Columnist Sandy Thompson: Advocate pushes children’s agenda

Sandy Thompson

Friday, Feb. 1, 2002 | 4:12 a.m.

THE HEAD OF THE Child Welfare League of America says President Bush has an opportunity to become known as "the children's president."

That's a particularly interesting assessment considering that Shay Bilchik is a former Clinton appointee who headed the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Two years into his job as president and CEO of the Child Welfare League, Bilchik is anxious to see how children's programs fare in Bush's budget, which is scheduled to be released Monday. He was encouraged that Bush increased funds for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. In view of the current economic downturn and the fallout from Sept. 11, there was pressure on the president to decrease funding. Although the increase is not as much as Bush originally proposed, it nevertheless is additional money.

The funding will go to states for various programs focusing on crisis intervention and other services for families, aid for out-of-home placements for children, mentoring of children whose parents are incarcerated, child care and Head Start.

In Las Vegas to attend last week's CWLA's Western Region meeting, Bilchik has made it a priority to expand the league's emphasis on regional issues, in addition to its advocacy mission of influencing national laws and policies with regard to the well-being of children.

CWLA has been involved in guiding Clark County's efforts to devise a new child welfare system to better serve the needs of abused, abandoned and neglected children in the foster care system. One of the major goals is to cut down on the number of placements and the time spent in foster care.

Other services are needed for these children and families. Although two-thirds of the families entering the child welfare system have a substance-abuse problem, Bilchik says, we are not investing enough in treatment programs. CWLA has proposed a bill in Congress that would provide resources for such treatment. Again, because of the economic downturn and proposed increased costs for the military and homeland security, Bilchik is not sure how the bill will fare in Bush's budget.

He's also concerned about decreasing budgets for welfare reform, which is up for reauthorization this year. That funding covers not just cash assistance, but job training and re-training, transportation costs and child care. Since Sept. 11 many states have been seeing an increase in requests for assistance.

"If Congress cuts funds, it will be a downward spiral. States can't pay for job training, transportation or child care," Bilchik says. "Our plea to Congress is to keep it stable for four years and see how the experiment unfolds over the good and bad economic periods."

Interestingly, more money is spent for child care under welfare reform (TANF -- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) than is offered through a National Child Care Development Block Grant. However, those funds combined still only reach 12 percent (1 in 8) of children eligible for subsidized child care, Bilchik says.

Overall, how are the nation's children faring?

"We don't give them a high enough priority in terms of resources. We are not investing in them at the level to get it right," Bilchik says.

He hopes the increased social conscience America developed as a result of Sept. 11 will spur us to do better by our children. One of his goals is to work with communities to develop master plans to ensure children's well-being. His new initiative would encourage the creation of "parenting-rich communities."

It makes sense. We have master-planned communities and master plans for roads -- why not have a master plan to develop our human infrastructure?

To be successful, it will take more than money. It will require a sustained commitment and change in mindset for many states and communities, including Nevada, that the healthy development of our children is a priority.

The question is: Are we prepared to make that commitment?