Running head: IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 1 IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 5Identifying the Policy Problem Unit 3 Assignment 1 January 30, 2020 Identifying the Policy Problem Child abuse takes place in all parts of the world and has been a common problem that can be mentally, emotionally, sexually, and even physically. Indiana has been one of the most common states that report child abuse in the year 2017. Indiana has been among the many states that have reported the high rates of child abuse. There were around 29,000 cases of child abuse in Indiana. Old people in Indiana were reported to have molested their granddaughters, and other many cases still under investigation. The interviews that have been conducted on both male and female suspects showed that the warrant had been issued for their arrest. Many have been arrested and charged with the issue of child abuse. Many have been however building shortly after they have been arrested. The victims advocate that they been kept safe since the crimes that they have been charged with being exposed. The forensic interview that they have been subjected to entailed a detailed conversation about the entire alleged crime, which is either to corroborate or disprove the entire case or the allegations (Clark, 2017). The interview that took place in the Indiana Department of the children's service entails speaking with the immediate family so that they can be able to talk about the safety of the children molested. The law enforcement agencies are issuing a warrant to the suspects, while the victims are advocating for them to put place by the DCS. They will need to have developed the safety plan for all the children that are abused. They are also expected to answer some of the questions that are in regard to the case from the family and what action is to be taken in regard to the interventions that are required to the victims. The crime takes the easy target, or the victims who are ready to abuse or they lack parents or do not have the guardian. In most cases, the granddaughters are mostly the good target from their grandfathers. No one can be sensing there is a danger, or there is anything that is happening to the children. The old people perceive them as the vulnerable target, and they are also accessible to them any time. The many grandfathers who abuse the children have the opportunity and the motivation to offend the victims that are lacking parental care at the same time looking for the girls whom they abuse. From the studies that are being done, it shows that the abuse that is done on the children is random and they are premediated. Because of the nature of the abuse, it shows that the people who abuse the children are the people who know very well about the children and their parent's routine as well (Clark, 2017). They know when the children are alone and when they can know them, and hence that makes them conduct such acts. They can be able to relate to the patterns that they ...

1. Running head: IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 1
IDENTIFYING THE POLICY PROBLEM 5Identifying the
Policy Problem
Unit 3 Assignment 1
January 30, 2020
Identifying the Policy Problem
Child abuse takes place in all parts of the world and has been a
common problem that can be mentally, emotionally, sexually,
and even physically. Indiana has been one of the most common
states that report child abuse in the year 2017. Indiana has been
among the many states that have reported the high rates of child
abuse. There were around 29,000 cases of child abuse in
Indiana. Old people in Indiana were reported to have molested
their granddaughters, and other many cases still under
investigation. The interviews that have been conducted on both
male and female suspects showed that the warrant had been
issued for their arrest. Many have been arrested and charged
with the issue of child abuse. Many have been however building
shortly after they have been arrested.

2. The victims advocate that they been kept safe since the crimes
that they have been charged with being exposed. The forensic
interview that they have been subjected to entailed a detailed
conversation about the entire alleged crime, which is either to
corroborate or disprove the entire case or the allegations (Clark,
2017). The interview that took place in the Indiana Department
of the children's service entails speaking with the immediate
family so that they can be able to talk about the safety of the
children molested.
The law enforcement agencies are issuing a warrant to the
suspects, while the victims are advocating for them to put place
by the DCS. They will need to have developed the safety plan
for all the children that are abused. They are also expected to
answer some of the questions that are in regard to the case from
the family and what action is to be taken in regard to the
interventions that are required to the victims. The crime takes
the easy target, or the victims who are ready to abuse or they
lack parents or do not have the guardian.
In most cases, the granddaughters are mostly the good target
from their grandfathers. No one can be sensing there is a
danger, or there is anything that is happening to the children.
The old people perceive them as the vulnerable target, and they
are also accessible to them any time. The many grandfathers
who abuse the children have the opportunity and the motivation
to offend the victims that are lacking parental care at the same
time looking for the girls whom they abuse. From the studies
that are being done, it shows that the abuse that is done on the
children is random and they are premediated.
Because of the nature of the abuse, it shows that the people who
abuse the children are the people who know very well about the
children and their parent's routine as well (Clark, 2017). They
know when the children are alone and when they can know
them, and hence that makes them conduct such acts. They can
be able to relate to the patterns that they need to offend the
children in everyday life. Tracking the patterns and the routine
of the children and the parents makes the suspects commit the

