B122011 New Hanover County
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°41' Board of Social Services
Meeting !Minutes
Multi Purpose Rooms B/C
10:00a.m.— 11:00 a.m.
The New Hanover County Board of Social Services met in open session on Tuesday.
December 20. 2011 at 10:00 in Multi Purpose Rooms B%C of the New Hanover
County Department of Social Services.
ATTENDING: John Craig. Chairman: Evelyn Bryant: Diana Woolley: Brian Berger:
Jonathan Barfield. Jr.
ALSO ATTENDING: LaVaughn Nesmith. Secretary to the Board: Stephanie
Monteath. Assistant to the Director
Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. was sworn in as a new Board member by
Stephanie Monteath. Board Chairman John Craig thanked Commissioner Berger for
his time served on the Board.
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 10:08 a.m. Mr. Craig asked for a motion
to approve the agenda. Ms. Woolley moved for approval of the agenda. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Riley and passed unanimously.
Ms. Bryant led the invocation. Ms. Woolley led the pledge of allegiance.
CONSENT AGENDA
Mr. Craig asked for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Ms. Woollev moved to
approve the consent agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Riley and passed
unanimously.
INFORMATION AGENDA
Mr. Nesmith and the Board recognized service award recipients and Jeanie
Martindale who will be retiring this month.
Ms. Woolley noted the child protective service reports have risen significantly. Ms.
Marino shared that both neglect and sexual abuse reports have really risen. Mr.
Barfield asked which type of services would be needed. Ms. Marino explained it may
he parenting classes. substance abuse counseling etc. No action was taken by the
Board. Ms. Woollev asked why the adult protective services reports are up. Ms.
Marino explained that often care takers are unable to provide the type of care an
aged disabled adult requires. As Well. often the cases reported are of self neglect.
Ms. Woolley would like to see DSS take on fewer guardianship cases. Ms.
McNamee explained that Special Assistance is a Medicaid fund that allows people to
stay in their own homes while receiving some assistance as opposed to moving into a
nursing home.
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Ms. McNamee noted that the Food and Nutrition numbers have risen significantly
since people came in for emergency assistance after the hurricane and realized they
were eligible for monthly assistance. Mr. Nesmith noted we will he discussing the
need for increasing staff in FNS at the March budget meeting.
Karen Graham explained the monthly budget expenditures. Federal dollars will he
available to pull down by the end of December. Mr. Barfield noted that NHCDSS is
an economic development partner.
No action was taken by the Board.
STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA
Child Protective Services Challenge
Patricia Robinson shared a power point presentation pertaining to the Leading By
Results indicator "Children and Families will live in Sale. Healthy and Stable
environments-. Kari Sanders discussed looking at children who receive a confirmed
report of abuse%neglect who previously had an unconfirmed report of abuse neglect.
This continues to be a challenge for the agency. A majority of the cases are from 28
different families with an assessment of"services recommended". I lowever. once the
agency stepped out of their lives. the family did not follow up with the services
implemented. Mental Health continues to be lacking or unavailable for families. One
stratep is haying an assessment of"services needed" which keeps DSS involved
with the family longer. There has been an increase of young children lacking
supervision. Ms. Woolley asked when a child is removed from the home. Ms.
Sanders said removal can occur during any stage of the assessment process. Mr.
Barfield asked how many children are in protective services right now. Ms. Sanders
said DSS gets about 200 investigations a month and 100 on-going eases. Ms. Sanders
discussed strategies to include community partners and working with the ADR center.
pre-petition hearings and blended teams (having all the previous social workers
around the table to discuss what worked and didn't work with the family). DSS now
has a prevention social worker which works through the child protective services
arena. Mr. Nesmith noted there was a prevention unit with 14 social workers which
was disassembled during the economic downturn when funding was only available
for mandated programs. This resulted in a rise in child protective services cases as
the services were no longer front loaded and supervision was not continued through
the prevention unit.
Child Custody Achievement
Brian Bocnuk discussed the numbers in foster care. while not dropping significantly
is not growing either. Result 4 in Leading By Results is Children in custodial care
will have safety. permanence and well being. The goal for this result keeps children
from re-entering foster care within 12 months of being placed. Strategies for success
in foster care include: Family Finding. a program that identifies and matches family
members with children that may not have been known before and allows for more
family placements and CARS. an agreement that allows a youth that may age out of
foster care to remain with the family group home until they finish school.
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Annual Report
Mr. Nesmith shared a copy of the New Hanover County DSS Annual Report for FY
2010%2011.
Ms. Woolley moved to accept the 2010'201 1 Annual Report. The motion was
seconded by Mr. Barfield and passed unanimously.
Next Meeting Objectives
Mid-Year Leading By Results (LBR) Review
Additional Items
Mr. Craig asked that DSS provide an orientation for Mr. Barfield. Mr. Barfield
explained that he understands the needs of the agency and thanked the agency and
looks forward to being part of the Board and moving forward.
Ms. Woolley asked for the date of the January meeting. January 17. 2012.
Ms. Bryant commended all of the staff at DSS noting she can see their passion as they
care for not only themselves but the citizens of the County.
Mr. Craig asked for a motion to adjourn. Ms. Woolley moved to adjourn at 1 1 :18
• AM. The motion was seconded by Mr. Riley and passed unanimously.
As there were no further items to discuss as provided in G.S. 154A-98 to consider
information that is confidential pursuant to G.S. 108A-80 and or G.S. 154A-98. the
board by consensus adjourned at 11 :19 AM
Respectful - submitted.
LaVaughn Nesmith.
Secretary to the Board
- [.
':1ohn E. Craig.
Chairman
B12202011
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