The 2002 election was historic for child advocates because, for the first time in Georgia, child welfare was a gubernatorial campaign issue. We have gathered some documents and statements that the candidates and their party organizations made during the 2002 election in the hope that everyone will remember what was said and what was promised. Some of the positions below did not get the media attention that they deserved.  As Mike King, Public Editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, put it (AJC, 11/09/02):

"... less than two weeks before the election, Republican gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue called a news conference to discuss his plans for reforming the state's child welfare system.
It was a timely topic in the wake of a summer of horror stories about children drowning and starving to death while supposedly being monitored by state-funded caseworkers.
Yet, Perdue's plans on that issue were relegated to the last few paragraphs of yet another story about the latest round of commercials over which candidate really will protect HOPE scholarships. 
The truth, so easily dispensed with in professional political campaigning these days, was that HOPE was never in jeopardy in this election. The candidates knew it. Their spin doctors knew it, and so did we.
What voters didn't know -- still probably haven't a clue about -- is how Perdue as governor might differ from Roy Barnes in directing the power of state government to protect the lives of children in jeopardy."

Since most of us were not around in 1872 for Georgia's previous Republican Governorship, we need to start educating ourselves on the Georgia GOP's positions on child welfare to have informed opinions.  Luckily, we have the web.  We combed the web for statements made during the 2002 election that might give us insight into the candidates' views and plans for abused and neglected children in state care.  The statements below come from newspaper articles, televised debates, and political websites.  Links to the original documents are provided whereever possible.

The quoting of these statements here in no way constitutes an endorsement by the Barton Child Law and Policy Clinic.

Election 2002 Child Welfare Position Statements:

Georgia Senate Republican Caucus:

• 10/24/2002:  Children's Bill of Rights: Protecting Georgia's Abused Children:
  "Republicans are committed to providing the leadership and innovation needed to bring real reform to Georgia's failing child protection system. In order to protect Georgia's abused and neglected children Republicans will:
• Study reforms implemented in successful states and, if necessary, appoint new leadership within the Department of Human Resources and DFCS
• Reallocate funding and resources and aggressively pursue existing federal grants to increase caseworker salaries and training, services to children, emergency children's shelters, and foster care to ensure supply meets demand
• Create a statewide computerized tracking system to monitor neglected and abused children reported to DFCS, thus, utilizing valuable funds offered by the federal government
• Encourage increased partnerships with the private mental health, medical, charitable, and faith-based communities in the provision of foster care, supportive services for abused children and teenage parents, and pre-natal care
• Uncloak the secrecy that still surrounds the deaths of children under DFCS's care and require greater accountability for DFCS personnel whose failures result in the death of a child
• Encourage integrated responses to child abuse between DFCS, mental health, law enforcement, prosecutors, grassroots community activists, and the faith community
• Pass the Child Endangerment statute making it easier to prosecute child abuse and neglect cases and strictly enforce the Victim's Bill of Rights related to crimes against children
• Match law enforcement and prosecution personnel with existing federally funded training programs to better prepare them for investigation and prosecution of crimes against children"
• 9/26/2002:  Declaration of (for?) a New Georgia:
  "Georgia's juvenile justice system is also failing. Since 1998, the Georgia juvenile justice system has been under close scrutiny by the U.S. Department of Justice for inadequate conditions. Daily, over 2,500 children are locked up in Georgia. "Most are jailed for non-violent crimes like shoplifting, breaking windows, running away from home and truancy, yet they are quartered with those who have committed more violent crimes such as rape or murder." The mixing of non-violent offenders with violent offenders leads to more crime like physical abuse and rape. For example, in 1999 there were over 4,600 reports of "inmate on inmate" assaults, over 540 reports of "staff on inmate" assaults, over 180 reports of attempted suicides, and over 175 reports of sexual assaults. Young offenders need more preventative help, more protection and more focus on strengthening character. Republicans will institute programs that focus on helping young offenders, not hurting them further."
• 9/26/2002:  AJC Article:  State GOP lines up on platform
• Other Georgia Senate Republican Caucus Press Releases

Georgia House Republican Caucus:

• 01/14/2002:  Funding Issues for DHR:
  "The problem with the latest proposed budget cuts in the Department of Human Resources is they hit some of Georgia s most vulnerable citizens (the elderly and the severely handicapped) the hardest. State funding to aid these citizens was already severely inadequate, so much so that last year s appropriations of extra money to provide more group home placements drew a standing ovation from House members on both sides of the aisle. To place this in context the state's baseline budget has expanded 16.8% over the last ten years while DHR s baseline budget has contracted 17.5%, resulting in a net loss of 34.3%. During the same 10 year period spending on  pork  projects has gone from 500,000 to 30 million, an increase of over 5000%."