3. crimes in very normal ways.
The young girls are becoming the most unprotected targets for
the suspects since they are also becoming more dependent on
the chance as well as the opportunity to offend. This makes
them the most unprotected target for the suspects and took
advantage of the situation. When the situation is being taken
advantage of, there are some extreme costs on personal beings
like the child being abused and the entire family. The personal
costs can be classified into what is termed as the emotional
trauma to what is termed as the monetary cost (Doerner, 2017).
The young girls that are abused have been going through
personal costs such as shame, guilt, and even self-blame. This
has been termed as normal as sexual assault. When the girls are
going through all that emotional cost, the girls are likely to
encounter loss of friends because of the lack of trust among
them. There are many other issues that come along with these
crimes, there is the aspect of victimization that end up hurting
the family and the child being abused, it will not catch us by
surprise that they end up losing sleep and they experience
anger, overwhelming stress that cause them lots of headache and
fatigue as well as worry.
There is an economic loss. The parents may be taking off work
for some periods for them to attend the court hearings. They
may also need to make the hospital visits or stay with the
children who are having a bad day, which in turn means they my
need some comfort. These are among the many personal costs
that come in light with this kind of abuse. When the child is
abused, then that does not only affect the child only but also the
family and the entire community at large. The abused children
are seen to be like attracting attention because of what
happened to them, and they end up feeling ashamed.
There are other many consequences that come along with this as
they also face social consequences as well. The society started
to feel the hatred and rage towards the offender who abuses the
children. The society will need to look into the case and see if
there are any kind of red flags that they need to pay attention to.

4. When such cases are brought into the light, then they need to
bring the different sides of the case and see what action will
need to be put into analysis to prevent making the people feel
weary.
Thankfully, there are some policies that are being brought up to
help in such cases when they are put into action. They can help
to ease the mind of the victims and well and the mind of the
family and the society at large. In the United States, there are
some social responsibility policies that are being put in place,
and they are used to mandate the people and anyone who will be
witnessing or know the suspect the child abuse of different
types and then report them to the child authority (Doerner,
2017).
There are some penalties that come along with the person
failing to report the abuse of the child to the relevant
authorities. There are different bodies that are mandated within
this particular policy, and they are like women, the law
enforcement officer, as well as the therapist and the other many
professionals (Doerner, 2017). One of the main health concerns
is sexually transmitted diseases. There are many diseases such
as HIV/AIDS, and the sexual offender is tested for them as the
law states and when they commit the same offense, they can be
charged with the felony of the third degree.
When the victims are tested, they also start taking the
antibiotics and tested for all the other diseases within 72 hours.
In conclusion, sexual assault happens to different children in
the whole world. Not all states are subject to this, but some
states are worse than the other. In some states of Indiana, the
rates are almost double. Because of that, the policies and the
procedure are needed so that they can help to keep the children
in the society safer. When the incidents take place, then the
report needs to be done, and the many avenues start to make the
child feel safe again.
I conducted a SWOT analysis, and here are my findings.:
Strength
The Indiana swot analysis has considerable interest in the way

