Since fiscal year 2012, the number of Indiana children who entered foster care because of parental drug abuse has increased 230.6 percent.
Indiana has more children in its child welfare system than any surrounding state — including those with nearly twice Indiana’s overall population.
Republican legislative leaders in Indiana said the higher number of Hoosier children in care indicates the Indiana Department of Child Services has problems that go beyond funding.
"There’s something wrong systemically," House Speaker Brian Bosma said Wednesday.
Questions about Indiana's handling of child welfare cases hit fever pitch last month after former DCS Director Mary Beth Bonaventura sent a scathing resignation letter that accused Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office of cutting funding and services for families and continuing policies that "all but ensure children will die."
In the wake of public outcry, Holcomb hired the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, an Alabama-based nonprofit, to conduct a complete DCS assessment. That assessment began Wednesday. Paul Vincent, director of the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group, did not respond to IndyStar's repeated requests for comment.
Republicans rebuffed Democratic lawmakers' demands for a concurrent legislative investigation, arguing the nonprofit consulting organization is best positioned to look into the issue.
"I think as long as we have an open and fair and transparent and very public vetting of what this group finds out… that we will accomplish the same goal," Senate President Pro Tempore David Long said.
The governor's spokeswoman, Stephanie Wilson, said Holcomb asked the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group to provide at least two progress reports during the legislative session.
"Ultimately, the governor wants the facts and to ensure kids are healthy and safe," she said in a statement. "He will continue to be fully transparent."
Bosma committed this week to allow the legislative council — composed of leading lawmakers from both chambers — to review the consultant’s recommendations. He said he expects that to happen after the session ends.
"We added $600 million, well over half a billion dollars, to the DCS budget just this biennium," Bosma said, "so it’s not a money issue. We have a systemic issue."
What that may mean is unclear. Child welfare officials have argued the additional funding was needed because of an influx of children in the system due to the opioid crisis. But others question whether the money is being spent efficiently.
Micah Vincent, the governor's top budget official, said the state added $450 million in funding for DCS over the course of the two-year budget, far more than the $254.8 million the agency initially requested. In addition, the state provided a $137 million bailout in June after the agency ran out of money.
Vincent did not dispute Bonaventura’s claims that staffing was capped, contract amounts were reduced by $15 million and a $45 million upgrade of the state's child support computer system was put off. Nor could he say exactly how that money was used instead.
"I'm making a broad statement that of course we should be looking at whether particular items are the most effective way of using the dollars," he said.
Long and other leaders say the opioid epidemic doesn't sufficiently explain Indiana's high number of foster care placements. Other states are also struggling to combat opioid abuse, but have not seen such a dramatic spike in their child welfare placements.
But statistics show that the number of children entering foster care because of parental drug abuse — of any kind — has climbed significantly faster in Indiana compared to neighboring states, according to an analysis by Child Trends, a national research organization focused on child well-being.
Since fiscal year 2012, the number of Indiana children who entered foster care because of parental drug abuse has increased 230.6 percent, data shows. Meanwhile, Illinois' number of children in care rose 79.4 percent, Ohio's moved up 21.8 percent and Kentucky's increased 22.7 percent. Michigan's number of children entering foster care declined 2.3 percent in that time period.
Sharon Vandivere, a senior research scientist at Child Trends who specializes in child welfare, cautioned that the federal data only requires judges to provide one reason for the child entering foster care. Many cases involve multiple factors. That means parental drug abuse also may be a contributing factor in other states’ cases.
Still, Vandivere said, the data for Indiana is concerning.
"The upward trend in entries into foster care in Indiana due to parent drug abuse is pretty alarming," she said. "And it's a pretty steady increase across the years. And it really makes me worry about what’s happening in future years and whether the system would be able to help these families and kids."
Vandivere also questioned whether foster families and relatives would have the capacity to help the families that need it. She said it's critical that effective treatment for opioid addiction be put in place in Indiana and that opioid addiction be prevented, so kids don’t have to be separated from their parents.
While abuse and neglect are harmful to children, Vandivere said, so is the trauma children experience when they are removed from their parents.
Tackling the opioid problem is likely to feature prominently in the 2018 legislative session, which kicked off last week. Holcomb has made it a top priority and House Republicans plan to introduce a bill that would add nine new addiction treatment centers across the state.