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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 01051993 - IO.3 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS I .O.-3 Contra ,. FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE \ ' Costa ^! - ��,�_.� County DATE: December 14, 1992 r�.cuuvr SUBJECT: REPORT ON EFFORTS TO RECRUIT AND RETAIN FOSTER PARENTS SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1 . Accept the attached report from the Social Services Director on the status of the Department' s efforts to recruit and retain foster parents . 2 . Oppose any efforts by the State of California to assume from the counties the responsibility for the licensing of family foster homes on the basis that the ability to recruit and license foster homes is an essential element in the County' s ability to place and supervise children who require placement in a foster home. Authorize the Social Services Director and the County' s lobbyist to represent this position in appropriate administrative and legislative forums . 3 . Request the Social Services Director to bring the debate regarding which level of government should license family foster homes to the attention of The Children' s Lobby (Sherry Skully) and seek their support for the County' s position in this matter. 4 . Congratulate .the Social Services Department on "The Heritage Project" which is designed to identify, license, train and support individuals from the Richmond and Pittsburg communities to become professional foster parents and to train and provide support services to relatives who care for drug exposed children. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COU Y TRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COM ITTEE APPROVE R RODER SUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARD ON detnaetry. 5, ±9 93 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE Xr 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. ATTESTED Contact: PHIL BATC LOR,CLERK THE BOARD OF cc: County Administrator SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Social Services Director Les Spahnn, SRJ. .IJackson, Barish & Associates BY DEPUTY I.O.-3 5 . Request the Social Services Director to report to the 1993 Internal Operations Committee when and as often as events relating to the responsibility to license foster homes requires the Board' s attention, but no later than December 13, 1993 . This report should again include data on the recruitment and retention of foster parents as well as any other subjects the Social Services Director wishes to bring to our attention. 6 . Remove this item as a referral to the 1992 Internal Operations Committee and instead refer it to the 1993 Internal Operations Committee for the purpose of continuing to provide oversight to the whole subject of foster care and specifically to the issue of the County' s continued responsibility to recruit and license foster homes . BACKGROUND: Our Committee has had on referral throughout 1992 the effort the Social Services Department has made to recruit and retain an adequate supply of foster homes to meet the County' s placement needs . On December 14, 1992, our Committee met with Perfecto Villarreal, Social Services Director; Yvonne Bullock, Assistant Social Services Director; Linda Waddington, Division Manager; Nancy Carey, Licensing Supervisor; and Sheryl Walton-Rashid, Director of The Heritage Project. As the attached report from the Social Services Director indicates, these efforts during 1992 have resulted in maintaining the same number of foster homes, although suffering a 4% decline in licensed beds . In view of the fact that the number of children placed in foster homes in the County also declined by 2 .5%, this does not appear to be a negative result. Mr. Villarreal advised us that the State has been discussing taking over the responsibility for licensing family foster homes as a means of keeping many of their employees who would otherwise have to laid off because of the State' s budget problems . Our Committee agrees with the Department' s position that the ability to recruit and license foster homes is an essential element in the County' s ability to fulfill its responsibility to place and supervise children who require foster care. We are therefore recommending that the Board of Supervisors oppose such efforts and take steps to block any such efforts on the State' s part. Our Committee was also very pleased with the briefing we received on The Heritage Project, as is reflected in the attached brochure. We believe that the 1993 Internal Operations Committee should continue to provide oversight to the subject of foster care. -2- P I. The Heritage Project Contra Costa County Social Services ................... 