5. the children are being treated in the community. The governor
has been coming up with the ways to find the solution to the
administrative agendas as some of the pillars and fostering the
bills of rights. The state's budget has been assisting the DCS in
terms of finance through funding. They have been interacting
with the directors so that to solicit feedback about the
challenges and the strength in the organization. The DCS is very
consistent with the children as well as the families all around
the states, leasing the trauma among children and produce
positive outcomes.
Weaknesses
Some of the problems that they face are the epidemic that has
been contributed by the number of the families and the children
that are in the DCS case and the management system. The over-
reliance that is on a reactive system that has been built on the
removal of the key approach to speak about the parental
addiction that will help to serve Indiana.
Opportunities
The agency mainly focuses on the efforts of the Indiana
department of the children (DCS). They plan to engage the
families in their mission to partner with the stats and the local
community. The agency plans to keep referring to the service
they offer to the clients and involve them in the system. The
agency plans to keep the number of clients high. Then they can
overspend on the money that has been budgeted for.
Threats
There are many children that are in-home care that are in the
states and nationally. DCS has a higher rate of child abuse and
then neglect the referral for child welfare. There are very high
rates of court involvement in child welfare cases. There is an
uneven organizational climate as well as the culture cross the
countries that are contributed by the low morale. There is the
workload in the cases that the agencies had, and that has caused
the management to be centralized (Evaluation of the Indiana
Department of Child Services, 2018).

6. References
Clark, J. R. (2017). Reporting Abuse. Air medical journal,
36(6), 287-289.
Doerner, W. G. (2017). Victimology. Routledge.
Mack, J. L. (2019). Indiana has the second-highest child abuse
rate in the nation, report
says. Retrieved January 22, 2020, from
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2019/04/01/report-
indiana-has-second-highest-child-abuse-rate-
nation/3330020002/
Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018,
June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from
https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal
.pdf
1
Running head: REPORT
REPORT
8

7. Cost-benefit Analysis
Indiana Department of Child Services
February 15, 2020
Introduction:
It is analyzed that the issues that the Indiana Department of
Child Services (DCS) face are more than any other state of the
USA because of some of the reasons we will discuss. The rates
of child abuse, opioid epidemics, and neglect reports are
continuously increasing; therefore, the department needs more
budget than previous years to resolve the problems. It is good
that they need a budget to resolve the problem, but they are not
focusing on the root cause of the problem until that root cause
is identified and resolve it from that root they will not be able
to overcome these problems and lower the budget. The three
prominent problems that they face are listed below:
· Child abuse is a major cause.
· The opioid epidemic, and
· Neglect reports.
All these three issues revolve around parenting. These issues
are also related to other departments, for example, for the
opioid epidemic the department of health and human services is
responsible, Indiana department of correction can also deal with
neglect reports so that parenting practices can be improved.
Furthermore, the child bureau and community resources can
also be used. It means that the government is financing multiple
departments for the same issue due to which budgetary

8. constraints occur.
This problem can be solved from three different perspectives.
My suggestions are listed below:
Realistic approach: The issue of child abuse can be controlled
with the help of both governmental and NGOs who work for the
same purpose, but their approaches are different. Indiana
Department of Child Services (DCS) deal with this issue along
with the collaboration of NGOs so that in every country. Only
one NGO or DCS worked in only one country. There is no need
for multiple NGOs in one country. In this way, the burden of
DCS will be shared. The Indiana Department of Child Services
(DCS) will be a hub where every NGO and employees of DCS
have to report monthly regarding the progress report. In this
way, the budget issues can be solved, and the number of
employees of DCS will also reduce and an incentive will be
given to NGOs who successfully reduce the rate of child abuse
in their country.
The problem arises when everyone works separately, and
multiple sources are used for the same purpose. But if everyone
works in collaboration, then many problems will be solved. The
focus of this approach is not only to reduce the rate of child
abuse but also give awareness and parental programs to people
so that this rate can be reduced and those factors can reduce that
is the main cause of this problem. The reasons for child abuse
are parents are not able to meet the needs and requirements of
the child and sometimes the parents are also suffering from
alcohol abuse and emotional distress due to which they are not
able to manage the child properly.
Furthermore, the lack of attention from the side of parents and
teachers often promoted this abuse. Due to child abuse, the
child isolates themselves from the rest of the world. It leads to a
lack of participation in school activities and sports as the
parents are already aggressive. Therefore, they do not notice or
pay any attention to what their child is going through.
Hence, at this point, the core training is mandatory for teachers,
parents, and children as well so that they can better handle the

