DCS Improving Say Feds

In a new survey, the federal department of Health and Human Services found Tennessee is one of 15-states in the country to have improved its foster care system in the last few years.

H-H-S conducted a review in 2002 of all 50 states, and found that none were in compliance with several basic indicators. 

Spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, Rob Johnson, says Tennessee has quickened the pace of adoptions, lowered the number of times a child is in foster care, and limited the number of moves between placement families.

“If they do have to come into foster care, not to be moved to many times, because it’s just disruptive, it’s tougher on kids, so one of the ways you can gauge and agencies performance is to look at the number of re-placement moves of children in our custody.”

While this survey is unrelated to the ‘Brian A.’ consent decree–a settlement containing a number of improvement measures for the department–Johnson says many of the goals are the same.