30 Muir Road Martipez, CA 94553 West Co. (510) 231-0311 East Co. (510) 778-2788 Central Co. ;; (510) 646-1410 The Heritage Y Proj.es:. R i f ► Recruitment of Foster Homes : and Relatives IV ail ► Placement of Drug Exposed1;,, Children ► Training in the Care of Special Needs Children 10- Respite and Support Services �_�•. '� r: I Our Goal Benefits To You Th The Heritage Project is a.Contra Costa 36 hours'of certified training f. County Social Services specialized . is offered to equip you with the tools to recruitment.proj ect. It is designed to best care;for these special needs infants identify;.:license, train and support and children. Some.of,the topics include individuals from the Richmond and Pittsburg nutrition, community'resources and communities to become professional foster.. services, drug abuse and recovery, i parents and to train and provide support attachment and bonding;•hands on care of services:to relatives who care for drug the drug exposed child and tlieir_me&cal exposed children.. These families will , conditions, as well as general-foster care provide temporary care for alcohol/drug -information. College credit in child exposed.and HIV positive infants and development is offered if requested. -toddlers ages 0-5. This project is aimed at matching the children ethnically and culturally to homes that meet their needs • 48 hours of monthly respite while the birth.parents are working toward (time off) is provided. the return of their child/children. If v1 The Heritage Project is a component ofMonthly support groups • . . 1 Contra Costa County's "Options For include networking, sharing experiences Recovery Program." :The program's goal is and resources,.obtaining professional • to break the intergenerational cycle.of services, receiving parenting workshops, substance abuse of mothers who want to..stop eating and attending fun filled and enjoy- . • . using drugs and/or alcohol. able acti.vf'tics. Unlike traditional foster care programs, The .- Heritage Project works intimately with birth A higher specialized monthly rate •. mothers during their recovery process with for foster families is developed for each • the goal.of reunifying the family. individual child. The child's medical and I dental needs are covered by Medi-Cal. Be a part of this effort and join this collabora tive team to rebuild our families by sharing • your home. There's always room. Preserve. . I . our heritage. . .we've always taken care of our children ... .our future. I ,i �l till lama The Requrements we Need You in Other Ways J. ols to .rants nclude care of ;edical ~' ;r. care Id If you ARE . . . !I If you are a relative caring for drug exposed children or considering becoming a foster • living in Richmond or Pittsburg parent and live in East or West counties of :fences . single or married Contra Costa, please call Sheryl Walton- . nal Rashid, Project Manager, at any of the :shops, • with or without children following numbers: 3 enjoy- • living in an apartmi nt or home. • financially providing for yourself 1231-0311 • able to provide adequate space which is 1 ) 778-2788 clean, safe and secure for another child Central Co. (510) 646-1410 ly rate 0 willing to complete foster care orientation :each , i If you are unable to care for a child in your at home or working and have a support home, but want to help in other ways fill out iical and network I and return the attached forin to invite us to Cal. • willing to complete 3C hours of speak or provide literature to your church specialized training and/or professional or social organization. Or • able to meet licensing regulations such as volunteer at an information booth to inform fingerprinting and;TB clearances others of the need of homes for our children and available services to relatives. "G (� z CD m . .� _C 7 h i rt M ro O Qo fD : :. o: 3 O ry CTO .-. X1�11 J V V =. "We've always taken care o N N our children . . . our future. " y � n -0 �. Created and Written by Sheryl Walton-Rashid Designed hy.Ron Weisberg&: Sheryl Walton-Rashid cn Photographs by Kathy Siccant E,' cr .-- SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT CONTRA COSTA COUNTY TO Claude Van Marter . DATE November 19, 1992 Assistant County Administrator FROM Perfecto Villarreal, Director cc Social Service Department a �USta RECEIVED SOBJ FOSTER PARENT RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION PROJECT UPDATE D�E C > 1992 Office Of ntY Administrato- Attached please find the report to be presented to the Internal Operations Committee on Monday, December 14, 1992, at 10: 30 a.m. Additional copies for distribution are also attached. Yvonne Bullock and Linda Waddington will make a brief verbal presentation of this report and will be prepared to respond to questions. The last report was submitted in December 1991. The Department was asked to report back one year later with an update on three specific items: 1. Number of total foster families 2. Number of available foster beds 3. Number of foster families recruited through Department efforts versus families licensed to care for a specific child. The attached report addresses these areas. In addition, we have continued our policy of providing pertinent data on retention of foster homes as well as comments on areas covered in the last report. PV/NC:ds Attachment FostPar.Rpt CS-disk 1 Gen 9c (New 3/86) FOSTER PARENT RECRUITMENT AND 'RETENTION PROJECT UPDATE November 10, 1992 Six prior reports" have been submitted semi-annually since April 1989. In December 1991 the Board agreed that henceforth this would become an annual report. The purpose of the reports is to provide background information on Foster Parent recruitment and retention. This update, in accordance with the request of the Internal Operations Committee, covers these specific areas: 1. The number of licensed foster homes 2. The number of available foster beds 3. The number of foster families obtained through our recruitment efforts versus families licensed to care for a specific child. We have continued; our policy of including relevant data on other areas of particular interest, such as retention of foster homes, as well as data on future recruitment plans. Number of Foster Homes Licensed as of November 1. 