HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 08051997 - C121 TO: _ 'BOAAR.D OF SUPERVISORS `'�'SEL' Contra
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FROM: Costa
FAMILY & HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE s
xA. County
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DATE: August 5, 1997
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SUBJECT: PROPOSED RESPONSE TO REPORT NO. 9709 OF THE 1996-1997
GRAND JURY
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATIONS:
1 . ADOPT this report of our Committee as the Board of
Supervisors ' response to 1996-1997 Grand Jury Report No. 9709 :
"Accelerating the Placement of Court-Dependent Children. "
2 . EXPRESS the Board' s deep appreciation to Social Service
Director, John Cullen; Assistant Social Service Director Danna
Fabella, and their staff for the remarkable turnaround in the
handling of child welfare cases which is reflected in this
Grand Jury report as compared with those of prior Grand
Juries.
3 . REMOVE this item as a referral to our Committee.
BACKGROUND:
The 1996-1997 Grand Jury filed the above report, which was reviewed
by the Board of Supervisors and subsequently referred to the Family
& Human Services Committee. On July 28, 1997 our Committee met to
discuss the recommendations and review proposed responses . At the
conclusion of those discussions, we prepared this report which
clearly specifies :
A. Whether the recommendation is accepted or adopted;
B. If the recommendation is accepted, a statement as to who will
be responsible for implementation and a definite target date;
C. A delineation of the constraints if a recommendation is
accepted but cannot be implemented within the calendar year;
and
D. The reason for not adopting a recommendation.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
MARK DESAULNIER DONNA G R ER
SIGNATURE(S):
ACTION OF BOARD ON SCt 7 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS(ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. pp p
Dean Lucas 335-1077 ATTESTED I 1 I
Contact: Family & Human Services Committee PHIL BATCH OR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
cc: County Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
Superior Court Presiding Judge
Grand Jury Foreperson
County Counsel BY Q 0 DEPUTY
Social Service Director IT-
"ACCELERATING THE PLACEMENT OF COURT-DEPENDENT CHILDREN"
REPORT NO. 9709
The 1996 -97 Contra Costa County Grand Jury recommends that:
RECOMMENDATION A:
The Board of Supervisors recognize and commend the Department of
Social Services, Children's` Services Division, for the significant
progress made in implementing change, improving the adoption
process, instituting concurrent planning and decreasing the time
necessary to find permanent placement for children in court
dependency.
RESPONSE:
A. This recommendation is accepted.
B. The Board of Supervisors is truly aware of the tremendous
effort of the Children's Services Division and the strides
they have made overall in improvements to the adoption process
for Contra Costa's children. We commend the men and women of
the Division and Social Service Director John Cullen.
The Board appreciates the involvement of members of the Grand
Jury of Contra Costa County in undertaking this study and
their acknowledgement of the efforts put forth by the
dedicated people of the Social Service Separtment.
RECOMMENDATION B:
The Department of Social Services, Children' s Services Division,
continue its commitment and dedication to the process of finding
permanent placement for children in court dependency.
RESPONSE:
A. This recommendation is accepted.
B. The Board of Supervisors supports and encourages the
Department of Social Services in its continuing commitment and
dedication to the process of finding permanent placement for
children in court dependency.
F
A REP
ORT BY
` ',:THE 1996-97 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY GRAND J MY
1020 Ward Street
Martmez, California 94553 .
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�E ACCELERATING THE PLACEMENT
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} 'SECTION 933 (C) OF THE CALIFORNIA PENAL-CODE
§933. Comments and 'Reports on Grand Jury
,Recommendations.
�'. (c) No later than 90 days after the grand jury submits
F -a final report on the operations ofany public agency
subject to its reviewing authority,the governing body
of the public agency shall comment to the presiding
judge of the superior court .on-the findings and
F'. recommendations pertaining to matters under the control
of the governing body,and every elective county officer
or ;agency head for -which the grand jury has
_responsibility pursuant to Section 914.1 shall comment
-within 60 days to the presiding judge of the superior
..court, with an information copy sent to the-board of
supervisors,.on the findings and recommendations
pertaining to matters under the control of that county
officer or agency head and any agency or agencies which
t= that officer or agency head supervises or controls. -In
any city and county,the mayor shall also comment on
the findings and recommendations. All such comments
and reports shall forthwith be submitted to the presiding
judge of the superior court who impaneled the grand
jury. A copy of all responses to grand jury reports shall
be placed on file with the clerk of the public agency and
.the office of the county clerk, or the mayor when
'_applicable,and shall remain on file in those offices. One
:copy shall be placed on file with the applicable grand
jury final report by, and in the control of the currently
impaneled grand jury,where it shall be maintained for a
minimum of five years. :Legi..1961 ch.-1284, 1963
ch.674, 1974 chs.393,:1396, 1977:chs.-107,187,1980
ch.543, 1981 ch.203, 1982 ch. 1408 §5, 1985 ch.`221
§1,effective July 129 1985,1987 ch.690 §1,:1988 ch. ry
1297.
,:Cross-References
..-Admissible evidence. Penal Code'§939.6. `T
"Grand jury"•defined.=Penal Code§888..
f,
,:Grand jury report to be based only on own investigation 'Penal
:Code§939.9.
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Accelerating the Placement of Court Dependent Children
Background
Over a four year period, previous Grand Juries issued reports which were critical of the
Social Services Department, Children's Services Division, and its slow process of getting
children who are dependents of the court into permanent placement, including adoption.
Even with this attention being focused on the Department and Division, progress in
improving the situation was slow.
