October 28, 2008

Child Welfare Privatization: Finding the Line between Fact and Fiction: The Texas Alliance for Child and Family Services Responds to the Center for Public Policy Priorities' Report

This document responds to the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) recently released report, "Drawing the Line between Public and Private Agency Responsibilities in Child Welfare: The Texas Debate," a report that presents information and draws conclusions regarding the privatization of child welfare services. To formulate the response, the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, a statewide association committed to quality child welfare services, reached out to independent experts and researchers to review and comment on the CPPP's findings and recommendations. The following findings are discussed: the report is best viewed as an opinion piece rather than research; the "national context" is outdated and in some instances simply wrong; the report arbitrarily defines which child welfare services cannot be privatized; the description of privatized case management bears no resemblance to reality; the report is full of contradictory claims and half truths; the report misrepresents the Florida community-based care experience; the report distorts the success of Texas in meeting key outcomes; and the examination of spending in Texas, Florida, and Kansas is not accurate.