9. situation. Instead of sending the child to the child care
department, it is important to educate the parents. Therefore,
the parenting activities must be considered important and such
awareness programs must be designed that help them to
overcome the problem instead of putting all their aggression on
the child they have to contact to respect mentor or department
so that they can better handle themselves. Furthermore, parents
can understand their situation and they know what to do as
compared to a child. The root cause of this problem is parents,
disturbed families and sometimes educational institutes. The
DCS, along with other community services NGO's can overcome
this problem by solving the problems of parents. In this way,
the burden on DCS will be reduced and their expenses will also
be managed.
Cost and benefit analysis:
The opioid epidemic is not only the epidemic of Indiana, but it
is an epidemic for the whole USA that disturbs each person. It
cost Indiana $43 billion in the last 15 years. According to the
report of the Institute of Medicine, the causes of the opioid
epidemic is a greater patient expectation for pain relief, obesity,
a musculoskeletal disorder of aging population, increasing
frequency of complex surgery and its easy availability.
Furthermore, poverty and substance abuse problem is the main
cause that promotes it among the people (Nabarun Dasgupta,
2018 ). The below-mentioned statistics show how the alarming
situation on the opioid epidemic is caused since 2015 and it is
increasing with every passing. Unfortunately, it is not limited to
adults but school-going children are also habitual of using this.
It also caused unemployment and an economic downturn in
society.
In DCS, most of the cases are also related to the opioid
epidemic. It indeed comes under the responsibility of DCS to
take of such cases, but the role of other substance abuse
departments is also responsible for it. Instead of hiring people
for the same purpose, the responsibilities must be divided so

10. that better facilities can be provided (B, 2017 ). Here the role of
“Department of Health and Human Services" is also important
because all people are engaged in it regardless of gender and
age. Furthermore, the services of "Indiana Department of
Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment” can also be used for
this purpose. This substance is easily available in pharmacies
due to which people can buy it because it is legalized now.
Form the side of government, a ban should be imposed on
Indiana pharmacies that without prescription, this substance
will not be sold to anyone (B., 2018). The strict implementation
of this rule will be mandatory. Its availability will not be
limited to hospital pharmacies so that doctors of hospitals can
only prescribe it on those cases where it is needed and without
it, the treatment will not be possible. As per my
recommendation, it should be replaced with any other medicine
that will help in pain relief. As the ratio of people is increasing
who uses it for an addictive purpose, it should be replaced with
other pain relief medicine and managed by a medical
professional.
The opioid epidemic must be handover to Indiana Department of
Correction: Substance Abuse Treatment so that budgetary
problems can be overcome and with the distribution of these
services there will be less burden on DCS, and they can focus
on other causes of child abuse and child neglect (Brown RE Jr,
2017).
Objectivity:
The ratio of child neglect reports in Indiana has been increasing
with every passing day. It is not the stepmother or father or the
foster family who put the child in such a critical situation, but
the biological parents are continuously neglecting and abusing
their children that sometimes lead to death as well
(drugabuse.gov, 2019). There is the number of parents who are
arrested every week because they threatened their children,
which leads to death; some mentally torched their children that
makes them sick. Here the root cause is the parents.
Sometimes the lack of integration in family, family

11. misunderstanding, lack of bonding between the parents, and
economic instability leads to create such a problem. But it is the
primary concern of DCS they want to resolve it on a primary
basis. This issue is also linked to child abuse. Child neglect and
child abuse are interlinked with each other. If DCS focused on
one, then the other will automatically be resolved (Russel,
2018). This problem can be solved by evaluating the causes of
child neglect. From the number of cases that are reported in
DCS, it can be analyzed what are the causes that children
reported. By summarizing the cause, it can be analyzed whether
it is related to economic instability, personal issues or society.
Through this analyzed the root cause can be solved that will
help in lower the causes of child neglect.
At this point, I want to highlight the role of educational
institutes because they are the ones who are close to children,
and as they are closer to children, they are better able to help
the DCS to resolve this problem (EugeneFlango, 2015). The
behavior of the child tells the children what he is going through
when the worst situation occurs then the DCS rescue this child.
Therefore, the teachers must be trained in this regard so that
they can help the child to overcome the problem and such worst
cases that lead them to death will not arise.
The DCS must hire some of the researchers that can identify the
problem and conduct a study where the accurate problem can be
identified then they design training sessions for parents and
children that will educate them to overcome this problem. This
can be done through schools to save the expense of these
training programs. Furthermore, with the help of community
centers, training will be given to those whose children are not
school going, but they have been going through such problems
(Swan, 2015). Whatever the problem is, whether it is related to
child abuse and child neglect, it can only be solved if all people
and governing and regulatory bodies work side by side with
each other. Then the ultimate aim of DCS will be achieved.
Cost and benefit analysis:
Cost and benefit analysis of proposed solution number 1 of

