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B030907 • New Hanover County Board of Social Services Retreat Minutes Government Center 9:00a.m. - 2:00p.m. The New Hanover County Board of Social Services met in open session on Friday, March 9, 2007 at 9:00 in Meeting Room B of the New Hanover County Government Center. ATTENDING: Frankie Roberts, Chairman; Bill Caster, Vice-Chairman; John Craig; F. Wayne Morris; Ann Pitts ALSO ATTENDING: LaVaughn Nesmith, Secretary to the Board; Stephanie Monteath, Assistant to the Director The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. Mrs. Pitts moved for approval of the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Morris and passed unanimously. Mrs. Pitts led the invocation. John Craig led the pledge of allegiance. CONSENT AGENDA Wayne Morris moved for approval of the consent agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Caster and passed unanimously. INFORMATION AGENDA LaVaughn Nesmith introduced Carole Thiel as the new Human Service Agency Business Manager. The eleven new employees will be introduced at the next meeting as they are in training. SSDI There were no questions or comments about SSDI County Budget Expenditures There were no questions or comments about expenditures. STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA LaVaughn Nesmith read his state of the agency letter addressing the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2007-2008 highlighting upcoming program expenses, potential avenues of • income and retention measures. Chris McNamee reviewed the Leading by Results process. Ms. McNamee explained Managing for Results, using LBR for the Guiding Principles in Developing the Budget, Page 2 of 6 • the Steps in the Budget Process and the Results (successes) of LBR. Lastly Ms. McNamee gave a brief overview of the proposed FY07-08 Budget to include new positions the agency will be requesting. LaVaughn Nesmith discussed the NHCDSS Estimated Revenues and Costs for the FY 2007-2008 by reviewing various pie charts. He noted that the cost for computer equipment will most likely be backed out as DSS is hoping to purchase computers in FY 2006-2007. The Board adjourned for a ten minute break at 10:11a.m. The Board reconvened at 10:27a.m. Administrative Support Stephanie Monteath shared the vision for Administrative Support. Chris McNamee discussed utilizing State and Federal dollars to reimburse the County for all allowable costs. Ms. McNamee also discussed customer satisfaction surveys used to gage agency customer service. Stephanie Monteath discussed turnover. The North Carolina Association of County • Directors suggested including retiring employees in the overall turnover percentage. As a result, our turnover percentage is higher than in previous years. DSS will be reevaluating attainable percentage goals for FY 2007-2008. Ms. Monteath shared some strategies for retention. Julia Talbutt addressed the need for an additional staff attorney to meet the ever increasing demand for legal services in the area of child welfare - to speed permanence for children in care and the burgeoning adult services and guardianship case load. The department has utilized IV-E waiver funds which will run out within two years to ease the accumulated back log in termination of parental rights cases. Prevention Services Ann Barkley discussed the Prevention Services vision. Ms. Barkley talked about the Work First program, challenges with that program and the grant obtained by DSS to employ a Job Coach-Job Locator Social Worker to assist with difficult to place clients. Jerome Fennell from County Property Management has hired two of our Work First participants. Employment Security is now willing to enter into a performance based contract. All contracts enter by New Hanover County must be performance based. Wanda Marino discussed financial data for Emergency Financial Assistance. Ms. Marino indicated the Department is not requesting any additional monies. • Page 3 of 6 ® Adult Services Wanda Marino gave an update on Jasmine Cove; there have been several more allegations made against the facility. DSS staff and the Health Inspector visited the facility and discovered mold. There has been follow-up since the initial visit. The Health Department and Division of Facility Services are responsible for follow up measures as DSS substantiated allegations. Ann Barkley shared the vision for Adult Services: NHC elderly and disabled will live safely and independently. Ms. Barkley discussed that DSS is not meeting their targets for Adult Services as there have been many substantiated cases of maltreatment and repeat maltreatment. Ms. Barkley and Ms. Marino shared some stories of elderly/disabled adults in New Hanover County. Ms. Barkley noted that the very large case loads Adult Services Social Workers carry make it difficult to monitor the safety and well being of this vulnerable population. Ms. Barkley noted that this population will dramatically increase due to aging baby boomers and mental health reform. DSS will be requesting one Adult Protective Services Social Worker and one Adult Home Specialist Social Worker - to monitor clients in family and adult care homes. Child Protective Services Wanda Marino shared the vision for Child Protective Services: Every family in New Hanover County will be respected for their strengths, competence and their ability to change and they will be responsible for the safety and well-being of their children. Pat Jessup reviewed targets for Child Protective Services, noting that percentages of children who are repeat victims of maltreatment are slightly higher in the first 6 months of FY2006-2007. The percentages of children found "In need of Services" have gone down slightly. Ms. Jessup is asking for two Child Protective Services Social Workers to reduce case loads for her staff and align with state standards. Ms. Jessup shared that 48% of substantiated abuse cases involved children ages 0-6, 32% involved children ages 7-12 and 20% involved children ages 13 and above. Ms. Jessup noted the majority of these cases involve the youngest most vulnerable population. The majority of Social Work turnover occurred in Child Protective Services due to very high stress and large case loads. Ms. Marino gave the date of the Child Abuse Prevention Forum - April 16, 2007 from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The topic is "Too Young to Die" as the number of fatalities in this County is very high. Children's Services Wanda Marino shared the vision for Children's Services: Each child in New Hanover County shall achieve a permanent sense of belonging to a family that gives security, good • health, adequate nutrition, a safe environment, a quality