By DeMarion Newell, TheStatehouse File
In Indiana, the time it takes to reunite children with their families or find them permanent homes has reached its lowest level since 2018.
That information came from a meeting of the Interim Study Committee on Courts and the Judiciary held Thursday.
The meeting focused on the time of permanency for children. Permanency for a child who has been separated from their family because of abuse or neglect, means a safe, stable and secure home and family, according to the Department of Child Services. That could be through reunification, adoption or legal guardianship.
The median time to permanency has gone from 611 days in 2023 to 564 days in the first three quarters of this federal fiscal year.
That improvement comes after DCS faced class action lawsuits in 2019 and 2023 alleging that the agency didn’t keep children safe while in foster care.
“We do believe we are seeing a positive trajectory in the right direction,” said Leslie Dunn, deputy director of the Children and Families Division at the Indiana Office of Court Services.
Dunn said DCS was open to change and came up with a much more streamlined adoption process. She said she believes it is absolutely making a difference in the times it takes for a kid to be reunited with their family or adopted.
The median time to permanency through adoption has decreased by 15%, dropping from 1,110 days to 947 days in the first three-quarters of 2024, according to Dunn.
“Again, a movement in the right direction,” Dunn said.
Eric Miller, director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, said his top two goals during his time as a director are improving child safety and reducing time to permanency.
Miller thinks they’ve made some progress in those efforts; however, he’s not satisfied with the current level of improvement.
“Because I know we can still reduce it more and we should,” Miller said.
In addition to the adoption changes, DCS is working to improve case manager retention.
“When a FCM [Family Case Manager] leaves the agency, a new caseworker assigned to the case is less familiar with the specifics and starts over the relationships with the previous FCM created with all of the parties involved,” Miller said.
That increases the amount of time it takes to get children into a stable home. As of September 2024, there are more than 16,700 kids with DCS cases.
The information provided in this meeting will be given to the lawmakers in January when the 2025 legislative session begins.
DeMarion Newell is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.
