Running head IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM1IDENTIFYING THE .docx
- 1. Running head: IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 1 IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 5Identifying the Policy Problem Unit 3 Assignment 1 January 30, 2020 Identifying the Policy Problem Child abuse takes place in all parts of the world and has been a common problem that can be mentally, emotionally, sexually, and even physically. Indiana has been one of the most common states that report child abuse in the year 2017. Indiana has been among the many states that have reported the high rates of child abuse. There were around 29,000 cases of child abuse in Indiana. Old people in Indiana were reported to have molested their granddaughters, and other many cases still under investigation. The interviews that have been conducted on both male and female suspects showed that the warrant had been issued for their arrest. Many have been arrested and charged with the issue of child abuse. Many have been however building shortly after they have been arrested.
- 2. The victims advocate that they been kept safe since the crimes that they have been charged with being exposed. The forensic interview that they have been subjected to entailed a detailed conversation about the entire alleged crime, which is either to corroborate or disprove the entire case or the allegations (Clark, 2017). The interview that took place in the Indiana Department of the children's service entails speaking with the immediate family so that they can be able to talk about the safety of the children molested. The law enforcement agencies are issuing a warrant to the suspects, while the victims are advocating for them to put place by the DCS. They will need to have developed the safety plan for all the children that are abused. They are also expected to answer some of the questions that are in regard to the case from the family and what action is to be taken in regard to the interventions that are required to the victims. The crime takes the easy target, or the victims who are ready to abuse or they lack parents or do not have the guardian. In most cases, the granddaughters are mostly the good target from their grandfathers. No one can be sensing there is a danger, or there is anything that is happening to the children. The old people perceive them as the vulnerable target, and they are also accessible to them any time. The many grandfathers who abuse the children have the opportunity and the motivation to offend the victims that are lacking parental care at the same time looking for the girls whom they abuse. From the studies that are being done, it shows that the abuse that is done on the children is random and they are premediated. Because of the nature of the abuse, it shows that the people who abuse the children are the people who know very well about the children and their parent's routine as well (Clark, 2017). They know when the children are alone and when they can know them, and hence that makes them conduct such acts. They can be able to relate to the patterns that they need to offend the children in everyday life. Tracking the patterns and the routine of the children and the parents makes the suspects commit the
- 3. crimes in very normal ways. The young girls are becoming the most unprotected targets for the suspects since they are also becoming more dependent on the chance as well as the opportunity to offend. This makes them the most unprotected target for the suspects and took advantage of the situation. When the situation is being taken advantage of, there are some extreme costs on personal beings like the child being abused and the entire family. The personal costs can be classified into what is termed as the emotional trauma to what is termed as the monetary cost (Doerner, 2017). The young girls that are abused have been going through personal costs such as shame, guilt, and even self-blame. This has been termed as normal as sexual assault. When the girls are going through all that emotional cost, the girls are likely to encounter loss of friends because of the lack of trust among them. There are many other issues that come along with these crimes, there is the aspect of victimization that end up hurting the family and the child being abused, it will not catch us by surprise that they end up losing sleep and they experience anger, overwhelming stress that cause them lots of headache and fatigue as well as worry. There is an economic loss. The parents may be taking off work for some periods for them to attend the court hearings. They may also need to make the hospital visits or stay with the children who are having a bad day, which in turn means they my need some comfort. These are among the many personal costs that come in light with this kind of abuse. When the child is abused, then that does not only affect the child only but also the family and the entire community at large. The abused children are seen to be like attracting attention because of what happened to them, and they end up feeling ashamed. There are other many consequences that come along with this as they also face social consequences as well. The society started to feel the hatred and rage towards the offender who abuses the children. The society will need to look into the case and see if there are any kind of red flags that they need to pay attention to.