1991 The attached report dated November 18, 1991, provided data from May 1, 1991, through October 31, 1991. The current report, along with updated material and charts, provides data from November 1, 1991, through October 31, 1992. From November 1, 1991, through October 31, 1992, we have issued 142 new licenses for foster care. During this same period we lost an equal number of foster homes, or 142 foster homes. There was neither a net increase nor decrease in the total number of licensed homes during this last year. (See Attachments A and C) Number of Beds Available During this report period the total number of beds available has decreased from 1, 186 to, 1, 140 for a loss of 46 beds or 4%. (See Attachments B and' D) Number of Homes Obtained Through Our Recruitment Efforts vs. Families Licensed for a Specific Child The following data was obtained through our Social Service Reporting System (SSRS) and was cross checked manually in order to ensure total accuracy. Foster Parent Recruitment & Retention Project Update -2- November 10, 1992 As reported earlier, 142 homes were newly licensed during this report period. Of this number, 74 homes were licensed for general foster care, 55 homes were licensed for a particular child but were also available for general foster care. This breaks down to a 61%/39% split, with about 61% of the new homes licensed as a direct result of our recruitment activities--along with the outstanding recruitment efforts of our existing foster families. Retention We have added this section to each report since the Department is well aware that supportive efforts spent on maintaining our current licensed ,foster homes is as important as recruiting new ones. We have kept accurate statistics as foster homes were closed in an effort to improve our retention factor by assessing what prompted the closure of each home. Of the 142 licensed homes closed from November 1, 1991, through October 31, 19920 1. 72 homes (52%) were licensed for a specific child. When the child turned 18 or left the home for any reason, the foster family indicated that they were no longer interested in foster care. 2 . 25 homes (17%) were closed due to personal changes within the family unit, such as divorce, death of a family member, etc. 3 . 22 homes (15%) were closed when the family moved out of Contra Costa County. 4 . 13 homes (9%) were closed due to a decision within the Licensing Unit to take administrative action leading to revocation of the license. This area has not been addressed in previous reports. We felt the number of revocation actions were significant enough to include in this report. The action to revoke a license is a serious one, never taken lightly. Nevertheless, it is necessary at times in order to ensure the safety of the children placed in the foster care system. 5. 10 homes (7%) were closed due to families leaving the county to work for private agencies. The number of families going to these agencies has increased by 1% since our last report. Once again, these families have opted to work with Families First, an agency dealing with hard-to-place children and drug-exposed infants. Two factors may account for the slight increase in licenses turning to private agencies. a. We have- had fewer babies coming into the system. Foster Parent Recruitment & Retention Project Update -3- November 10, 1992 b. We have made adjustments in our Difficult-To-Care (DOC) Program that have resulted in a lower payment rate for many of our children in placement. It should be noted that more than half of the families who leave the county agency for private agencies end up returning to the county foster care program within one year. Staff Activities There have been several significant staff changes since the last report. Our Director, James Rydingsword, retired last summer and was replaced by Perfecto Villarreal. Our Assistant Director, Rose Manning, retired and was replaced last summer by Yvonne Bullock. Within the Licensing Unit one full-time licensing worker left for another position. . Fortunately we were able to replace the vacancy with a worker who had been in the Licensing Unit a few years ago. This worker's experience and high energy level has considerably raised the morale within the unit. The total number of staff has remained constant with: one full- time clerk, one back-up clerk (two days per week) , 4.5 licensing workers and one foster family recruiter. Our recruiter continues to provide on-going orientation meetings throughout the county which are well attended. Two sessions are required prior to; licensing in order to provide vital training and allow for additional speakers--ranging from a public health nurse to an experienced foster parent. Thus, prospective applicants can obtain valuable first-hand information on foster care. During the period' from November 1, 1991, through October 31, 1992, approximately 763 people attended orientation county-wide. The majority were. from West County (341) , with 247 from East County and 175 from Central County. These meetings continue to be advertised weekly in several local newspapers as well as public service television. Approximately one-third of those attending orientation were in attendance due to media advertise- ment. The remainder were referred by Social Service workers or were responding due to recruitment efforts from our foster family community. During this report period we continued to receive several calls a day within the Licensing Unit inquiring about foster care. All calls are responded to personally by our recruiter or a licensing worker. Each caller receives specific information on foster care and is invited to; attend an orientation meeting. We received approximately 934. calls during this report period. The majority continues to come from West County (58%) , with 30% from East Foster Parent Recruitment & Retention Project Update -4- November 10, 1992 County and 12% from Central. The recruiter/developer, in addition to orientations, continues the following activities: 1. Publishes a Ouarterly Newsletter for Foster Parents Our newsletter is praised throughout the Bay Area and has served as a model for neighboring counties. We have attached a copy for each committee member. (See Attachment E) The newsletter provides up-to-date information on vital areas such as training for foster families as well as health care and school enrollment issues. It is also a way of welcoming new licensees and saying good-bye to licensed homes when they move on. 2. Liaison with' the Foster Care Education Program at our Community Colleges The recruiter continues to work with Sarah Monser at Diablo Valley College, and Intasar Shariff at Contra Costa College. Through their coordinated efforts, we are able to provide foster parents with training in such areas as CPR and behavior management. The recruiter publishes current college training schedules for foster care and encourages Social Workers to refer foster parents to training events. 3. Liaison with the Foster Parent Association There have been significant changes within the Foster Parent Association this year. Jose Olagues completed his two-year term as President of the Association in January 1992. He was succeeded by Douglas Borchert. In October. 1992 Mr. Borchert stepped down and Stephen Warga was made Acting President of the Association. We will miss the outstanding efforts of Mr. Olagues but look forward to working closely with Mr. Warga in the near future. 4. Participation in the Bay Area Family Finders (group of Bay Area recruiters) 5. Coordination. of Our Subsidized Emergency Foster Homes The recruiter has an on-gping program for arranging new emergency home contracts and for processing monthly emergency home demands. In addition, the recruiter maintains a log of accrued vacation time for each contracted . emergency home. 6. Handling of Foster Parent Mailings The recruiter works closely with the Foster Parent Association officers to arrange for timely mailings on association meetings county-wide. In addition, the recruiter facilitates mailings on current events and . Foster Parent Recruitment ' & Retention Project Update -5- November 10, 1992 specific benefits for foster children, such as free glasses provided by Lens Crafters in November, and the Foster Parent Retreat in the Spring. On May 30, 1992, our foster. parents county-wide were recognized at a luncheon at Mira Vista Golf and Country Club in Richmond. Two families were honored for thirty years of service and two others were honored for •twenty-five years. Every foster parent attending received a door prize and a special presentation was given to former Association President, Jose Olagues, and his wife, Beverly, for their outstanding efforts as advocates for children. Our former Assistant Director, Rose Manning, received an award from the Foster Parent Association for her dedicated efforts in working with .the agency as well as foster parents. Other foster parents received awards for five, ten, fifteen and twenty years of service. New Programs In April 1992, as a result of a state grant, the Department began the "Heritage Project" under the Options for Recovery Program. A minority foster home recruiter was selected and began targeting efforts in the West end of Contra Costa County. The recruiter collaborates closely with our licensing staff in her efforts to recruit, train and arrange respite care for minority families in the Heritage Project. These minority families provide foster care for young children of substance abusers who are in drug and alcohol programs throughout the county. This program is especially vital to the agency at this time as we make increasing efforts to place foster children in homes which reflect their racial and cultural heritage. On December 19, 1991, our county initiated its trans-racial placement policy in response to legislation on the state level effective July 1, 1991, (Civil Code 275) , which mandates "priority consideration of a child's racial/cultural heritage" . We are excited about the Heritage Project and believe it will enable us to begin to break the inter-generational cycle of substance abusing mothers who want to stop their destructive habits and re-unify with their children. Accomplished Goals 1. As stated in our last two reports, the current licensing staff is doing an admirable job in significantly reducing the number of pending applications. At this time there are 67 applications pending. Usually cases have been assigned for a licensing study but completion is delayed because of delays in completing the required paperwork and clearances of the applicants. 