12. child abuse.
In this section, both macro and microeconomic factors are
analyzed of how their role is important and what cost and
benefit the DCS will gain from it.
At macro level, the role of government is important so the
government of Indiana must announce a revised policy in which
save the child from child abuse is not only the responsibility of
DCS, but country-wise NGO play their role as for any NGO of
the country they must work under DCS and follow their policy
to reduce the number of child abuse. In this way, the employees
of these NGOs will be used and additional employment that is
required at DCS will be reduced (Emily Allchin, 2019). It leads
to a decrease in the impact of financial constraints and the extra
budget that they demanded to fulfill the purpose. When at the
government level, it is announced that all the NGOs will work
under DCS instructions, and an additional benefit will be given
to them, then it will be beneficial for them to follow their
instructions.
At the micro-level, there are unlimited benefits for DCS. First,
their workforce problem will be reduced, and the amount that
they require for the training of new employees is automatically
reduced. Due to a new policy, they have enough trained staff
that they can use to reduce cases of child abuse.
Cost and benefit analysis of the proposed solution for the opioid
epidemic:
At the macro level, the role of regulatory authorities is
important because they have to revise their strategies and duties
that they assigned to the respective department. If two or three
departments did the same job, and still there is no control over
substance abuse them, there is no means of such departments.
Hence, the regulatory authorities must revise the role of all
departments that are concerned with substance abuse. The
names of these departments are "Department of Health and
Human Services” and “Indiana Department of Correction:
Substance Abuse Treatment.” The role of these departments is
to control substance abuse and DCS is doing the same things but

13. they protect a child who is involved in it (Lilly, 2019). So, if
these departments are doing for men and women and if they
started it for children as well, then the cost that will be incurred
will be less because they have all the facilities and experienced
people who are doing this. If the same thing is done by DCS
than they require new people who are experienced and qualified
enough to support their purpose. So, they need finance to
develop a new system that is costly because already they are
over budget. Through this proposal, the extra cost will be
reduced.
At the micro-level, this solution will remove extra burden over
the department, and if two departments are already doing so,
then assigning additional duty will be helpful for the
organization to focus on other problems like child neglect and
child abuse. If these two problems are under controlled than the
substance abuse problem will automatically reduce. From the
financial point of view, their amount of demanded budget will
be reduced and expenses will be under control.
Cost and benefit analysis of the proposed solution for child
neglect:
The cases of child neglect have been increased, and with the
help of educational institutions, this problem can be overcome.
At the macro level, if our children are not physically and
mentally fit then our generations will be the effect that will
disturb the whole economy. Therefore, it is better to resolve this
problem at the grass-root level.
There is a lot of work that has to be done at the micro-level or
organizational level to save the children. DCS must design a
research team of 6 researchers that made a detailed report on
child neglect cases, and after analyzing the problem at the
school level training sessions for students and parents will be
designed (Lilly, 2019). In this way, the students and parents
will be able to overcome the problem. At these training or
awareness programs, parents will be encouraged to share their
problems. In this way, at a macro level, such an initiative will
be taken that will ultimately help to overcome this problem. The

