Q&A
Discussion on transparency issues in the foster care system
2:46:53
ยท
89 sec
Council Member Stevens engages in a Q&A session with Kearney Coghlan about transparency issues in the foster care system. They discuss the need for access to contracts between ACS and foster agencies, challenges in data reporting, and the difficulty in assessing the true state of the system.
- Coghlan expresses the need for access to contracts between ACS and foster agencies
- They discuss the challenges of obtaining this information through FOIL requests
- Coghlan highlights issues with ACS-produced data and the lack of reflection of clients' experiences in official reports
Althea Stevens
2:46:53
But I also wanted to just ask a question around the transparency.
2:46:57
I know you said that you were looking to have more transparency.
2:47:00
What would that look like, as far as what are the things that you feel like is not available to you that you need so that you can get access?
Kearney Coghlan
2:47:08
I mean, one thing we'd love to have is access to the contracts between ACS and the foster agencies.
2:47:13
Mhmm.
2:47:14
We find a lot of times there's sort of a passing the buck between ACS and the agencies of who's responsible for what.
Althea Stevens
2:47:19
Have you foiled to get access to the contracts or is that has that not they have not been able to provide it?
2:47:25
Was it redacted?
Kearney Coghlan
2:47:26
I think in some cases we have, but there's so many that it just like it ends up being a huge thing to get done.
2:47:34
And if we could collaborate with city council on that, I think it would make it a lot easier of a lift so that it's not like a game of whack
Althea Stevens
2:47:39
a mole.
2:47:40
Yeah.
Kearney Coghlan
2:47:40
You know, the other thing is I I think there's some significant challenges with ACS being the one to produce the data on foster agencies.
2:47:50
I have looked through a lot of the reports.
2:47:52
It is hard to sift through what is actually happening, especially in the weak points, and not have it be just like a let's pat ourselves on the back sort of report.
2:48:01
And I am grateful that the system is improving and that numbers are getting better, but there's still a lot of issues of concern.
2:48:07
And there's things that we hear in our clients' stories that isn't being reflected in the data.
2:48:12
So it's hard to tell how pervasive that is if ACS and the agencies aren't collecting data on those things.
2:48:19
And we don't know that because we don't have the data.