- 4. When such cases are brought into the light, then they need to bring the different sides of the case and see what action will need to be put into analysis to prevent making the people feel weary. Thankfully, there are some policies that are being brought up to help in such cases when they are put into action. They can help to ease the mind of the victims and well and the mind of the family and the society at large. In the United States, there are some social responsibility policies that are being put in place, and they are used to mandate the people and anyone who will be witnessing or know the suspect the child abuse of different types and then report them to the child authority (Doerner, 2017). There are some penalties that come along with the person failing to report the abuse of the child to the relevant authorities. There are different bodies that are mandated within this particular policy, and they are like women, the law enforcement officer, as well as the therapist and the other many professionals (Doerner, 2017). One of the main health concerns is sexually transmitted diseases. There are many diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and the sexual offender is tested for them as the law states and when they commit the same offense, they can be charged with the felony of the third degree. When the victims are tested, they also start taking the antibiotics and tested for all the other diseases within 72 hours. In conclusion, sexual assault happens to different children in the whole world. Not all states are subject to this, but some states are worse than the other. In some states of Indiana, the rates are almost double. Because of that, the policies and the procedure are needed so that they can help to keep the children in the society safer. When the incidents take place, then the report needs to be done, and the many avenues start to make the child feel safe again. I conducted a SWOT analysis, and here are my findings.: Strength The Indiana swot analysis has considerable interest in the way
- 5. the children are being treated in the community. The governor has been coming up with the ways to find the solution to the administrative agendas as some of the pillars and fostering the bills of rights. The state's budget has been assisting the DCS in terms of finance through funding. They have been interacting with the directors so that to solicit feedback about the challenges and the strength in the organization. The DCS is very consistent with the children as well as the families all around the states, leasing the trauma among children and produce positive outcomes. Weaknesses Some of the problems that they face are the epidemic that has been contributed by the number of the families and the children that are in the DCS case and the management system. The over- reliance that is on a reactive system that has been built on the removal of the key approach to speak about the parental addiction that will help to serve Indiana. Opportunities The agency mainly focuses on the efforts of the Indiana department of the children (DCS). They plan to engage the families in their mission to partner with the stats and the local community. The agency plans to keep referring to the service they offer to the clients and involve them in the system. The agency plans to keep the number of clients high. Then they can overspend on the money that has been budgeted for. Threats There are many children that are in-home care that are in the states and nationally. DCS has a higher rate of child abuse and then neglect the referral for child welfare. There are very high rates of court involvement in child welfare cases. There is an uneven organizational climate as well as the culture cross the countries that are contributed by the low morale. There is the workload in the cases that the agencies had, and that has caused the management to be centralized (Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services, 2018).
- 6. References Clark, J. R. (2017). Reporting Abuse. Air medical journal, 36(6), 287-289. Doerner, W. G. (2017). Victimology. Routledge. Mack, J. L. (2019). Indiana has the second-highest child abuse rate in the nation, report says. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2019/04/01/report- indiana-has-second-highest-child-abuse-rate- nation/3330020002/ Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018, June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal .pdf 1 Running head: REPORT REPORT 8
- 7. Cost-benefit Analysis Indiana Department of Child Services February 15, 2020 Introduction: It is analyzed that the issues that the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) face are more than any other state of the USA because of some of the reasons we will discuss. The rates of child abuse, opioid epidemics, and neglect reports are continuously increasing; therefore, the department needs more budget than previous years to resolve the problems. It is good that they need a budget to resolve the problem, but they are not focusing on the root cause of the problem until that root cause is identified and resolve it from that root they will not be able to overcome these problems and lower the budget. The three prominent problems that they face are listed below: · Child abuse is a major cause. · The opioid epidemic, and · Neglect reports. All these three issues revolve around parenting. These issues are also related to other departments, for example, for the opioid epidemic the department of health and human services is responsible, Indiana department of correction can also deal with neglect reports so that parenting practices can be improved. Furthermore, the child bureau and community resources can also be used. It means that the government is financing multiple departments for the same issue due to which budgetary
