Comments about ‘Cuts would hit child welfare hard’

"Are there no orphanages? Are there no work houses?"

Sven,
You are kidding right? Could you possibly be so cold hearted? This is not the 1920's.
Matthew 19:21- "Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me."

The biggest and most costly drain on america is the chidlren of illegals and their parents. The illegal parents of illegal children should be cut off immediately. They sneaked in they can sneak out. We the american people are not their benefactors while we are also forced to care for our own citizens. I don't mind caring for americans but I abhor caring for or about the criminal illegals. We can save billions a year by getting rid of them and even handing them a bus ticket home.

We have 2 different nations in this county now, americans, and illegals from Mexico. And the american tax payer is being expected and forced to send our own to the streets and feed and house this nation of illegals.

"Are you a citizen" should be the first words out of anyones mouth when looking for employees and giving welfare aid. The well and charity has dried up, it's time to segregate the nations and citizens who have earned their rights. It's time to put child anchors with their parents nationality and disassociate them from america.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that these agencies are trying to insure their own income stream like any other BUSINESS. They're just doing the prep work now for all the handwringing they will be doing at the appropriations committee meetings during the upcoming session.

I believe Sven was being sarcastic. Those words are direct quotes from 'A Christmas Carol.' Poor taste, but they may have been displaying their disgust with the situtation.

The dominant religion in this state has bundles of money and like having illegals here. So now is the time for them to step up and pay the bills. If you take sides be willing to pay the fare thats all!

I think this country houses and feeds the criminals better than we do our poor and needy. What is up with this!

The State of Utah Department of Human Services just completed a new multimillion dollar building out near the airport. Complete with all new furnishings. (the old furniture is for sale at the State Surplus by the prison)It is true the old building was worn out, and sold, so some of that money has been recouped. DHS is cutting programs to all departments, Child and Family, Disability Services, Adult Protective Services,etc. Literally hundreds of employees have been cut, through layoffs, attrition, and privatization. Very few, one or two upper management employees have been cut. In fact new positions at the top have been created. The Legislature must make tough decisions during these times, but additional cuts to the most vulnerable, should be absolutely unacceptable! As a society we must insist that the legislature take the cuts from the top, not the middle managers(the people who do most of the work) and definitely from not the bottom! The "good old boy" relationship with the top management and legislature should be questioned by the people who vote!

This is not a illegal immigrant issue.
Illegal immigrants do not report each other for abuse, which is 90% of the time how it is discovered (when a neighbor turns someone in)
They are afraid of the police, and the government.
The question you have to ask yourself, is do you think this is a good thing.
I can not think in my seven years as a caseworker ever having a case of an illegal immigrant.
The other thing that you may not be aware of, is the good that churches do in the community: baptist, jewish, catholic, mormon ect...
They are the first line of help for many struggling families, they are one of the first places the state looks at in helping struggling families. If not for the work that they do, the state would have to pay millions and millions of more dollars to take care of the problems.
Usually where the state has to step in, and put kids in foster care, is for those who do not have family, or church support, to assist them.

Once again, Utah shows how much it values children.
To "Anchor Children," kids are not responsible for the actions of adults. They still need to be fed, clothed and educated, whether they're legal or not, they are still legal minors. If you don't like illegals in your state, then you should be prosecuting those who hire them, not the people who come, out of their poverty, to a country that is oh-so-willing to accept their hard labor, and then blames them for being here.

So the state will be sued again.
We will either settle to improve the system, and put the money right back.
Or they will be ordered by the court to pay a private agency to run the foster care system (At a much higher cost)
We can also plan on paying millions of dollars for lawyers from San Fransisco to monitor, and watch over our compliance.
Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!!!

huge lawsuit to get the attention of the lawmakers in Utah then the federal government should sue. Talk about Congress being broken, Utah government is totally broken. TO: PAM ARNOLD. You should do ore reading. I thought everyone knew THE CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Cut back on the Child Protection Service's, including the prosecution of poor parents and use the money to help these families. But that would mean Utah won't get the federal subsidies that automatically attach when a child (especially the arian infants) are taken under the guise of "best interests"

You have been a caseworker for 7 years and never had a case of an illegal? Which office are you working out of? Half my caseload is illegals and when I was in CPS, I investigated a large # of cases involving illegals. The cases were generally reported by the school or neighbors and thank goodness they were. We have many illegal children in the system and even have a law firm contracted to provide legal services to teenagers to help them get green cards. You must be working for a different agency than I am.

I suggest we start by defunding the Foster Care Foundation which cost us millions in tax dollars, yet fail to recruit needed foster parents. DCFS has a training unit they can provide the same training the Foundation does, in-house, cheaper and more effectively. In fact DCFS worked to create the training program used by the Foundation. Former DCFS employees working at the Foundation for much higher salaries can return to DCFS. As a DCFS employee I am forbidden to be politically incorrect and tell the truth but the truth is we don't need the FCF.

"Afraid of the police and the government" I can assure you illegals have no problem lining up for any government benefit they can get their hands on, even producing falsified records to get benefits. In my work I see the abuses daily. As for the police, haven't most of our police departments refused to indentify illegals unless they commit a serious crime, and even then some will not ask their status.

And how much does DCFS waste on families where the children are in no danger, and there's no abuse? I can think of at least three or four instances where children were taken by the DCFS for stupid reasons, like the house being a little dirty, no abuse in the home though, and one case where DCFS should have been called in and never was.

To It's Business:
I AM a foster parent for the state of Utah - not a business or a private agency. I get no pay for what I do and not even fully reimbursed for the money I put out. So many people criticize this system and how it is run, but very few are willing to step up and DO something about it. If you think that child welfare is a "business", then become a foster parent. Try it for a while. Become a caseworker. Become anyone else involved in the "system". Until you have held a child at night while they screamed from night terrors as they relived the trauma that had happened to them, until you have watched a child lick their plate clean because that is the only way they had ever had a clean dish and until you have looked into a parents eyes as you reach for their child after a visit, you have no idea what this "business" is all about.

I think the point is that we need to help these children that have come from a bad situation. As a foster parent i know of how the budget cuts have hurt us providing all the extra care that these children need. If we are given any more cuts we will be losing foster homes and these children will not be helped and then they will be doing illegal things and be put into the prizons and cost the state more money than if they would of helped the child when he needed it. Why should we punish these inocent children??

you have become. book burners.