By Sara QuamTuesday there were 17 Rock County children in out-of-home care. Some are in local foster care; others are in juvenile treatment facilities. Behind the numbers are stories that social workers, attorneys and law enforcement officers see daily.Child protection supervisor Nancy Lange and child protection social worker Stacy Schepel have more than 30 years of combined experience with Rock County children.Schepel said, "It’s hard for kids. They ultimately want a family and you don’t realize what a family means until you see people without one."She said, "One boy said it best when he said, ‘This sucks.’ The visitation issues are hard. It’s hard to tell kids that their parent relapsed or messed up."Lange said, "Some children take ownership that they’re the reason that they’re in foster care. Sometimes they are told that by their parent because they might have confided in someone who turned it over to us."The most difficult part of the social worker’s job — although it can lead to the best results — is removing children from their homes.Removal comes only after correct documentation and court proceedings, however. A social worker can’t simply make observations about a home environment and remove children. In certain emergency cases, a child may be placed out of the home until court procedures can be followed.Schepel said that through the difficult times of counseling, guidance and intervention on many levels, parents in her case files have changed and become leaders of healthier families."Several children have gone home and things work out well and they’re happy. They’re interacting and spending time together. They can count on mom and dad and things are totally different," Schepel said.So far in 2006 there have been 32 children who have spent at least a night in out-of-home care — care that through June of this year has cost the county $141,295.The total cost last year was $413,369.About 75 to 80 percent of the child protection caseload involves parents with mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction or a combination of both mental illness and addictions. The remaining are not able to parent for other reasons.Lange said, "I’m seeing third generations of some families now."Some parents simply haven’t had good models and don’t know correct parenting methods, how to clean house or utilize available healthcare, for example.Lange said, "If we believe the kids can be safe at home but they need some services, we can still help them."A mixture of social workers, mental health counselors, public health workers or chemical dependency counselors are used while keeping families together."We still believe, and through federal guidelines are told, that the best place for the child is with the family," Schepel said.That can be difficult for some people to understand, she said.Neighbors, teachers or others may report concerns to Family Services, but they still see children in the same home and doubt that work is being done for their benefit.Sometimes social workers are building files that have to be brought before the court to get action. Other times, the family is connected with helpful resources.While removing children from the home isn’t a goal of Family Services, it can help families in the end. Laws have changed requiring that children younger than 8 have a permanency plan within six months of being placed out of the home. That prevents lingering foster care stays and further weakening of parental bonds. Sometimes that permanency plan means children will be transferred to the custody of another relative or placed in long-term foster care. Other options are reunification of the family (the ideal by law) or permanent termination of parental rights.To explain the process of how children are taken out of their home and what happens afterward, this ficticious scenario is outlined:A probation officer receives a phone call with a report that Susan Flower, a known meth addict, has relapsed. Flower has three children and lives in a small apartment. The probation officer had received other reports and decided to contact Sheriff Mike Winkels at law enforcement to request that a deputy pick up Flower at her home for a random urinalysis as allowed by her probation agreement.(Social workers and probation officers may request the urinalyses, which are carried out by court order.)Flower was tested and it was determined that she was positive for methamphetamines and marijuana. Flower admitted that she had used the previous night with her boyfriend.(Most people who are on probation admit when they have used drugs after a urinalysis. If they don’t admit to using when the test is completed locally, the test is sent to a lab for confirmation, which can take two weeks.)Flower is charged with violation of probation, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of controlled substance in the fifth degree.Sheriff Winkels decides to contact the on-call social worker, Stacy Schepel, to request assistance with placement of Flower’s three children. Schepel responds to law enforcement and contacts the assistant county attorney, Jeff Haubrich, to assure that out-of-home placement is appropriate and that statutory requirements are met.Haubrich agrees and Sheriff Winkels places the children on 72-hour hold.Flower is taken to the Nobles County Jail and her three children are placed in emergency foster care with local foster parents.(Where it is possible, relatives are used for emergency or temporary placement. If those nearby relatives are in South Dakota or Iowa, however, their placement isn’t allowed until they become licensed by that state. The county can apply to the state to allow children in out-of-state homes. That can be a three-month wait.)The criminal proceedings against Flower proceed. She admits that she violated the terms of her probation by using the methamphetamines and her stay of imposition is revoked. She is sentenced to a period of 12 months and 1 day and given credit for time already served, which is about 4 months. The county files a Child In Need of Protection Services petition with the county court. (Through this phase, the parent or parents are appointed attorneys and the children are appointed a child advocate to speak for them. A judge decides whether the child needs protection and, if so, transfers custody to Rock County Family Services.)During her time in jail, the children are placed with local family members. (In some cases, children have different fathers, which would mean they could be separated.)Initially, Flower is ordered to complete her sentence resulting from her criminal charges. Subsequent to her release, Flower is court ordered to comply with the following recommendations: home-based therapy, chemical use assessment, parenting capacity assessment, family/group decision making.Family/group decision making guides the parent or parents and people important in their lives through the process of making decisions that will help their family. The county has to approve their plans.In addition, Flower agrees to visitation and random urinalysis by the county.(After families are reunited, social workers often keep visiting families for six months to a year.)