14. expense that will be incurred will be in million but the benefits
will help in overcoming the budgetary constraints of billion
dollars.
Conclusion:
Concluding the findings of this paper in a nutshell, it is
evaluated that if Department of Health and Human Services”
and “Indiana Department of Correction: Substance Abuse
Treatment” and NGO's work in collaboration with DCS than
under the budget of all these departments that problems of child
abuse, child neglect and opioid epidemic can be overcome. The
role of government and regulatory authorities is also important
unless and until they issue orders, DCS will not be able to
control the rate of these cases. Therefore, at the macro and
micro levels, the implementation of strategies is important.
References
B, F. (2017 ). Prescription opioids, abuse, and public health in
Canada: is fentanyl the new center of the opioid crisis?
Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf., 1334- 1336.
B., W. (2018). The opioid crisis: a 21st-century pain. Drugs
Today (Barc)., 12-23.
Brown RE Jr, D. V. (2017). The US Opioid Crisis: Current
Federal and State Legal Issues. Anesth Analg., 1-10.
drugabuse.gov. (2019, 1 12). Indiana Opioid Summary.
Retrieved from drugabuse.gov:
https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-

15. summaries-by-state/indiana-opioid-summary
Emily Allchin, A. J. (2019). The Role of Socioeconomic
Interventions in Reducing Exposure to Adverse Childhood
Experiences: a Systematic Review. Current Epidemiology
Reports, 423–441.
EugeneFlango, V. (2015). Can central registries improve
substantiation rates in child abuse and neglect cases? Child
Abuse & Neglect, 403-413.
Lilly, R. A. (2019). Malnutrition and Medical Neglect. Journal
of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 12-22.
Nabarun Dasgupta. (2018 ). Opioid Crisis: No Easy Fix to Its
Social and Economic Determinants. Am J Public Health., 182–
186.
Russel, R. (2018). Role Perceptions of Attorneys and. CHILD
WELFARE, 1-18.
Swan, S. M. (2015). Child Fatalities From Religion-motivated
Medical Neglect. Pediatrics , 625-629.
Information from Discussion 1
The agency I intend to focus my efforts on is the Indiana
Department of Child Services (DCS). Their mission is to engage
with families and collaborate with state, local and community
partners to protect children from abuse and neglect and to
provide child support services (DCS Mission, Vision, and
Values). I want to address the overspending that Indiana’s DCS
does every year. They are 100’s of millions of dollars over
budget every year. I know this is not just a problem for Indiana,
but every state.
One thing that I learned working with this agency is that they
want to keep referring services to clients and keep them in the
system. If they keep their numbers high on active clients in
their system every year and overspend the budgeted money, they
will and expect to receive more funds the following fiscal year.

16. DCS is by far the largest department with the greatest budget
and amount of employees than any other department in the state
of Indiana. As of 2017, Indiana’s rate of children in out-of-
home care was about 13 children for every 1,000 in the state
and is over twice the national average. In addition to Indiana
having a higher number of children in out-of-home care, Indiana
also has a higher-than-average number of children being
referred to child protection. In 2016, Indiana’s rate of referral
to child protection, calculated as the number of referrals for
every 1,000 children in the state’s population, was 108.2
compared to a national average of 55.6 (Evaluation of the
Indiana Department of Child Services).
References
DCS Mission, Vision, and Values. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22,
2020, from https://www.in.gov/dcs/2370.htm
Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018,
June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from
https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal
.pdf
Information from Discussion 2
· What is the specific problem that your organization will be
trying to address? Try to be as specific as possible.
My organization will be trying to reduce the spending by the
Indiana Department of Child Services to combat child abuse and
neglect. There are a number of issues that create this situation
that need addressed. One major that needs to be considered is
what is causing the high caseloads in the first place and can
these things be spearheaded from the front end to help reduce
the number of children entering into the system in the first
place. Here are a number of things that need evaluated and are
cause for concern (Evaluation of the Indiana Department of
Child Services.):

