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State seeks better way to handle troubled kids
JENNIFER HANSEN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

SPRINGDALE -- They are troubled youths -- some violent, some neglected, some abused and some who just act up.
Children who end up in court and are placed in a catch-all category of Family in Need of Services are known in the state's court system as "FINS kids." They may teeter on the edge of criminal behavior or already have lives infiltrated by drugs and alcohol. They may live in homes where abuse or neglect threatens them, or they may be runaways whose parents have asked the courts to take charge.
Some have emotional problems; many have learning disabilities; a few have serious health problems. Some of them have made one or two mistakes they regret. Those more seriously troubled can't tell right from wrong.
The state has more than 1,000 open Family in Need of Services cases. A judge opens a case when the behavior of a child or his family falls into the gray area not covered by clear abuse, neglect or delinquency definitions. Their needs vary so much that no one agency addresses them all.
"When you start looking at FINS kids, you've opened a Pandora's box of issues -- runaways, self-mutilation, truancy, suicidal ideation, drugs, alcohol. The closer you get to a local level of response, the better off you are," said Judge Gary Isbell of the 14th Judicial District, which covers Baxter, Boone, Marion and Newton counties.
Debate has continued for years over handling these children. Some judges have created community approaches by using local programs to respond to their needs. Others rely on state agencies like the Children and Family Services Division or the Youth Services Division of the state Department of Human Services.
But many think the system needs improving. Judges and state officials are looking for better ways to address these attention-needing, time-consuming, service-intensive children.
Family in Need of Services cases often move between the two divisions. The Children and Family Services Division's employees are trained to handle abused and neglected children, not chronic runaways or troubled teens. The Youth Services Division deals with juvenile delinquents and those at risk of becoming delinquent.
On Tuesday, Debbie Hopkins, senior assistant director of the Children and Family Services Division, proposed a new approach to Joann Underwood, deputy director of the Youth Services Division. Hopkins said Underwood's agency should take over all Family in Need of Services cases.
Underwood said Family in Need of Services cases are too diverse for one division to handle.
"We don't have the resources to do it, and we cannot accept that responsibility," she said.
On Saturday, a group of juvenile-court judges and officials from the Youth Services Division and Children and Family Services Division met in Little Rock to discuss changing the Family in Need of Services program.
"Everybody knows it's a problem, and everybody wants to work on it," said Gina Jackson, assistant operations director for the Youth Services Division. "There's an ongoing debate about who is a FINS case. The definition is big enough to drive a truck through."
Revising that definition will be a focus of discussions, Jackson said. Such changes would require approval from the Legislature, which will meet in the spring for its biennial session.
An improved definition might cause better and earlier assessment of Family in Need of Services cases and less overlapping of services, Jackson and Underwood said.
"You might have a kid labeled as a truant, but without an assessment you don't know if he's staying home because he doesn't have shoes or clothes and he's embarrassed or he's being beaten and is hiding the bruises or he's rebellious. If we just label it a FINS kid, we haven't gotten to the issue of what these kids need," Jackson said.
Judge Terry Crabtree was Benton County juvenile court judge for six years before becoming a member of the state Court of Appeals in Little Rock.
As a juvenile-court judge, Crabtree helped develop a 12-page list of services that Benton County needed to deal with teen troubles. Then the Benton County Youth Concerns Committee started identifying or creating every program on the list.
Crabtree thinks local committees offer the best approach to the problem. The programs that such a group develops let judges tailor services to each case. That raises the likelihood of keeping Family in Need of Services kids in school and in their families, he said.
"It's absolutely essential to keep these kids in school. If they drop out, they can attach themselves to older, more mobile kids who can get them into serious trouble," Crabtree said.
Isbell is known for innovative programs like host homes, which provide short-term relief homes for children in a crisis. To keep troubled children in his community and near home, he has sent only 14 young offenders to Youth Services Division centers.
The Family in Need of Services definition is vague so judges can design responses for each case, Isbell said. Most young offenders whom he sees have problems at home. Because the Family Services Division is more attuned to solving family problems, he said it should continue to head these cases.
"It's axiomatic that these kids are wannabe or gonna-be juvenile delinquents or abused and neglected if something isn't done," said Isbell.
"Who's easier to educate in school -- the ones that learn readily or the ones that don't? Obviously, kids who have problems learn early on that they will be pushed aside," said Isbell. "There's a basic societal hypocrisy that gives them a lack of hope. We can't ignore them. We have to redesign our services."

This article was published on Sunday, September 13, 1998

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