- 8. constraints occur. This problem can be solved from three different perspectives. My suggestions are listed below: Realistic approach: The issue of child abuse can be controlled with the help of both governmental and NGOs who work for the same purpose, but their approaches are different. Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) deal with this issue along with the collaboration of NGOs so that in every country. Only one NGO or DCS worked in only one country. There is no need for multiple NGOs in one country. In this way, the burden of DCS will be shared. The Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) will be a hub where every NGO and employees of DCS have to report monthly regarding the progress report. In this way, the budget issues can be solved, and the number of employees of DCS will also reduce and an incentive will be given to NGOs who successfully reduce the rate of child abuse in their country. The problem arises when everyone works separately, and multiple sources are used for the same purpose. But if everyone works in collaboration, then many problems will be solved. The focus of this approach is not only to reduce the rate of child abuse but also give awareness and parental programs to people so that this rate can be reduced and those factors can reduce that is the main cause of this problem. The reasons for child abuse are parents are not able to meet the needs and requirements of the child and sometimes the parents are also suffering from alcohol abuse and emotional distress due to which they are not able to manage the child properly. Furthermore, the lack of attention from the side of parents and teachers often promoted this abuse. Due to child abuse, the child isolates themselves from the rest of the world. It leads to a lack of participation in school activities and sports as the parents are already aggressive. Therefore, they do not notice or pay any attention to what their child is going through. Hence, at this point, the core training is mandatory for teachers, parents, and children as well so that they can better handle the
- 9. situation. Instead of sending the child to the child care department, it is important to educate the parents. Therefore, the parenting activities must be considered important and such awareness programs must be designed that help them to overcome the problem instead of putting all their aggression on the child they have to contact to respect mentor or department so that they can better handle themselves. Furthermore, parents can understand their situation and they know what to do as compared to a child. The root cause of this problem is parents, disturbed families and sometimes educational institutes. The DCS, along with other community services NGO's can overcome this problem by solving the problems of parents. In this way, the burden on DCS will be reduced and their expenses will also be managed. Cost and benefit analysis: The opioid epidemic is not only the epidemic of Indiana, but it is an epidemic for the whole USA that disturbs each person. It cost Indiana $43 billion in the last 15 years. According to the report of the Institute of Medicine, the causes of the opioid epidemic is a greater patient expectation for pain relief, obesity, a musculoskeletal disorder of aging population, increasing frequency of complex surgery and its easy availability. Furthermore, poverty and substance abuse problem is the main cause that promotes it among the people (Nabarun Dasgupta, 2018 ). The below-mentioned statistics show how the alarming situation on the opioid epidemic is caused since 2015 and it is increasing with every passing. Unfortunately, it is not limited to adults but school-going children are also habitual of using this. It also caused unemployment and an economic downturn in society. In DCS, most of the cases are also related to the opioid epidemic. It indeed comes under the responsibility of DCS to take of such cases, but the role of other substance abuse departments is also responsible for it. Instead of hiring people for the same purpose, the responsibilities must be divided so