17. • Only three states have a higher rate of abuse and neglect
referrals than Indiana.
• Indiana accepts more abuse and neglect reports than the
national average.
• Only two states had a higher rate of completed child
protection assessments than Indiana.
• Despite completing more assessments than almost any state,
Indiana substantiated only 15 percent of those assessments.
• The rate of abuse and neglect reports grew by almost 63
percent from SFY 13 to SFY 17.
• 55 percent of removals in 2017 were related to parental
substance abuse.
• DCS barely misses the federal standard for repeat
maltreatment
• Indiana’s rate of children in care is 13.0 (per 1,000 children)
compared with the national average of 5.6.
• Indiana’s rate of children entering care is 8 (per 1,000
children) compared with the national rate of 3.6. • Nearly 45
percent of family case managers have caseloads above the state
standard.
• DCS’ supervision standard is 1 to 7+ compared to the national
standard of 1 to 5.
• There are 530 children in care on the Child Care and
Development Fund (CCDF) wait list for childcare vouchers.
• In SFY 2017, DCS spent $24,933,487 on drug testing/supplies
and $4,538,182 on drug treatment.
• The number of court-involved cases in DCS is more than
double the national average.
· How is the specific problem you mentioned tied to the
organizational mission?
The problem is tied to DCS’ mission statement, because they
job is to provide services to and protect children from abuse and
neglect. If we can reduce the amount of reports by ensuring
parents have resources and tools to properly parent their

18. children and deal with everyday life. This can potentially
reduce the number of reports and cases DCS receives in the first
place and eventually reduce the amount of spending and
employees needed to make DCS function as it has. Cases that do
need DCS’ attention after this would be handled in a manner to
help put them in a place where they will be no more recurring
incidences and remove the cases from the DCS system. It is a
complicated and very involve process, but it can be done with
the proper training, tools, resources, and policies in place.
· How might you frame the problem for the policy analysis to
make the scope of it more realistic in a real-world setting?
Problems such as the opioid epidemic have contributed to the
increased number of families and children in the DCS case
management system. If we were to focus and attack the opioid
problem from the doctor prescribing the opioid, to the
manufacturers, and finally to the patient taking the opioids we
can come up with a solution to combat this and thus reduce the
numbers that increased the caseloads of DCS due to this
problem. Over reliance on a reactive system that uses child
removal as the primary approach to address parental addiction
will not serve Indiana or its citizens well over time (Evaluation
of the Indiana Department of Child Services.). The idea is to
take a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach to
these problems.
References
Evaluation of the Indiana Department of Child Services. (2018,
June 18). Retrieved January 22, 2020, from
https://www.in.gov/dcs/files/IndianaEvaluationReportCWGFinal
.pdf

19. PESTLE Analysis (PowerPoint)
Public administrators are often called upon to present to
colleagues or outside groups. To give you practice with your
presentation skills, you are required to create a PowerPoint
presentation for your post to this discussion.
Develop a PowerPoint presentation using the following format:
Create a PowerPoint presentation with a detailed presentation
notes section completed. This approach uses a PowerPoint
presentation with detailed notes in the notes area at the bottom
of each slide. The presentation notes are a transcript of the
presentation you would make if showing the presentation to an
audience.
In this discussion, create a PowerPoint presentation about your
analysis of the environment in which the public administrator
will be working to address the problem you have identified for
your work in this course. Unlike the SWOT analysis conducted
earlier, the PESTLE analysis explores the environment in which
the public administrator has to work. Having an understanding
of how differing sociopolitical factors may affect the decision-
making environment will provide insights into ways the public
administrator might wish to tailor the message to better market
proposed alternatives to improve the chances of achieving
optimal outcomes for the community and the organization.
Use the attached Information for Discussion 1 and 2, Cost
Benefit Analysis Assignment Paper; and Identifying the
Problem papers to get the paper topic and understanding of the
problems being analyzed with the Indiana Department of Child
Services.
Your PowerPoint presentation must include (minimum of seven
slides):
· A cover slide.
· An introduction slide.
· At least one slide for each of the three alternatives identified
earlier. These slides will include a brief PESTLE analysis for
each of the identified alternatives, providing insight into how

20. each of the alternatives might be viewed within the community.
· A conclusion slide.
· A reference slide.
Please support your ideas with recent, scholarly sources that are
properly cited and referenced in APA style.