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B071806 New Hanover County Board of Social Services Minutes July 18, 2006 The New Hanover County Board of Social Services met in open session on Wednesday, July 18, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. at the New Hanover County Courthouse. ATTENDING: Frankie Roberts, Chairman; Bill Caster, Vice-Chairman, Ann Pitts; John Craig; F. Wayne Morris ALSO ATTENDING: Wanda Marino; Assistant Director of Social Work Services; Stephanie Monteath, Assistant to the Director The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Morris moved for approval of the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Craig and passed unanimously. Mr. Caster delivered the invocation and Mr. Morris led the pledge of allegiance. CONSENT AGENDA Mr. Craig moved for approval of the consent agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Caster and passed unanimously. INFORMATION AGENDA ® New Hires Stacey Jones was hired as an Economic Services Caseworker zone 1 and Judy Kelly was hired as a Temporary Economic Services Caseworker zone 1. Promotions Lori Harvey was promoted from Economic Services Caseworker Zone 3 to Economic Services Lead worker. SSDI Wanda Marino noted that the agency is working on placing more children with relatives and as a result, the agency has not taken custody of as many children as in previous months. This option will not work for children who do not have relatives in this area. Ms. Marino also noted that DSS now has 130 licensed foster homes, a number that has been slowly increasing due to our increased recruiting efforts. Mrs. Pitts asked why the General Assistance funds number was high in June. Mrs. Marino explained that the agency runs out of other state and private funds at the end of the fiscal year and depends on GA money during that time. Sam Lane shared that the state has allotted additional funds for child care. Although we are still not certain of the Item 2 Page 1 Page 2 of 4 exact amount of the additional allocation, we anticipate that the amount will still be significantly below what the agency will need to impact the child care waiting list. County Budget Expenditures James Oxendine expressed that DSS has done well with the budget for fiscal year 05/06. The county should have FY05/06 closed out by the middle of August at which time Mr. Oxendine will have a complete end of year report for the board. STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA Election of Board Members Mr. Craig nominated Mr. Roberts to serve as Board Chairman. The motion was seconded by Mr. Caster and passed unanimously. Mr. Craig nominated Mr. Caster to serve as Vice-Chairman. The motion was seconded by Mrs. Pitts and passed unanimously. The board took a break from 9:12 a.m. to 9:17 a.m. The board reconvened at 9:17 a.m. for the community forum. Mr. Roberts welcomed everyone from the community and introduced Christine McNamee. Ms. McNamee gave a brief description of the Leading by Results (LBR) initiative and thanked the board and • the director for their support and leadership. Speakers from both DSS and the community presented data on progress on ten different LBR indicators. Rena McAllister, Prevention Social Worker and Cathy Bowen from Cape Fear Community College described the success in securing employment experienced by participants of three new programs targeted to Work First recipients. Carla West from Child Support Enforcement noted that close communication with NHCDSS has been key to their success in meeting its goals. Ms. West shared that 1,206 Establishment Actions were filed, paternity was established for 1095 children and $1,762,138.00 in child support was collected, exceeding the state goal. Susan Sprenger, Social Work Supervisor talked about several barriers that the Adult Services program has encountered including lack of family guardians for senior and disabled adults and mental health reforms. Jane Jones of the Area Agency on Aging discussed elder abuse prevention measures. Ms. Jones introduced area partners from the Sheriff's Department and Liberty Home Health Care who work together on the Elder Abuse Network for New Hanover County. Pat Jessup, Social Work Manager, discussed family centered philosophies adopted by NHCDSS, which have helped in decreasing the rate of recidivism with families experiencing abuse and neglect. Ms. Jessup also talked about various measures the agency is taking to assist families with substance abuse, mental health, domestic violence and language barriers in an effort to reduce protective services reports. Item 2 Page 2 Page 3 of 4 Faye Smith, Social Work Supervisor, discussed the Prevention Unit's family centered and solution focused practices. Since implementation, the Prevention Unit has seen • families receiving prevention services who had confirmed CPS reports drop from 15.67% to 4.28%. Kari Sanders, Social Work Manager, presented information on children entering custody that had previously been in custody within 12 months. The goal is less than 8% and for the last two years, they have exceeded that goal. DSS' partnership with the Methodist Home, the Links program and the Multiple Response System has been credited in part for this success. Ms. Sanders also discussed the agency's successes with adoption. The number of children adopted as a result of family centered practices, shared parenting and contract attorneys have increased significantly. Janet Nelson from the New Hanover County Partnership for Children that the deficit in funding for Child Care Subsidies due to a number of factors including the large number of children under the age of 5 with working parents as well as State and Federal budget cuts. Ms. Nelson discussed the Share the Care initiative and other community outreach measures Smart Start has planned to increase the community's awareness of the importance of quality child care. Mark Boyer, New Hanover County Public Information Officer, led a question and answer period. Mr. Roberts and Mr. Caster both noted that statistics and numbers help the board to understand, measure and provide resources for programs in the agency. Mr. Morris noted that the agency still needs to work on getting the word out to the community that • resources are available. Audience discussion followed. A question was posed about the number of Work First participants who gained employment in June as a result of the efforts. A question was raised about the dollar amount Child Support Enforcement saves the County by putting non-custodial parents who don't pay their child support, on house arrest as opposed to serving jail time. Lastly, staff was asked about Elder Abuse Prevention Network and how the community could get involved and what the network is doing to educate staff at long term care facilities about abuse, neglect and fraud. Ms. Jones discussed upcoming events the network is hosting to include the "Scam Jam" (at the senior center), a legislative forum September 26, 2006, Domestic Violence Awareness month and a Super Star Caregivers event. NEXT MEETING OBJECTIVES Review comments from the forum and determine next steps. Review the Director's Work Plan. BOARD SELF EVALUATION The Board completed self evaluations. ADDITIONAL ITEMS • As there were no items to discuss in closed session as provided in G.S. 143-318.11 pursuant to G.S. 108A-80 and/or G.C. 154A-98, the meeting was adjourned at 9:43 a.m. Item 2 Page 3 Page 4 of 4 Respectfully Submitted, LaVaughn Nesmith, Secretary to the Board J- , - 9-4 Frankie Roberts Chairman ® Date approved: Item 2 Page 4