education and hope for the future. Page 4 of 6 • Ms. Sanders discussed targets for Children's Services. The first target is to have children in licensed care have two or fewer placements during their length of stay. The State's definition for measuring this target differs from our definition. The second target is less than 1% of children in licensed care facilities become victims of abuse and neglect. Ms. Sanders discussed strategies for meeting these targets; contracting with Methodist Home for Children for reunification services and licensing more Foster Homes to help with over crowding and burnout. New Hanover County has more licensed Foster Homes than all but one county in North Carolina. Ms. Sanders next discussed the target of achieving permanent placement for children in less than 12 months after removal and the target of 25% of the children adopted are adopted within 24 months of the Department assuming custody. There have been lots of successes with adoption. The second vision for Children's Services: New Hanover County youth will be productive, law abiding and substance abuse free at home, school, the work place and in the community. Ms. Sanders shared that we are failing this population (which grew up in our Foster Care system), as they are not getting their high school diplomas, in stable housing etc. The state mandated that DSS follow up with these youth. Through the LINKS program, these youth over age 16 may come back into custody if they are enrolled in school or vocational training. Young adults over 18 years old may become eligible for services with the same stipulations. Ms. Sanders asked for one additional employee to work as a LINKS Social Worker. The Board adjourned for lunch at 12:00 noon. The Board re-convened at 12:27 p.m. Child Support Enforcement Sam Lane shared the vision for Child Support Enforcement to ensure that non-custodial parents acknowledge and accept responsibility for the care and well being of their children through the payment of child support payments on a regular and consistent basis. Mr. Lane noted that there is a spike in child support collection this time of year due to tax refunds. Carla West noted a 6% increase in child support collection from the previous fiscal year. Ms. West shared several initiatives used for child support enforcement such as electronic monitoring of and job readiness programs for non-custodial parents. Sam Lane noted that collection of child support aids in reducing Medicaid costs. Carla West discussed the Fatherhood Conference May 6, 2007 which will address efforts to reach fathers in New Hanover County to assist them in becoming better/more responsible fathers as well as providing outreach to teenage young men to help them • avoid becoming young fathers. Page 5 of 6 • Food Assistance The vision for Food Assistance is to supplement the food purchasing power of low- income families by promptly, courteously and accurately providing food assistance benefits and educating and/or connecting them to other available resources. Mary John Brantley discussed the target for Food Assistance to increase participation of eligible citizens in New Hanover County. Ms. Brantley discussed outreach efforts to include partnering with and training staff at the Food Bank and other Food Assistance agencies as well as working with the Senior Citizens Center and various ministries. Mr. Lane discussed the potential automation updates allowing staff to visit outside agencies and have access to the Food Assistance data base. Medicaid and Health Choice Sam Lane shared the vision for Medicaid and Health Choice: To assist eligible low income individuals, families and children in obtaining access to medical services by quickly and accurately determining their eligibility for Medicaid/Health Choice and providing information to citizens to help them obtain medical coverage. Kathi Heslin explained the process of determining Medicaid eligibility for adults and . children. In FY05-06 DSS was able to reach 67% of Medicaid eligible adults/children. The goal is to increase participation of eligible citizens to 70%. One big challenge for this program are new mandates to verify citizenship in eligibility determination. Sam Lane discussed the need for health care/medical care for individuals that do not meet criteria for Medicaid and who are not insured through their employer. Mr. Nesmith and Mr. Lane are working with a group to create patient navigators that will aid this population in finding medical providers at low cost or no cost. Mr. Lane also discussed unfunded mandates such as the fishing license waiver and voter registration that requires staff time but no additional monies. Child Care Subsidy Mr. Lane shared the vision for Child Care Subsidy ensuring safe, quality, accessible and affordable child care for children in New Hanover County, supporting the independence of families by enabling responsible adults to secure and maintain employment and meet the basic needs of their children. Ms. Heslin discussed that 88.83% of children receiving child care were in 3 star or above child care facilities which surpassed the set benchmark. In February 2007, the child care waiting list was cleared after reaching nearly 400 children. It is expected that the agency will exceed the benchmark for this target this fiscal year partially through use of TANF/MOE and the Work First Demonstration grant funds. Ms. Heslin provided a breakdown of who receives child care subsidy. Mr. Lane Page 6of6 gave the financial breakdown for the program and explained the potential for additional funds from the State through the Governor's budget. Mrs. Pitts motioned to recommend an increase of Adult Services staff from 2 to 4 additional Adult Services Staff. The motioned was seconded by Mr. Craig and passed unanimously. Mr. Craig motioned to approve the budget with the afore noted amendment. The motion was seconded by Mr. Morris and passed unanimously. Next Meeting Objectives The Annual Report, Program Integrity and the Child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation will be on the April 2007 Board Meeting Agenda. SELF EVALUATIONS The Board completed self evaluations. The Board adjourned from open session 1:13p.m. Ms. Pitts moved to enter closed session as provided in G. S. 143-318.11, to consider information that is confidential pursuant to G.S. 108A-80 and/or G.S. 154A-98. The motion was seconded by Mr. Craig and passed unanimously. The Board entered closed session at 1:13 p.m. The Board returned to open session at 1:26 p.m. There being no further business the Board by consensus adjourned. Respectfully s I itte Y LaVaughn Nesmith Secretary to the Board t Frankie Ro erts Chairman Date approved: LN: scm B030907