- 10. that better facilities can be provided (B, 2017 ). Here the role of “Department of Health and Human Services" is also important because all people are engaged in it regardless of gender and age. Furthermore, the services of "Indiana Department of Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment” can also be used for this purpose. This substance is easily available in pharmacies due to which people can buy it because it is legalized now. Form the side of government, a ban should be imposed on Indiana pharmacies that without prescription, this substance will not be sold to anyone (B., 2018). The strict implementation of this rule will be mandatory. Its availability will not be limited to hospital pharmacies so that doctors of hospitals can only prescribe it on those cases where it is needed and without it, the treatment will not be possible. As per my recommendation, it should be replaced with any other medicine that will help in pain relief. As the ratio of people is increasing who uses it for an addictive purpose, it should be replaced with other pain relief medicine and managed by a medical professional. The opioid epidemic must be handover to Indiana Department of Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment so that budgetary problems can be overcome and with the distribution of these services there will be less burden on DCS, and they can focus on other causes of child abuse and child neglect (Brown RE Jr, 2017). Objectivity: The ratio of child neglect reports in Indiana has been increasing with every passing day. It is not the stepmother or father or the foster family who put the child in such a critical situation, but the biological parents are continuously neglecting and abusing their children that sometimes lead to death as well (drugabuse.gov, 2019). There is the number of parents who are arrested every week because they threatened their children, which leads to death; some mentally torched their children that makes them sick. Here the root cause is the parents. Sometimes the lack of integration in family, family
- 11. misunderstanding, lack of bonding between the parents, and economic instability leads to create such a problem. But it is the primary concern of DCS they want to resolve it on a primary basis. This issue is also linked to child abuse. Child neglect and child abuse are interlinked with each other. If DCS focused on one, then the other will automatically be resolved (Russel, 2018). This problem can be solved by evaluating the causes of child neglect. From the number of cases that are reported in DCS, it can be analyzed what are the causes that children reported. By summarizing the cause, it can be analyzed whether it is related to economic instability, personal issues or society. Through this analyzed the root cause can be solved that will help in lower the causes of child neglect. At this point, I want to highlight the role of educational institutes because they are the ones who are close to children, and as they are closer to children, they are better able to help the DCS to resolve this problem (EugeneFlango, 2015). The behavior of the child tells the children what he is going through when the worst situation occurs then the DCS rescue this child. Therefore, the teachers must be trained in this regard so that they can help the child to overcome the problem and such worst cases that lead them to death will not arise. The DCS must hire some of the researchers that can identify the problem and conduct a study where the accurate problem can be identified then they design training sessions for parents and children that will educate them to overcome this problem. This can be done through schools to save the expense of these training programs. Furthermore, with the help of community centers, training will be given to those whose children are not school going, but they have been going through such problems (Swan, 2015). Whatever the problem is, whether it is related to child abuse and child neglect, it can only be solved if all people and governing and regulatory bodies work side by side with each other. Then the ultimate aim of DCS will be achieved. Cost and benefit analysis: Cost and benefit analysis of proposed solution number 1 of
- 12. child abuse. In this section, both macro and microeconomic factors are analyzed of how their role is important and what cost and benefit the DCS will gain from it. At macro level, the role of government is important so the government of Indiana must announce a revised policy in which save the child from child abuse is not only the responsibility of DCS, but country-wise NGO play their role as for any NGO of the country they must work under DCS and follow their policy to reduce the number of child abuse. In this way, the employees of these NGOs will be used and additional employment that is required at DCS will be reduced (Emily Allchin, 2019). It leads to a decrease in the impact of financial constraints and the extra budget that they demanded to fulfill the purpose. When at the government level, it is announced that all the NGOs will work under DCS instructions, and an additional benefit will be given to them, then it will be beneficial for them to follow their instructions. At the micro-level, there are unlimited benefits for DCS. First, their workforce problem will be reduced, and the amount that they require for the training of new employees is automatically reduced. Due to a new policy, they have enough trained staff that they can use to reduce cases of child abuse. Cost and benefit analysis of the proposed solution for the opioid epidemic: At the macro level, the role of regulatory authorities is important because they have to revise their strategies and duties that they assigned to the respective department. If two or three departments did the same job, and still there is no control over substance abuse them, there is no means of such departments. Hence, the regulatory authorities must revise the role of all departments that are concerned with substance abuse. The names of these departments are "Department of Health and Human Services” and “Indiana Department of Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment.” The role of these departments is to control substance abuse and DCS is doing the same things but