The last report, #9607,Planning Delays Children's Permanent Placement, by the 1995-
96 Grand Jury, was critical of the Division's performance. The Division was continually
bogged down in planning for rather than actually implementing a concurrent planning
model.
In addition, no progress on a training manual for child service workers had been made.
This lack of a training manual hindered the ability of the staff to provide up-to-date and
consistent services to children.
Because of these critical reports,the 1996-97 Grand Jury decided to revisit the issues to
see what progress has been made since last year's report.
Findings
1. The Children's Services Division has moved out of the planning stage and is
implementing a concurrent planning process to accelerate the permanent placement of
children. Social workers can identify families with potential for successful reunification
within the first three months. Concurrent planning calls for work on the long-term
placement of the child to begin within this period, thus placing a child more quickly.
2. A pilot program has been started which includes:
• restructuring of the duties of investigative, service and adoption workers.-7-
•
orkers'-• refining of assessment tools.
• the possible merging of the licensing and adoptive home study units.
• adding tta-concurrent planning component to the foster/adopt process,.
3. Seven new staff members for the concurrent planning component have been added as
a result of funding from the Governor's Adoption Initiative, and a
Supervisor/Coordinator has been appointed for the program.
4. The Social Services Department is supporting legislation (SB 154) which would }
provide funding to designate Contra Costa County as a pilot program for implementation
of concurrent planning.
5. A foster/adoptive parents recruitment program has been started through newspaper
articles, billboards and bus stop advertising as part of the concurrent planning process.
6. All staff members in Children's Services are receiving training in concurrent
planning.
7. Contra Costa County is now well ahead of most other California counties in the
development and implementation of concurrent planning.
8. In the past, workers primarily received on-the-job training. New workers now begin
classroom training at the time they enter the Department.
9. For overall training, a set of thre manuals and a forms binder have been developed
and are being used by both current and new workers. Trainees receive a set of these
binders for use as reference material on the job.
10. A revision of the Children's Services Handbook(a reference guide) was started in
January 1997 with a target for completion by the end of June 1997.
11. A new state-developed computer system, Child Welfare System/Case Maintenance
System (CWS/CMS), is in the process of being implemented. This system will track all
children's cases throughout the state when it is fully operational. The system improves
the quality of and access to information needed to accelerate case management.
12. Staff training on CWS/CMS began in February 1997. The system was scheduled to
go on-line in May 1997, but the date has slipped to July 1997 because of difficulties in
pilot programs in other counties.
13. Although most staff members are accepting the new computer system, some are
retiring rather than having to work with the system.
14. In June 1996, the Child Welfare Research Center(CWRC) of the University of
California- Berkeley reviewed the Social Services Department's progress in adoptions as
well as othemcommendations made by CWRC in 1994.
15. In adoption progress,CWRC reported that:
• even without concurrent planning in place,Contra Costa County's adoption record
has been improving.
• from FY 93/94 to FY 94/95, the number of placements made increased 92% and the
number of adoptions finalized increased almost 89%.
• overall state figures were down during this same time period.
n _
16. CWRC emphasized that the number of court continuances greatly impacts the
permanent placement of children. The causes include: time to appoint counsel for all
parties, contested hearings, late court reports, late delivery of discovery, claims of lack of
time to prepare, illness of participant(s) and failure of parents to appear.
17. Demands on the case workers' time have escalated due to the growing number of
cases and increased litigation. In the last two years these increases have been:
- New cases 16%
- Counsel appearances 16%
- Contests 26%
- Permanency hearings 44%
- Petitions 342%
- Briefs and appeals 419%
18. With only one judge and one referee to handle dependency matters, continuances
cause long periods of time between court dates,and thus increased delays in permanent
placement.
19. Family law attorneys contesting termination of parental rights are still causing long
r
delays in the permanent placement of children.
Conclusions
1. The Social Services Department has made significant progress toward implementing
the concurrent planning process.
2. Good progress is being made in placing more children in adoptive homes.
3. The dedication of management and staff in the Social Services Department to the
concept of concurrent planning has now placed Contra Costa County at the forefront of
California counties.
4. The Children's Services Division has done an excellent job in developing training
manuals, using them in training and placing them in the hands-of social workers as
reference materials for carrying out their responsibilities.
5. The fact that new staff members are placed into training immediately upon entering
the job is a significant improvement.
6. The new computer system, CWS/CMS, is a major step forward. It will force
standardization in the way things are done.
7. The state-wide database of CWS/CMS will enable the Children's Services staff to do 1
a better job.
8. The favorable review by CWRC is an indication of the positive attitude and progress
of the people working with concurrent planning and permanent placement.
9. The burgeoning litigation workload requires excessive staff time and is detrimental to
finding permanent solutions for children.
10. In the face of increasing litigation, having only one judge and one referee to handle
dependency cases works against the children's interests by further delaying permanent
placement.
11. Family law attorneys continue to delay permanent placement of children.
Recommendations
The 1996-97 Contra Costa County Grand Jury recommends that:
A. the Board of Supervisors recognize and commend the Department of Social
Services, Children's Services Division, for the significant progress made in
implementing change, improving the adoption process, instituting concurrent
planning and decreasing the time necessary to find permanent placement for
children in court dependency.
B. the Department of Social Services, Children's Services Division, continue its
commitment and dedication to the process of finding permanent placement for
children in court dependency.
Comments
The staff and management of the Social Services Department and Children's Services
Division are to be commended for the progress they have made in FY 96/97.'.they have
moved from seemingly endless planning to implementation. Their attitude now is one of
making things happen and putting the interests of children first_ Their challenge is to
solidify the-progress that has been made and move on to even better performance in the
permanent placement of children.
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