Dean Patchner to lead state disproportionality commission

Dean Michael Patchner

     Jan. 25, 2008 – Indiana University School of Social Work Dean Michael Patchner will help launch a year-long investigation Monday into why there is a disproportionate number of minorities in the juvenile justice, child welfare, mental health and educational services.

     The investigation will be carried out by the Commission on Disproportionality in Youth Services, of which Patchner is chair. Angela Green of the Indiana Department of Child Services will assist Dean Patchner with the work of the commission.

     The commission, whose members were appointed by the governor, and the House and Senate in the Indiana General Assembly, was created last year by the legislature and given an appropriation of $125,000 to carry out its work.

     Patchner, who was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels, served in a similar role as chair of the Indiana Commission on Abused and Neglected Children and Their Families. That commission made recommendations that led to a series of reforms in helping children, and their families and led to increased numbers of family case managers and the hiring of more case workers with the Indiana Department of Child Services.

     “I just think everybody wants fairness and equity in services,” Patchner said of the underlying mission of the disproportionality commission.

      “Somehow, if you look at the system, for whatever reason, it doesn’t appear to be fair because of the large numbers of minority children in the system,” he added. “I am not sure what the reasons are.”

     The commission’s job will be to come up with recommendations that policy makers and stakeholders can use to make decisions regarding the delivery of service and professional practice, the dean said.

     One approach to handle such a big topic is to have subcommittees focus on each of the different systems from welfare to mental health and then report back to the bigger committee on cross-cutting issues and those issues that are specific to each of the affected areas, he noted.

     According to the legislation creating the commission, the group is expected to submit a report to the governor and legislature by Aug. 15 and to the general public by Dec. 1.

     The commission will hold its first meeting from 9:30 to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 28 in the auditorium of the State Office Building South, 402 West Washington Street, in Indianapolis.

     The need for an in depth review of the disproportionality issue was recognized by the child abuse and neglect commission in 2004. It noted further study was needed to determine why 34.2 percent of the children in the state’s foster care population at the time were black when black children made up just 10.4 percent of all children in 2001.

     Others groups, such as the Indiana Disproportionality Committee, a volunteer group of people representing human service organizations have recognized disproportionality as being a problem, but found it was bigger than any one agency could deal with, said Clara Anderson, Executive Vice President of Advocacy for Childrens’s Bureau Inc.

      Creating a commission, as the legislature did, is the way to for the state to evaluate and suggest steps to deal with the issue, said Anderson, who also is a disproportionality commission member.

     In essence, the commission will be looking at “why and what can be done about it,” she said.

     For more information contact Rob Schneider, Indiana University School of Social Work at 317-278-0303 or robschn@iupui.edu.