2 . We continue our focus on minority recruitment, especially in the West County area. With the addition of our Heritage . Foster Parent Recruitment & Retention Project Update -6- November 10, 1992 .Project recruiter, we feel certain that our efforts will be increasingly); successful. 3 . Our county continues -to participate, along with five Bay Area counties, in the Channel 5 "Waiting Child" Program. As explained in' our May 1991 report, this program is presented by Weatherman, Brian Sussman, and provides weekly profiles of special needs children throughout the Bay Area. All callers are funneled through the United Way agency in San Francisco. This agency then refers callers to the appropri- ate county for follow-up. Our county received the second highest number of calls (18%) during the second quarter of 1992. The majority of callers are families of African- American ethnicity (42%) . Three of the children that Contra Costa County aired during this last report year have found adoptive homes as a result of this program! (See Attachment F) This program continues to provide our county with additional resources for targeting our minority communities. Future Plans for 1992-1993 It is important to recognize that the number of children in foster care placement at the end of the fiscal year (June 1992) was 941. This number reflects a reduction of approximately 2. 5% from the figures gathered in June 1991. We believe that the emphasis our county places on preserving the family unit may explain the decrease in children placed in foster care. However, we believe that there will continue to be a need for well- trained, caring foster families to provide homes for our dependent children. We will continue to reduce the number of beds in a foster home, whenever necessary, in order to ensure the highest standards': of nurturing for our foster children. This is evident in the 4%; reduction of beds reflected in this report. We see this decision as a positive one as we look to our foster homes, rather than costly group homes, to care for increasingly disturbed children. We are hopeful that through positive efforts and the input of creative staff that we will meet this challenge. FP11-92 .Rpt CS-disk 1 ATTACHMENT A November 1991-October 1992 New Licenses Terminated Licenses November 1991 11 13 December 1991 17 11 January 1992 8 8 February 1992 15 10 March 1992 8 11 April 1992 6 7 May 1992 9 8 June 1992 17 18 July 1992 10 14 August 1992 14 18 September 1992 11 9 October 1992 16 15 Total 142 142 ATTACHMENT B November 1991-October 1992 Number of Number of Licensed Homes Available Beds November 1991 505 1,186 December 1991 511 1,183 January 1992 511 1,175 February 1992 516 1,175 March 1992 513 1,171 April 1992 512 1,165 May 1992 513 1,171 June 1992 512 1,163 July 1992 508 1,160 August 1992 504 1,156 September 1992 506 1,149 October 1992 505 1,140 Total 6,116 13,994 The Same--No Increase or Loss of 46 beds Decrease or 4% U H rn z \ w U N d' rn F \ F rn N 00 N N CA 01 \ M O ry N 0) O1 rl N 0) Ln W it N � 01 V1 \ .0 %1 N C Ol .cj r M a 0 � N G� O1 N z N 01 r-� O1 N r-1 O1 O in O LO O In O LO O LO O LO O LO O N r-1 H O O m O1 w w 1- I, 1O w m m lf1 lfl 111 ll7 lt7 IP v d' d' d' d' d' d' d' dr A z \ W O x Q N 01 co � N O ~ N O� rl � rl 1D N O ON x LO M N M C - CA V N w 0 'V N !Q4, 0) co N U 'c N 0) 1-1 r-I 0) N r-I 0) ri In O In O LO O In O LO O LO O U1 O ul O 0) 0) OD OD I- 1- %D %D to In d' d' Cl) M N N r-I r-I H H r-I H r-1 r-1 r-1 r1 r-1 r-1 ri r-I ri r-I r-I r-1 H r-I r-1 H r-I r-I r-1 r-I ri r-1 r-I r-I r^1 r I f•r•r• ti�ti fY •:ti�ti� The Foster Family .Forum a newsletter for foster parents .published by the Contra Costa County Department of Social Services. Characteristics of Children Fall 1092 In Placement In Contra Costa County In This Issue: 1, Monthly Average for Fiscal Year Ending June 1992 Children in Placement 2. • The total number of children in placement in Contra Heritage Program Costa County averaged 2,408 for the fiscal year ending 3. June 1992. Education • Of the total children in placement,almost half(46%) were living with relatives.Approximately 53%of black 4' children were placed with relatives while 36%of white Welcome, New Foster Parents children were with family. Vacancies • Of the 941 children placed in foster family homes 5. (nonrelative,nonguardian)477 were black,373 white, Foster Parent Association 56 Hispanic and 35 had other ethnic backgrounds. Respite Program • Girls in placement slightly outnumbered boys. 6. • Six out of 10 children were over 5 years of age.The DOC Training percentages of children by age were:0-2(19%),3-5 7. (21%),6-10(29%),11-14(18%), 15 and older(13%). Tutoring Resources • 264 children were in group homes or other facility types. Reading **Data compiled 6y State of California, Health & Welfare 8• Agency,Department of Social Services. Race Against Drugs The Heritage Project The Heritage Project is a Contra Costa County Social Service specialized recruitment project. It is designed