- 13. they protect a child who is involved in it (Lilly, 2019). So, if these departments are doing for men and women and if they started it for children as well, then the cost that will be incurred will be less because they have all the facilities and experienced people who are doing this. If the same thing is done by DCS than they require new people who are experienced and qualified enough to support their purpose. So, they need finance to develop a new system that is costly because already they are over budget. Through this proposal, the extra cost will be reduced. At the micro-level, this solution will remove extra burden over the department, and if two departments are already doing so, then assigning additional duty will be helpful for the organization to focus on other problems like child neglect and child abuse. If these two problems are under controlled than the substance abuse problem will automatically reduce. From the financial point of view, their amount of demanded budget will be reduced and expenses will be under control. Cost and benefit analysis of the proposed solution for child neglect: The cases of child neglect have been increased, and with the help of educational institutions, this problem can be overcome. At the macro level, if our children are not physically and mentally fit then our generations will be the effect that will disturb the whole economy. Therefore, it is better to resolve this problem at the grass-root level. There is a lot of work that has to be done at the micro-level or organizational level to save the children. DCS must design a research team of 6 researchers that made a detailed report on child neglect cases, and after analyzing the problem at the school level training sessions for students and parents will be designed (Lilly, 2019). In this way, the students and parents will be able to overcome the problem. At these training or awareness programs, parents will be encouraged to share their problems. In this way, at a macro level, such an initiative will be taken that will ultimately help to overcome this problem. The
- 14. expense that will be incurred will be in million but the benefits will help in overcoming the budgetary constraints of billion dollars. Conclusion: Concluding the findings of this paper in a nutshell, it is evaluated that if Department of Health and Human Services” and “Indiana Department of Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment” and NGO's work in collaboration with DCS than under the budget of all these departments that problems of child abuse, child neglect and opioid epidemic can be overcome. The role of government and regulatory authorities is also important unless and until they issue orders, DCS will not be able to control the rate of these cases. Therefore, at the macro and micro levels, the implementation of strategies is important. References B, F. (2017 ). Prescription opioids, abuse, and public health in Canada: is fentanyl the new center of the opioid crisis? Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf., 1334- 1336. B., W. (2018). The opioid crisis: a 21st-century pain. Drugs Today (Barc)., 12-23. Brown RE Jr, D. V. (2017). The US Opioid Crisis: Current Federal and State Legal Issues. Anesth Analg., 1-10. drugabuse.gov. (2019, 1 12). Indiana Opioid Summary. Retrieved from drugabuse.gov: https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-
- 15. summaries-by-state/indiana-opioid-summary Emily Allchin, A. J. (2019). The Role of Socioeconomic Interventions in Reducing Exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences: a Systematic Review. Current Epidemiology Reports, 423–441. EugeneFlango, V. (2015). Can central registries improve substantiation rates in child abuse and neglect cases? Child Abuse & Neglect, 403-413. Lilly, R. A. (2019). Malnutrition and Medical Neglect. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 12-22. Nabarun Dasgupta. (2018 ). Opioid Crisis: No Easy Fix to Its Social and Economic Determinants. Am J Public Health., 182– 186. Russel, R. (2018). Role Perceptions of Attorneys and. CHILD WELFARE, 1-18. Swan, S. M. (2015). Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated Medical Neglect. Pediatrics , 625-629. Information from Discussion 1 The agency I intend to focus my efforts on is the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS). Their mission is to engage with families and collaborate with state, local and community partners to protect children from abuse and neglect and to provide child support services (DCS Mission, Vision, and Values). I want to address the overspending that Indiana’s DCS does every year. They are 100’s of millions of dollars over budget every year. I know this is not just a problem for Indiana, but every state. One thing that I learned working with this agency is that they want to keep referring services to clients and keep them in the system. If they keep their numbers high on active clients in their system every year and overspend the budgeted money, they will and expect to receive more funds the following fiscal year.
