Welfare Watch - May 31, 2009 – Prevention Works, Texas Report 

A new report from the American Leadership Forum, Dismantling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline supports Georgia’s efforts in prevention.  In Houston, Texas, like any number of cities across America, young people are at great risk of illiteracy, poverty, poor healthcare, domestic violence and child abuse, mental health issues, teen pregnancy, single parenthood, unemployment, lack of positive role models, truancy and other negative factors.  These associative factors predict with great accuracy which children are at risk of prison.  The Children’s Defense Fund calls this the Cradle to Prison Pipeline.  The more risk factors that a young person has, the greater the likelihood that they will enter this pipeline and never get out of it.  Once a family and a child are in the child welfare system or the juvenile justice system, it is almost impossible for them to get out.   

There are proven interventions that work.  They not only work, but they save the state money.  More importantly, they save children and families.   

This report examined programs in Texas that addressed the risk factors that feed the cradle to prison pipeline.  They found that programs that addressed the family, education and health needs of children paid rich dividends to the State and the families.  One home visitation program, which cost $8000 per family per year, potentially could save the state the $70,000  that it cost to incarcerate one child for a year.  A Rand study reported that for every dollar spent, Texas saved $5.70 through reduced need for services and the creation of a larger tax base.  This visitation program reported a 48% reduction in child abuse, a 59% reduction in arrests of young people, and 90% reduction in adjudications of youth.  Increased employment and earnings by program participants lead to higher state and federal income tax revenues, Social Security contributions, and state and local sales tax revenues.  

Georgia is no longer just talking about prevention services but actively moving toward the implementation of prevention programs that are evidence based.  SafeCare, a proven family intervention model for families with young children, is being rolled out to select counties in Georgia.  It has shown impressive results in California and Oklahoma.  SafeCare has shown to reduce child maltreatment among families with a history for maltreatment or with risk factors for maltreatment.  In terms of child maltreatment outcomes, families receiving SafeCare services were compared to families receiving standard family preservation services in California, and found that SafeCare families were significantly less likely to have a recurrence of child maltreatment (15% over three years) compared to services-as-usual families (44% over three years).   

Impressive results from evidence based prevention work can save Georgia money.  It can have greater impacts on families and children and reduce the need for government paid for services in the long run over intervention programs which address bad things once they happen.  Public policy and activities that are driven by research based practice can have the greatest reward in securing the bright future that we want for all Georgians, especially Georgia's children.  Georgia’s efforts to embrace prevention before for bad things happen, is a positive move in child welfare, juvenile justice and mental health. 

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Welfare Watch, an email newsletter of the
Georgia Association of Homes
and Services for Children
as a public service.
http://www.gahsc.org
                            Normer Adams, Editor
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