Tom C. Rawlings
Director of the Office of the Child Advocate

As we all know, bringing together the many parts of Georgia's child welfare system is no easy task. Juvenile justice, DFCS, schools, and child advocates all want to do what is best for children and families, but too often their efforts are divided and sporadic. During the almost seven years I served as a circuit juvenile court judge in east Georgia, I often commented that if I had the opportunity, I could do something about improving the system.

Then, in July, Governor Perdue took me up on my offer and gave me the privilege and the challenge of serving as Georgia's second director of the Office of Child Advocate ("OCA"). Created seven years ago in the wake of several tragic deaths of children, our office was designed to be the independent "troubleshooter" for our state's child welfare system. We handle complaints regarding children involved with the child protective system, and we work with the Governor, the Legislature, state agencies, and the courts to improve the way our state treats its at-risk families.

My ten-person staff and I have spent the last two months discussing where this office has been and how we think we can help. And we've come up with ideas for both what we should and should NOT be doing.

First, what we won't do:

• We won't try to be heroes. Unfortunately, many well-intentioned folks come into child welfare services thinking they can fix everything quickly and "save the day." We, however, understand that improving the lives of children and families is a long, slow fight and that what we should strive for is incremental improvement.
  
  
• We won't simply react to tragic stories. When you are dealing with societal diseases such as child abuse, mental illness, drug addiction, and juvenile delinquency, there are going to be heart-breaking results. Our focus, however, needs to be not on each crisis but on using our resources to promote and develop policies and programs that keep children safe and sound and, where there are problems, to intervene early and effectively.
  
  
• We won't be Monday-morning quarterbacks. Rather that look at poor outcomes to determine where the blame should lie, we need to use our evaluation and policy resources to determine what will help prevent child maltreatment from occurring in the future.

So, what can you expect from OCA?

First, you can continue to expect a hands-on response to complaints about the child welfare system. But more than merely responding to individual complaints, we will be using our evaluation team to determine both what is wrong and what is right about the way we deal with troubled families in our state. We will collect the kind of data that will allow us to determine which counties are doing a good job of keeping at-risk children safe, and we will evaluate those counties to determine the approaches they are using to achieve success.

Second, we hope to build OCA into what it has the potential to be: a first-rate child welfare policy and evaluation team for our state. Whether it is through the data collection and web resources we are building, through our trainings, conferences, and technical assistance, or through our promoting effective practices within the child advocacy community, we want to help build an effective system of care for those most in need. Should you have a question about what works, need help implementing an idea, or know of a program that is effective, we want to work with you.

And finally, OCA should be a trusted source of policy planning for the Governor, the Legislature, and the community. To create a truly effective child protection system will require a consistent, unified approach to policy -- one in which our laws, our policies, and our funding practices all fit models proven effective.

The beauty of the Family Connection Partnership system is that brings together, on the local level, all those who care about children and creates a unified force for improving those children's lives. We hope you will let our small team work with you as we seek to bring that kind of unity to state government as well.

Please take the time to let us know what you're doing in your community to improve the lives of children, and let us know how we can aid your efforts. Our Web site is www.gachildadvocate.org. We look forward to working with you.

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235 PEACHTREE ST., SUITE 1600 • ATLANTA, GA 30303-1422 • 404-527-7394 • FAX 404-527-7443