- 16. DCS is by far the largest department with the greatest budget and amount of employees than any other department in the state of Indiana. As of 2017, Indiana’s rate of children in out-of- home care was about 13 children for every 1,000 in the state and is over twice the national average. In addition to Indiana having a higher number of children in out-of-home care, Indiana also has a higher-than-average number of children being referred to child protection. In 2016, Indiana’s rate of referral to child protection, calculated as the number of referrals for every 1,000 children in the state’s population, was 108.2 compared to a national average of 55.6 (Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services). References DCS Mission, Vision, and Values. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.in.gov/dcs/2370.htm Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018, June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal .pdf Information from Discussion 2 · What is the specific problem that your organization will be trying to address? Try to be as specific as possible. My organization will be trying to reduce the spending by the Indiana Department of Child Services to combat child abuse and neglect. There are a number of issues that create this situation that need addressed. One major that needs to be considered is what is causing the high caseloads in the first place and can these things be spearheaded from the front end to help reduce the number of children entering into the system in the first place. Here are a number of things that need evaluated and are cause for concern (Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services.):
- 17. • Only three states have a higher rate of abuse and neglect referrals than Indiana. • Indiana accepts more abuse and neglect reports than the national average. • Only two states had a higher rate of completed child protection assessments than Indiana. • Despite completing more assessments than almost any state, Indiana substantiated only 15 percent of those assessments. • The rate of abuse and neglect reports grew by almost 63 percent from SFY 13 to SFY 17. • 55 percent of removals in 2017 were related to parental substance abuse. • DCS barely misses the federal standard for repeat maltreatment • Indiana’s rate of children in care is 13.0 (per 1,000 children) compared with the national average of 5.6. • Indiana’s rate of children entering care is 8 (per 1,000 children) compared with the national rate of 3.6. • Nearly 45 percent of family case managers have caseloads above the state standard. • DCS’ supervision standard is 1 to 7+ compared to the national standard of 1 to 5. • There are 530 children in care on the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) wait list for childcare vouchers. • In SFY 2017, DCS spent $24,933,487 on drug testing/supplies and $4,538,182 on drug treatment. • The number of court-involved cases in DCS is more than double the national average. · How is the specific problem you mentioned tied to the organizational mission? The problem is tied to DCS’ mission statement, because they job is to provide services to and protect children from abuse and neglect. If we can reduce the amount of reports by ensuring parents have resources and tools to properly parent their
- 18. children and deal with everyday life. This can potentially reduce the number of reports and cases DCS receives in the first place and eventually reduce the amount of spending and employees needed to make DCS function as it has. Cases that do need DCS’ attention after this would be handled in a manner to help put them in a place where they will be no more recurring incidences and remove the cases from the DCS system. It is a complicated and very involve process, but it can be done with the proper training, tools, resources, and policies in place. · How might you frame the problem for the policy analysis to make the scope of it more realistic in a real-world setting? Problems such as the opioid epidemic have contributed to the increased number of families and children in the DCS case management system. If we were to focus and attack the opioid problem from the doctor prescribing the opioid, to the manufacturers, and finally to the patient taking the opioids we can come up with a solution to combat this and thus reduce the numbers that increased the caseloads of DCS due to this problem. Over reliance on a reactive system that uses child removal as the primary approach to address parental addiction will not serve Indiana or its citizens well over time (Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services.). The idea is to take a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach to these problems. References Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018, June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal .pdf
- 19. PESTLE Analysis (PowerPoint) Public administrators are often called upon to present to colleagues or outside groups. To give you practice with your presentation skills, you are required to create a PowerPoint presentation for your post to this discussion. Develop a PowerPoint presentation using the following format: Create a PowerPoint presentation with a detailed presentation notes section completed. This approach uses a PowerPoint presentation with detailed notes in the notes area at the bottom of each slide. The presentation notes are a transcript of the presentation you would make if showing the presentation to an audience. In this discussion, create a PowerPoint presentation about your analysis of the environment in which the public administrator will be working to address the problem you have identified for your work in this course. Unlike the SWOT analysis conducted earlier, the PESTLE analysis explores the environment in which the public administrator has to work. Having an understanding of how differing sociopolitical factors may affect the decision- making environment will provide insights into ways the public administrator might wish to tailor the message to better market proposed alternatives to improve the chances of achieving optimal outcomes for the community and the organization. Use the attached Information for Discussion 1 and 2, Cost Benefit Analysis Assignment Paper; and Identifying the Problem papers to get the paper topic and understanding of the problems being analyzed with the Indiana Department of Child Services. Your PowerPoint presentation must include (minimum of seven slides): · A cover slide. · An introduction slide. · At least one slide for each of the three alternatives identified earlier. These slides will include a brief PESTLE analysis for each of the identified alternatives, providing insight into how
- 20. each of the alternatives might be viewed within the community. · A conclusion slide. · A reference slide. Please support your ideas with recent, scholarly sources that are properly cited and referenced in APA style.