to identify, license,train and support individuals from the Richmond,San Pablo, Pittsburg and Antioch communities to become foster parents and to train and provide support services to relatives who care for drug exposed children 0-3. A small number of county licensed foster parents from the same communities who are currently licensed for 0-3 and who can provide long-term placement will also be assessed for the project. All licensed homes must keep 1-2 vacancies available for the project children.This project is aimed at matching the children ethnically and culturally to homes that meet their j needs while the birth parents are working toward the return +�II of their child/children. The Heritage Project is a component of Contra Costa County's "Options for Recovery Program". The program's goal is to break the intergenerational cycle of substance abuse of mothers who want to stop using drugs and/or alcohol. Unlike traditional foster care programs,The Heritage Project works intimately with birth mothers during their recovery 1 process with the goal of reunifying the family. 36 hours of certified training is offered to provide the best possible care for these special needs infants and children. Some of the topics include nutrition, community resources and services, drug abuse and recovery, attachment and bonding, hands-on care of the drug- exposed child and their medical conditions, as well as general foster care information. College credit in child development is offered and free child care for all children in the home is provided at the college. First preference for training is for foster parents and relatives whose children's mothers are in the Options for Recovery Program.Second preference is to prospective and newly licensed homes and thirdly to licensed foster homes. Twelve weeks of training has begun in West County at Contra Costa College. Over 40 participants are enrolled. A second session will be provided next year in fragile infant training. Recruitment and training will start in East.County early next year. Forty-eight hours of monthly respire is provided once training is completed and child is placed. Currently the respite component is still being designed. Respite will be provided to all Heritage families. First preference will be given to caregivers of children of moms in the Options Program,to homes who care for fragile children and those homes without a support system in place.Secondly,to all other foster families. Monthly support groups include networking, sharing experiences and resources, obtaining professional services, etc. In West County it will be held at Sojourner Truth Presbyterian Church located near Contra Costa College campus. Sheryl Walton-Rashid, Director, will facilitate groups, provide guest speakers and MAPP training as needed. A higher specialized monthly rate is developed for each individual child depending on what the family must do to care for the child and the number of training hours completed. The child's medical and dental needs are covered by Medi-Cal. If you are unable to be a part of the Heritage Project but want to help ill other ways, invite us to speak or.provide literature to your church and/or professional or social organization. Or volunteer at an information boothto Editor's COI'f1eC inform others of the need for homes for our children and available services ::. to relatives. Sheryl Walton-Rashid, Heritage Project Director, began with the Project in i Let us know what you would April 1992. She brings with her to Contra Costa County experience in iiii like to read about in the recruitment, training and respite. She ran the same program in Alameda. ::; Forum. County. She looks forward to developing and implementing a successful and positive support system for all families of Options for Recovery. We invite your input! Sheryl Walton-Rashid West Co. (510) 231-0311 East Co. (510) 778-2788 Jan McDonald Central Co. (510) 646-1410 Foster Family's Forum Education Foster Care Education Program Both Diablo Valley College and Contra Costa College offer classes developed specifically for foster parents. Coming programs of special interest: Diablo Valley College Contra Costa College Judges Day Urban Retreat November 7, 1992 November 13& 14, 1992 Panel: Judge John C. Minney, Referee Bruce "An overnight adventure to explore our curiosity, Sterling, CASR Coordinator Millie Gilson, Social creativity and playfulness." Service Supervisor Mary Jensen Presenters: Marijo--Storyteller; Linda Tregle, M.A. Time: 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Dance; Francione Allen, PhD, Artist/Educator Where: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 4000 Clayton Road,Concord Time: 4:00 p.m.Fri. - 4:00 p.m.Sat. Limited Child Care Available-Lunch$5.00 Where: Westminster Retreat,Alamo Pre-registration Required Pre-registration Essential Call Intisar Shareef at 233-5103 Call Sara Monser at 944-1664 CPR and First Aid One adult in the foster home is required to have up-to-date CPR and First Aid Certificates which cover all ages of children. This is a state-mandated licensing regulation and Licensing workers are required to monitor your compliance. Have your certificate available for the worker at the time of your renewal. Training in CPR and First Aid is available on a limited basis through the