Terminating parental rights: State policies vary widely
Federal data shows that some states terminate parental rights 25 times higher than states at the low end.
NEW YORK — For childwelfare agencies across the United States, it’s the ultimate sanction: terminating the rights of parents to raise their own children due to concerns about abuse and neglect.
All states resort to this step when deemed necessary for a child’s well-being, but there are wide state-to-state disparities in the rate of terminations and the extent of support services to avoid foster care placements. According to federal data, some states terminate parental rights at a rate 25 times higher than states at the low end of the scale.
Calling for reforms to help more families stay together are many child welfare officials and academics, and also some parents who’ve faced the threat of termination proceedings themselves.
Among them is Denise Moore of Des Moines, Iowa, a mother of seven who nearly lost her parental rights after her arrest in 2003 for conspiracy to deliver methampheta- mine. Caseworkers allowed the children to remain in their home in the care of their grandmother, but ordered Moore to vacate the house and follow a regimen that would end her addiction to meth.
Over an 18-month span, Moore failed to accomplish this, but her caseworker gave her one last chance at a meeting where all seven of the children were present.
Grateful for the reprieve, Moore overcame her addiction, enrolled in college and is now working with a state- backed program that assists families during their initial contacts with the child welfare system. Moore says her children, ranging in age from 12 to 27, are all thriving; one son hopes to become a familylaw attorney. But she says the support she and her family received was the exception, not the rule.
“I think we terminate too easily,” she said. “I always believe that families can change, and we just need to find the right intervention to help them get there.”
Each state has its own system for dealing with cases in which termination of parental rights is considered. Federal law spells out certain conditions and timelines, but states interpret and apply them differently.
An Associated Press Denise Moore Des Moines, Iowa
analysis of data compiled by federal officials shows some striking variations. Maryland, for example, had a rate of 10.5 parental rights terminations for every 100,000 children in 2014; at the high end of the scale, the rate per 100,000 children was 283 in neighboring West Virginia and 252 in Oklahoma.
Even looking only at the children placed in foster care, there are pronounced differences. Children affected by a termination order accounted for about 30 percent of the 30,358 youths in the Texas foster care system; Maryland tallied only 142 children affected by termination orders — about 3.5 percent of its foster care population of 4,032.
Economic, cultural and political differences among states partly explain the variances.
In West Virginia and Oklahoma, the high termination rates are fueled to a large extent by severe drug abuse problems.
WATKINSVILLE — A survivor of the crash that killed four University of Georgia students fought through tears to explain what happened to a 911 dispatcher.
The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office released a recording of the call Saturday.
State troopers say a Toyota Camry carrying the Georgia students went into the opposite lane of traffic Wednesday night. The patrol said it was struck by a Chevy Cobalt driven by 27-year-old Abby Short, who spoke with the dispatcher while trapped in her vehicle.
In the call, Short tells the dispatcher that she was stuck in a field.
‘I always believe that families can change, and we just need to find the right intervention to help them get there.’