early on New Year's Day.

Caseworkers quickly completed interviews and made a home visit. But the background checks mandated by Ohio law could not be performed because the adult family members are undocumented immigrants and do not have Social Security numbers, Fenner said.

"It really presents a dilemma for us. I make decisions based on what I know at the time, but I'm also held accountable for what I don't find out until later," he said.

"That's not a practice I want to be involved with often."

Yet he won't be surprised if a similar situation arises soon. As the U.S. immigrant population has grown, so too has its contact with the child-welfare system.

Advice and direction for social workers hasn't always followed.

"There really has been little guidance at the federal level, and in the states, it's hit or miss," said Yali Lincroft, a consultant to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a child-advocacy group based in Baltimore, and a researcher on immigration and child-welfare policy.

Lincroft, based in California, also works through the Migration and Child Welfare National Network. The consortium of advocates is pushing for increased discussion and accountability so that the child-welfare system can better serve children.

The challenges are complicated: Agencies struggle to recruit foster families from immigrant and refugee communities, hire bilingual staff and educate caseworkers in cultural differences.

Federal money cannot be used for the care of undocumented children, leaving local jurisdictions responsible for the entire cost.

And the strong preference for placing children with close friends or family becomes debatable when the adults are undocumented and cannot meet the foster-care background requirements.

"These issues will come up more and more, all over the country," Lincroft said.

Although a caseworker in California might know how to do a search for relatives in Honduras or phone a contact at the Mexican consulate, states with emerging immigrant populations such as Ohio are just now feeling their way.

Fenner admits that, when tragedy struck the family of Daira, 7, and Gabi, 4, early on Jan. 1, he thought: "Where's the handbook on this one?"

Police said the girls and 2-year-old Juan were in the back seat of the 1991 Toyota Camry and their pregnant mother, Paulina Martinez Gomez, was in the front passenger's seat.

Her boyfriend, Alfonso Cruz Martinez, ran a red light at Hayden Run Road and Riverside Drive, colliding with a salt truck, Perry Township police have said.

Martinez Gomez and her fetus died. Juan, her son with Cruz Martinez, suffered a skull fracture and was taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Cruz Martinez was indicted on charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Joseph Mas, board chairman of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, said Fenner made the right call when he let the sisters go home with their maternal aunt and uncle.

Any other decision "would have been inhumane."

But Mas understands the complexity of the choice: He also is a member of the Franklin County Children Services Board and is Cruz Martinez's attorney.

"Do I believe that we are geared up right now to serve the Hispanic community and the Somali community? Clearly not," he said. "But the gaps are understandable. It's an old agency. It's geared up to serve the traditional communities."

Children Services has temporary custody of Juan and temporary court-ordered protective supervision over the girls, spokeswoman Doris Calloway Moore said.

Mas said the three children, all U.S. citizens, are together and are doing well with their aunt and uncle.

The arrangement might not have best satisfied the legal profile of a foster-care provider, but Fenner said it "brightened" the faces of two devastated girls.

Lincroft said that might have been all anyone could ask. "This is an art more than a science," she said. "You do the best you can."

rprice@dispatch.com

SOURCE: Dispatch, February 11, 2008

Contact:webmaster@hiiraan.com
Copyright © 2008 Hiiraan Online

Yet he won't be surprised if a similar situation arises soon. As the U.S. immigrant population has grown, so too has its contact with the child-welfare system.

And, quite frankly, from what I have seen, more of these kids need to be removed from these families until they get their act together and begin acting like responsible parents.

Whether it is the fact that so many have children when they are but youngsters themselves, have too many to properly care for, or whether they just think kids can be set on auto-pilot and somehow care for themselves like puppies and kittens I don't know. What I do know is that were it any American citizen not caring for their children properly, that child would be removed, the parents, at minimum, forced into parenting class, and until found to be fit and not a danger to that child, would not have custody of that child.

What I would like to know is when does this society stop making exceptions for "cultural differences" that deem it acceptable for:

Women placing their children into vehicles with men behind the wheel who are blind drunk?

Mothers to do nothing when husbands and boyfriends are beating their children including small infants?

Toddlers to be turned loose to roam the neighborhood, play in the street, and get into all kinds of other hazardous situations because their parents are too busy with other things to watch them and have no idea where they are for hours on end?

Kids to be exposed to hazards such as household cleaners, medications, loaded guns, plugged in power tools, etc. just left lying around wherever by people with no conception whatsoever of why it's necessary to child proof a home?

Child molesting relatives and friends to be given access to children, often living right in the same home, and no one bats an eyelash when something happens?



I realize that some argue that these parents simply do not know any better. They have no "skills" as a parent but I beg to differ with that. All animals, including human beings, are genetically programmed....especially among the females....to protect and nurture the young. There is an instinct there that kicks in. Why is there such a disconnect from that being seen in a great many of these people?

These are not cattle where once the calf is up on it's feet it's on it's own, for pete's sake.

And when did it become acceptable in this country for anyone to treat children this way?

There should be no double-standard when it comes to placing children into foster care...that is, the same background checks, etc. need to be conducted for the safety of the children. If the children are illegal aliens, then only emergency temporary care should be pursued and the consulate of the nation of origin should take care of repatriating the child back to their nation of origin. If they are U.S. citizens then the same standards should apply as to anyone else. Illegal alien adults should never be considered as legal guardians or foster parents in any state. That alone, would make these illegal aliens think twice about bringing their kids here or having children that they are incapable of taking care of or ill-afford. If one of these kids gets harmed by an illegal alien "foster parent" ....you can bet that MALDEF, LULAC, or LA RAZA would be there to sue the state for millions.

Save the children....don't allow illegal aliens to be considered foster parents or legal temporary guardians of ANY child.

But the background checks mandated by Ohio law could not be performed because the adult family members are undocumented immigrants and do not have Social Security numbers, Fenner said.

This statement bothers me..alot. The relatives, being "undocumented" so no background check?!?!?!?!. They FAIL!
Per FEDERAL law, they should have been deported along with the children, to their county (and parents) country of origin.

I am so sick and tired of illegal aliens not being held accountable to US laws! Why would this mandate be waived for them? It would never be waived for citizens.