‘Our safety net really has started to fray’: Darlene Allen on what’s behind growing child fatalities in Rhode Island

Political Roundtable

The Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families recently sounded an alarm about a growing number of deaths and near deaths involving young children. The coalition is calling on Gov. Dan McKee and state lawmakers to take action to address the crisis. This situation has quietly developed over years and a number of different factors are responsible. So does Rhode Island have the will to do a better job in protecting the state’s most vulnerable children? And what other steps are needed to improve the lives of young people in the state? This week on Political Roundtable, Political Reporter Ian Donnis goes in-depth with Darlene Allen, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families.

Transcript:

Ian Donnis: According to the state, there were 28 deaths and 28 near deaths of children under 21 between 2019 and 2023. Then from June 2023 and this month, 10 more fatalities and 14 more near fatalities were reported. You say you’ve been a child advocate in Rhode Island for decades, and you’ve never seen so many tragedies without a plan to address it. Why has this situation gotten so bad?

Allen: Well, first off, thank you very much for inviting me here and giving me the opportunity to speak about this horrible situation that we’re seeing in Rhode Island. Yes, as you mentioned, I have been an advocate for many years and in the history of Rhode Island, unfortunately, we have had situations where there have been child fatalities and near fatalities. But prior to COVID they were fewer and further between and we would come together as a state and come up with some plans. Since COVID, we have just seen so many different crises across all of our systems. You report on them all the time. And I think our safety net really has started to fray. And it’s impacting kids across all, you know, across the entire state – every zip code, every age, from infant to really adulthood. So early childhood, including safe sleep, those issues are a concern. Children’s mental health issues, including the risk of suicide. And you know, we have 80 kids right now that are getting treatment outside of our state because we don’t have the resources. Youth-on-youth violence, unfortunately kids getting access to weapons, and abuse and neglect, including domestic abuse for adolescents. So they’re, the issues are wide and varied, but these are our kids, and we need to do something about it.

Donnis: Well, speaking about doing something about it, what can elected officials do to improve the situation in the short term and the long term?

Allen: I think that, you know, like we’re calling on all elected officials. We’re calling on the governor. We’re calling on the legislature. And really, we’re calling on all of us as Rhode Islanders and people that care about kids to convene a group and to work and to look at the details and to come up with a blueprint so that we can turn these trends around. I think, without going into details, there are definitely some concerns related to how are we making sure we’re investing in children’s services? Are we missing some areas and some gaps in services in our state?

Donnis: Darlene, you chair the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families. The coalition put out a statement about this crisis on April 16. Has there been any response so far by Gov. McKee or legislative leaders?

Allen: So Gov. McKee has, I think you probably reported, he did agree that something needs to be done. We have had some contact with Secretary Charest, and so hopefully we will be hearing from them about setting up some kind of a follow up meeting soon. And we have spoken with some legislators, but I can’t report that we have an action plan right now. We’re still in the process of trying to make sure that we have an action plan in place.

Donnis: Is it more difficult building political support for programs for children because of course children don’t vote, they don’t make political contributions, etc.?

Allen: You know, you kind of took the words out of my mouth as, you know, kids don’t vote. And so sometimes really trying to get airspace for children’s issues, when we have breaking news and we have so many challenges, both locally, nationally, and globally, it is hard to make sure that their needs and attention to their needs rise to a level that we need it to be. But I have to tell you what, you know, like I know a lot of elected officials and you know, particularly some of the women that have been elected over the last few years and when they knock on doors, their constituents and ultimately the people that elected them do ask about these kids, do follow this and they vote, parents vote, all of us in the human service sector we vote. And so hopefully we can use opportunities like this to raise awareness. I mean, a lot of people don’t even know that this is happening and hopefully once people are aware, we can come together and make a difference.

Donnis: Your coalition, I believe, encompasses more than 40 different organizations, so does the nonprofit sector bear any responsibility for not advocating more effectively for programs for children?