Governor-Elect Sonny Perdue:

• 11/11/2002:   AJC Article:  Perdue's wife sees role as his 'helper'
  How will it change her daily life? How will she prepare for the role, and how will she adapt?
  ...
  "I'm excited. I don't know everything that's involved. I don't think you ever do, until you get there," she said. "But I'm not nervous."
  She said she already knows that she'd like to bring certain issues to the forefront, like foster care, adoption and early childhood education.
  ...
  Professional: Formerly children's speech therapist
  Other interests: Active in the Second Baptist Church, Warner Robins; co-taught a Family Foundation Sunday school class with her husband.  Foster parent with her husband for Covenant Care in Macon since 1998.
• 11/10/2002:  AJC Article:  Q & A WITH SONNY PERDUE: 'It's going to be different'
• Q: Republican leaders held a press conference before the election to say Gov. Barnes and the Democrats had not sufficiently addressed child welfare problems. You also took Barnes to task for a statement that children will always die in state custody. Will no children die in state custody while you are in office? What, specifically, do you plan for the state child welfare office?
• A: It's my absolute hope and desire that no other child dies in state custody. Can I guarantee that? No.  But I can guarantee you that we're going to give the caseworkers the resources they need with an integrated case management system, more people, more resources, that children will not die from neglect and abuse like we have seen in the past. If a child dies, it will not be from lack of caring and concern. Are there accidents that are not preventable? In any population, probably so. But it will not be from abuse and neglect if we are aware of the situation.
• 09/23/2002: Macon Telegraph Article:  Barnes, Perdue at odds over state agencies
  The Office of the Child Advocate, which Perdue voted to create when he was a legislator, is similar to agencies in other states that oversee social-work departments, [Dee] Simms said. Her staff frequently make suggestions to DFACS regarding policy changes to improve service.
  ...
  If all new governors try to put their stamp on the office when elected, as [University of Georgia political science professor Charles] Bullock says, would Perdue, a Republican, do the same as Barnes? Perdue has already suggested the creation of an office of Inspector General, although Perdue spokesman McLagan says its costs would be minimal and savings would be recouped from its suggestions on how to make government more efficient.
• 08/11/2002:  AJC Article:  Sonny Perdue: Taking aim directly at Democratic tyranny
  Perdue also has worked to shake the impression that he was hand-picked by state GOP Chairman Ralph Reed and Republican leaders, a charge leveled by his primary opponents.
  Perdue said the last thing he wants is to be known as a status-quo Republican owned by party fat cats.
  "I am not anybody's candidate. This [the primary] is not an anointing," he said. "We've been working harder than anybody else to earn the nomination.
  "I am a workhorse who believes in fiscal responsibility. I am not looking for a blue ribbon. This is not an ego trip for me. I feel very passionately that things need to change."

Statements by Governor Barnes and Challenger, now Governor-Elect, Sonny Perdue:

In the final two weeks of the campaign, questions around Georgia's ability to track children in state care came to the forefront. The statements below convey just some of the substance of those questions.

