TAC Monitoring Report 9/12/07

Brian A. Monitoring Report Available here!

THE TENNESSEE CHILD WELFARE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COMMITTEE (TAC):

OVERVIEW

The Tennessee Child Welfare Technical Assistance Committee (TAC)  was established by the Settlement Agreement in Brian A. v. Bredesen (originally Brian A. v. Sundquist), Fed. Dist. Ct., M.D.Tenn., Civil Action No. 3-00-0445 (July 27, 2001) a class action suit brought on behalf of children in Tennessee's foster care system.  The TAC's role, as described in the court decree, is:

(a)    to assist the state in meaningful implementation of the requirements of the Settlement Agreement;

(b)    to advise DCS on the child welfare policy, management and practice issues delineated in the Settlement Agreement; and

(c)    to advise DCS on other issues which DCS and the TAC agree to consult on.

There are six central themes of child welfare policy embraced by the Brian A.Settlement:   

(1) that children must be safe;

(2) that every child deserves a family (and if we cannot safely make it possible for that family to be the one they were born into, we must find them a new family);

(3) that when children come into care, we must ensure their physical, emotional and developmental well-being;

(4) that we must move children more quickly toward permanency (either return to their family or permanent placement with a substitute family);

(5) that stability while in care—avoiding multiple moves to non permanent placements—is critically important; and

(6) that providing services to children is not enough; we need to engage and work effectively with their families (including extended families)—in helping them resolve the issues that led them to lose custody of their kids in the first place.

Tennessee has long been committed by law and policy to these basic principles of good child welfare practice.  The problem in Tennessee's child welfare system, as in so many child welfare systems across the country, is that there is a gap between how Tennessee wants the system to function and how it has historically functioned—a gap between principle and practice--and that closing that gap is very hard work. 

The TAC was envisioned by the parties as a way of ensuring that DCS had available to it expertise and assistance in a wide variety of areas to help implement the changes in practice necessary to close that gap.  

The primary function of the TAC is  to advise and assist DCS in its efforts to design, implement and evaluate the reforms and improvements required by the Settlement Agreement. In addition, there are certain areas in which the Settlement Agreement gives the TAC some responsibility for making recommendations, which the Department is then required to implement.  The TAC also has a specific responsibility to attempt to assist in resolving certain disputes that might arise during the course of the implementation of the settlement prior to the parties seeking court intervention to resolve those disputes. 

Since December 30, 2003, as part of an agreement reached by the parties to resolve a pending contempt proceeding, the TAC has also assumed responsibility for monitoring and reporting to the court on the Department's progress in implementing the Settlement Agreement. The TAC has issued monitoring reports on April 13, 2005, January 19, 2006, and March 30, 2006.

The TAC is funded by a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, administered by the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center.  The members of the TAC are:

 

• Steven D. Cohen of Philadelphia, PA, a Senior Consultant with the Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Judy Meltzer, Deputy Director of the Center for the Study of Social Policy in Washington, D.C
• Andy Shookhoff, Associate Director of the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center in Nashville, TN
• Paul Vincent of Montgomery, Alabama, Director of the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group.

  Sharon Carter, Senior Research Associate at the Vanderbilt Child and Family Policy Center, serves as Staff Coordinator for the TAC.