Allen: Well, I can say, I’m certainly not going to say no. I think we’re all responsible. I mean, I think that’s our point. You know, we all take responsibility. We all need to use every avenue. There has been an enormous amount of advocacy. Many of us have been up at the state house testifying on various bills, on the state budget, talking with our own legislators, talking with members of administration. So there has been advocacy. Obviously, we need to do more. That’s why I’m here.

Donnis: We’re talking here with Darlene Allen, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families. And when your coalition put out this recent statement about the crisis facing vulnerable children right now, the point was made that many children in Rhode Island face despair and hopelessness. Why is that? What are the leading contributors to that?

Allen: Well, what we’re seeing – as you mentioned, we have more than 40 organizations, and our organizations serve children and youth of all ages and in many different ways, through early intervention, foster care, residential programs, counseling, other types of support. And what I think a common theme that we’re all seeing across the state and the system is really still a children’s mental health crisis. A lot of the kids are feeling they’re not doing well. They’re hurt and they have not bounced back from COVID like we all, I think, hoped. And so we’re seeing that sense of despair. We’re seeing kids feeling less connected, less sense of belonging, a lot more worries. I had a parent in my office last night, practically in tears. Her young child was in extreme mental health crisis. Their family, very unsafe behaviors. Their family went to Hasbro a couple of nights ago and what she described while she was trying to get help for her child was a room filled with other parents and other kids that were in extreme crises. And as soon as the doctor took her child to be seen, she burst into tears, not only for her own situation, but just seeing the overwhelming situation in our hospitals. And these children weren’t able to get beds at Bradley because there are no openings right now. So I think there’s a combination of kids are still suffering and we don’t have all the services we need to be able to help them.

Donnis: We’ve heard a lot about how these issues of mental health and depression affect also kids from middle class, upper middle class homes, who are not in a situation of poverty, and a lot of this seems the result of technology, smart phones, social media, Instagram, etc. What are your thoughts on what should be done as a state in Rhode Island to help children better cope with these kind of things?

Allen: Yeah. I think, I don’t know if it’s the result of [social media]. I think it’s a contributing factor. And I’m no expert on the technology aspect, but, you know, research does say that it impacts kids ability to socially connect, it impacts their isolation, their friendships, etc. So I think we do need to look at that and at the same time, research shows that the power of play. We need to help kids get back outside and do old-fashioned fun play, and those are the kind of things too that I’m even advocating in the housing space as we’re looking at the housing and homelessness crisis – having, making sure that the needs of children, the developmental needs of children are considered, as we’re clearly in need of building more housing and helping to make sure that the homeless resources, that we’re not keeping kids and families in hotels for extended period of time, that their developmental needs to be able to play and learn and grow are really important.

Donnis: Darlene, your day job is as CEO and Executive Director of Adoption RI.

Allen: Yes.

Donnis: Tell us about how many children are up for adoption in Rhode Island. What are your takeaways from your work with the agency?

Allen: Sure. Yeah, our agency has been around for 40 years and we’ve been involved in thousands of kids’ and families’ lives. It’s a very rewarding organization, rewarding work to be done. And there have been changes in the adoption world. In previous years, we did a lot of advocacy and a lot of recruitment kind of for strangers to match children with, and now the majority of our work is called family finding, family search and engagement. So there are children that are in the foster care system who need a family, need to be adopted, or need someone to care for them so they can get them out of the foster care system. So we work diligently. I have social workers. I have a private investigator that helps us knock on doors, search technology, do whatever we can to find extended family members, old coaches, old teachers, people that the children may have cared about. And that’s how we’re doing a lot of the work to help get kids adopted and get kids into families and out of the system.

Donnis: And about how many kids are up for adoption in Rhode Island right now?

Allen: There’s generally between 225 and 300 kids a year, yeah.

Donnis: And if people want to learn more about your agency, where’s the best way to get that information?

Allen: They can go to our website, www.adoptionri.org. We have a Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter. Give us a call, 401-865-6000. We’d love to hear from them.

Donnis: Darlene Allen, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Coalition for Children and Families, thank you very much for joining us.

Allen: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

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