Nina Ollison Wants DHS To Give Her Family Back
Channel: Alicia Dorsey
Date: 2016-08-18

Nina Ollison is a victim of domestic violence who has a long history with our broken and corrupt system neglecting her family. Nina was placed in the dhs system as a youth and the cycle of dependency has gotten her in a battle for her family versus growing stronger with her family. I've learning about dhs and how they abuse families based on mental health versus understanding how diverse we are as a people and offering support services. Nina admits to being overwhelmed at times, most parents these days are, i'm a bit overwhelmed with my grandsons. Her family would do better if they were together receiving support services. Audit outlines 71 violations as DHS struggles with growing caseloads

By Julia Terruso, Staff Writer
POSTED: May 30, 2016
Philadelphia's long-troubled child welfare system is taking on water.

Even as it struggles to improve its oversight of the city's most vulnerable children, its mission has been made more difficult by a swelling caseload.

In just the last three years, Philadelphia's Department of Human Services has seen the number of children in its foster-care system grow from 4,100 to 6,100.

The impact was evident in a state audit released this month that listed 71 violations by the department, the majority stemming from the strains on the system.

The growth has left workers struggling to keep up with hotline calls and manage the responsibilities that come with children in foster homes.

"We are very clear that the numbers are stark," said Eva Gladstein, the city's deputy managing director for children and families. "We're getting more calls to the hotline, we're doing more investigations, and it creates stresses and strains on the system."

The city is second only to Phoenix in removing children from their homes, according to a report by the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, a Virginia-based organization.

Philadelphia's removal rate is double that of New York and quadruple Chicago's. The result is an overburdened system with workers juggling huge caseloads.

Much of this is detailed in the audit the state issued, revoking the agency's certificate of compliance and issuing a provisional license to operate. A city can receive no more than three provisional licenses before the state can take over.

City and state officials have said there is an easy explanation for the growth in the system: Child-abuse reporting laws changed after the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State scandal. That has led to a spike in the number of calls and investigations while the city simultaneously aims to transition to a new system of private providers.

Hotline calls are up 30 percent compared with 2015, and investigations are up 12 percent.

Calls are also increasing statewide. The state auditor general found last week that the state's child-abuse reporting hotline dropped 22 percent of calls this year (state law requires Philadelphia County to also operate a 24-hour hotline).

But other counties have experienced more calls without an increase in the number of children placed in foster care.

In Pittsburgh's Allegheny County, the number of hotline calls increased by 28 percent, but substantiated reports went down 20 percent, and the number of children in the system decreased.

The key is how calls are handled, said Kathleen Creamer, managing attorney at Community Legal Services.

Children are supposed to go into foster care if their safety is threatened and there is no feasible alternative, but given Philadelphia's extreme poverty, the lines can get blurred.

"We're confusing safety and poverty and conflating those two things and putting children in foster care where the issue is not child safety," Creamer said.

Nearly 10 percent of all out-of-home placements in Philadelphia involved "inadequate housing," according to the audit.http://articles.philly.com/2016-05-30/news/73429111_1_hotline-calls-state-audit-foster-care