Foster Care Education Program and is free of charge to foster parents and applicants. Classes are limited in size and space is reserved for those signing up. It is important for anyone who signs up for a class and then finds himself/herself unable to attend to call and cancel in advance of the class date. For Central and East County call Sara Monser;for West County call Intisar Shereef. Training is also available through local Park and Recreation Districts, Adult Education, Hospitals and Community Colleges. FEES VARY.The numbers for some of these resources are listed below. Park and Recreation Districts: Adult Education: Colleges: Antioch-757-0900 Lafayette-284-2232 Acalanes-935-0170 DVC-685-1310 Concord-671-3271 Martinez-372-3510 Martinez-228-3276 LMC-439-2181 Dublin-833-6645 Pittsburg-439-3440 Mt.Diablo-685-7340 CCC-235-7800 Pl. Hill-676-5200 Walnut Creek-943-5848 Richmond-234-4636 Also: American Red Cross-687-3030(Concord);233-2929(Richmond) American Heart Ass'n-827-1600 1 Hospitals: Brookside-237-4636 Delta Memorial-779-7247 Doctors-724-5000 Save These Dates Sara Monser reminds everyone to save dates April 23,24&25, 1993,for the Annual Foster Parent Retreat to be held in Los Gatos. Start working on your child care plans now! Foster Family'f Forum ELIULUXLEW Welcome, New Foster Parents West Sharon Bartlett •Patricia Bell • Marion Berry • Martha Greene •I.aEunice Guydon • Virginia Hill •Kenneth Jordan • Dorothy Matlock •Michael McKenzie • Diane and James McLean • Wendy Kim �mathers • Angela a►:d 1'_Xland Smith Central Robin Adams • Janice and Arnold Chung • Jude and Bruce Holdsworth s Louise and Ernest Johnson • Vi and Sam Lyall • Marie and Moses Miller • Robin Campbell and Sywcster Peter • Linda and Darrow Richardsen East Mary Brown • Vearis and Jessie Calomee • Mary Gray • Tami Lewis and Debra Loya • Linda and David Matteri • Laverne Minor • Joyce McCarthy • Deborah and Camden McConnell • Donna and Eddie Ribay • Rebel and David Underwood Licensing Staff S + 11.t. g# g e Jan McDonald,Diane Grossman-Johnson,Pcarlinc King,Ruth Watkins,Steve Schneider and Joe Barry. (Missing: Nancy Carey,Mary Gianno and Debra Nelson!) Foster Family`s Forum !Foster Parent Association Monthly Meetings The Vice Presidents ,f the! Foster Parent Association hold monthly meetings in Martinez, Antioch and Richmond. Meetings focus on FRA. business, education and group support. All foster parents are invited to attend and a special invitation is extended to newly licensed families. Martinez: Antioch: When:2nd Thursday of each month When:3rd Friday of each month Time:9:30-11:30 a.m. Time:9:30-11:30 a.m. Where: Cathy Behrendt's home,3203 Elmquist Ct. Where:Cathy Van Dykes home,508 Kean Ave. For more information call Cathy at 370-1616 For more information call Cathy at 754-0857 Richmond: Call Felicia Germany for details at 215-2673. California State Foster Parf;nt Annual Membership Meeting Association '' October 16, 1992 Annual Training;Conference i By the time the Forum reaches you, the 1992 When:November 12-15,1992 General Election of FPA officers will have been Where:San Diego,California,Red Lion Hotel held. Positions up for election were: West County Contact one of the CCC Foster Parent Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer and Regional Representative. (In order to vote in Association Association Vice-Presidents for more information. business one must be a dues paying member.) Doug Borchert, who assumed the presidency in January 1992,has resigned his position. Steve Warga P has been Acting President since that time. By law changes were to be voted on at the October.16th meeting, which would give the Board authority to �'. appoint a President for the remainder of the term of T,IME ® Nice. RTime-Out Nursery S The Family Stress Center in Concord has a Time-Out Nursery which is available to foster parents with j; children ages 0-6 free of charge. Foster parents can have an afternoon or evening off on a weekly basis. R Nursery hours are 1-5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesdays there are three sessions: 1-5, 3-7 and 5-8 p.m. Give yourselves a break and arrange to make use of this program. One group of foster mothers regularly i' uses this respite time to get together for dinner. The Family Stress Center 2086 Commerce Avenue Concord,CA 94520 827-0212 Foster FamilyW Forum Difficulty Of Care Beginning in July, we implemented some refinements to our Difficulty of Care (DOC) system. The two main complaints we had received from foster parents concerned 1) the delay between the foster parent's request for DOC and the decision on the request; and 2) the subjective nature of the rating. We tried to speed up the processing of requests and make the system at least somewhat less subjective. In order to accomplish this goal, we revised both the procedures and the forms used. Process DOC rate approvals for children placed within this county by the Social Service Department will now be done in the districts. Depending on the rate level, approval is either by the Unit Supervisor or by the Child Welfare. Division Manager.In either case,a uniform point system is used to calculate the rate. . There was no change in the process for children placed by the Probation Department cases or for children placed out of county. Forms The main changes in