• 11/03/2002:  Candidate Debate (RealVideo from CSPAN, at 46:30 in debate)
• Question from Jane Hansen (AJC): Mr. Barnes, a computerized child welfare system has been promised in this state since the early 1990's.  Despite $30 million in spending, Georgia remains one of 3 states that is still stuck in the planning stages.  Georgia children have died because the state has been unable to track where they are.  What, if anything, do you plan to do about that?
• Governor Barnes: Well first, uh, no child that dies in state custody under state supervision is sufficient and acceptable, and it should not be.  One of the things we've tried to do is to beef up the number of child protective workers and their salaries and everything else to have better supervision and to have ... to correct some of those.  We do have a tracking system.  In other words, we know where every child is.  In fact, in the last 4 months DHR officials, DHR folks have visited every child, in the last 4 months.  They've taken ... and they deserve great credit for it.  They've taken weekends, holidays, and everything else to visit these children.  Now what we do not have yet is the complete integration, in other words, we know where ... we're ahead of like Florida.  Florida lost all these children.  We know where the children are.  The tracking system keeps up with where the children are.  It does not have an integrated case management system, which is what, uh, we're working on right now.  Each stage of that has to be approved by the federal government, because we're using federal funds, but we're well on the way and we're under current schedule, and I'm confident they can meet it.
• Jane Hansen:  I believe, perhaps, what you're referring to though is children in custody of the state.
• Governor Barnes:  That's right.
• Jane Hansen:  I'm referring to the much broader number of children who are being followed by the state, are not in custody, and there is not a tracking system that is able to track when those families move from county to county.
• Governor Barnes:  No, no, we have the system, we do have a system up of those when they move from county to county.  It's the integrated case management system that we do not have yet, but we're working on that, and we're ahead of some states, like Florida.
• 11/01/2002:  AJC Article:  Perdue ad on Barnes stirs up a whirlwind
  In the final days of the race for governor, Perdue has hammered away at the issue of child protection, and has denounced Barnes and other Democrats for what he said was a failure to deliver on a computer system that would give caseworkers fingertip access to voluminous files on abused children. It also would track foster children in state care.
  Two children reported to state authorities as abused died this summer.
  "It's unacceptable that we would have children dying in state care," Perdue told a Dalton dinner crowd this week. Perdue and his wife, Mary, occasionally serve as foster parents for newborn babies awaiting adoption.
  ...
  The campaign has bet three-quarters of all the airtime it can afford on the ad, spokesman Dan McLagan said.
  Afterwards, reporters asked Barnes about his statement:
  Barnes: If I did [say that], I misspoke. Children do die every day, but I misspoke. Here's the point: No child dying in state custody is acceptable. There's no question about that.
• 10/27/2002:  Candidate Debate (RealVideo from CSPAN)
• Perdue:  Governor, if we know where these children are, why are children still dying in state care?
• Barnes: Well, the answer to that is that there's no question you need to do a better supervision, but out of 20,000 children, you're going to have children that die every day. I mean any 20,000. It is unforgivable that any child dies in state custody, and I'm not telling you the system has been perfect in the past. This is the third time I've gone through this in the General Assembly since I've been there. A real crisis in child protective workers, and this time, we are determined that we're going to solve it, that no child, not one child, dies in state custody.
• 10/23/2002:   Augusta Chronicle:  GOP hopefuls promise changes in child care
  "After 14 years and millions of dollars, Georgia still does not have a system in this age of technology that can track where our children are in state care. And that is criminal," said the party's gubernatorial nominee, Sonny Perdue.
• 10/22/2002:  Associated Press Article:  Republicans promise new child care reforms
  The top statewide candidates of Georgia's Republican Party are promising to work for new reforms in the state's child welfare system and blamed Democrats for not doing more.
  ...
  Perdue says it's "criminal" that Georgia does not have a system that can track children who are in state care. He promised more resources and technology for child care workers if he's elected.

On September 28, 2002 the Quality of Life Voter Education Project held a candidate forum which served as the basis for a voters' guide, published at qualityoflifevoter.org/guide/guindex.html. The following are excerpts from the two gubernatorial candidates' answers to a question related to child welfare:

• Question 4: Approximately 15 years ago, DHR developed a four-year plan to meet the needs of children and adolescents with Serious Emotional Disturbances (SED). The plan called for these services to be available throughout the state and for the necessary funding to make it possible. This funding still has not been realized, and Georgia's most vulnerable children and youth continue to suffer from lack of community services and supports. What is your plan for devoting resources to close the financial gap?
• Roy Barnes:
  • Answer 4: During my administration we have substantially increased the number of SED youth served. In community-based settings, we have had a 34-percent increase in children served from FY99. We have also raised the SED adolescents served in hospitals by 22-percent. We offer children with SED diverse services to meet their needs including outpatient services, home-based services, therapeutic after-school programs, crisis services, respite care, community residential treatment, outdoor therapeutic programs, community-based inpatient hospital services and state-operated inpatient hospital services. I have also increased spending on the care of SED children and adolescents. Community service and hospital expenditures in Georgia's Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Addictive Diseases (MHDDAD) budget increased by almost $4 million from FY99 to FY02.
• Sonny Perdue:
  • Answer 4: I think this is varied where we have not focused enough attention not only with our severely emotionally disturbed young people, but also in just in those kids who are in out of home care in our homes across Georgia. I met with a group that is represented here by one of your sponsors and just the basic educational needs of those children are not being cared for at many times. Again they're not even getting FTE funding when they are required to do the education in those homes. It's a matter of priorities and as a husband, father and grandfather and I don't talk about this a lot on the campaign trail, Mary and I have been foster parents to 3 adopted newborns and in reaching out to the community and trying to make a difference in the young lives as we transition those young children to homes that would be healthy for them it's a matter of the priority of the heart and I can't think of any more important resource that we have to recover than our young people, particularly those who have not had the benefit of a good home and may be emotionally disturbed for what ever reason and again it is a priority of the heart and money.