the forms are that they are now organized by the child's age and there is a separate form that you,as a foster parent,complete and sign describing what you are agreeing to do to help the child. Review We will be reviewing all current DOC cases between the months of July and October.Your social worker will be contacting you to renew your DOC under the revised system. Because social workers have not always been diligent about noting the child's improvement,we expect that when we do a thorough assessment of the current situation, many payments will decrease. Even if the child in your home has not improved significantly since the last DOC renewal,you may see a decrease in your rate.As you know from the newspaper accounts, the County is.having severe budget problems and needs to be more fiscally conservative in every area.In the past the County paid no more than 5%of the cost of DOC.Now the county must pay up to 60%of that cost. Criteria There has been no change in either the criteria for DOC or the items covered.There is a basic assumption that foster children are generally more needy than other children.However,there are those children whose needs are far greater than other foster children. Essentially DOC is intended to acknowledge the extra care and supervision provided those children for problems which are not age related. And,there is the expectation that, in most cases, the child will improve as a result of the extra care; and that as they improve, the DOC will decrease. What you can do The more specific and descriptive you are in completing the DOC request. form, the easier it is to get a clear picture of what the child is like. That is, instead of saying"long difficult feedings", describe how many minutes each feeding takes.Also,remember that special training that you use for the:care of a child may effect the DOC rate.Please keep documentation of such training so you can pass this information along to the social worker. Sheri Ferguson Program Specialist Editor's note:If a foster parent doesn't agree with the DOC rate approved for a particular child he/she can discuss the problem with the Social Worker. If the problem isn't resolved reconsideration by the Unit Supervisor can be requested.From there a request for review by the Division Manager can be made. A foster parent has a right to request a state hearing when there is disagreement over the amount of an approved/changed DOC rating. This process is outlined on the back of each Notice of Action. In instances where foster parent and Social Worker disagree as to whether a DOC rate should be requested the foster parent can contact the Unit Supervisor and then the Child Welfare Division Manager. Foster Family* Forum Training Records Free Eyeglasses Difficulty of Care Rates p provide a training Lens Crafters, located in the Sun Valley Mall incentive allowance as a way of compensating Concord, is again offering free eyeglasses to foster foster parents who have special skills/training children! used in the care of a particular child with special needs. The Licensing Unit will be responsible for tt Call Ann or Kaye at 682-8884 by the end of maintaining an on-going record of training for November for an appointment. each foster parent which' will eventually be available to placement workers as they process tt A limited number of free exams are available. DOC requests. Fittings for glasses will take place December 19th It is important for foster parents to keep records -starting at 5:00 p.m. on all training completed and be able to provide documentation for Licensing workers at the time of renewal. Tonight at the dinner table, read something Tutoring Resources out loud to I: your family. Listed below are programs[which offer tutoring Tomorrow night, free of charge to children Ilin the West County let another member area. read something. A news story. A bible verse. Neighborhood House of North Richmond A Robert Frost poem. Education Program A cereal box panel. 1442 York Street History. Humor. Richmond, CA Anything! 235-2643 Each night, a different family member Project Pride can read a selection. Housing Authority of Contra Costa County Imagine the wide range 1595 N.Jade Street of subjects your family will read in 365 days. N. Richmond, CA What a stimulating way 231-0279 to have your children Richmond Unified School District develop good reading habits. 1108 Bissell We have 23 million Richmond, CA illiterate adults 234-3825 ext. 2178 in America. Has list of private tutors. We wouldn't have one, If each of them had For information on programs which are available been served reading for a fee, call the Richmond Public Library, as part of their 620-6557. nightly diet. It's non-fattening, Enog but enriching. = C = And it doesn't cost A NTT E T T a dime. H E Y E Y "From Cover to Cover" Friends of Lafayette Library.Spring 1992 Foster Family's Forum AKX 16thAnnual ...:.:::..:::.................... :.»....... ...»»...:::......:..�............ s Holiday Run/Walk Against Drugs Contra Costa County Saturday, December 5, 1992 Social Service Department Purpose: } Perfecto Villarreal, Director *. To promote a drug-free, healthy lifestyle. * To build self-esteem. Foster Family Forum Newsletter * To increase community awareness about substance abuse problems. * To develop a partnership in our community to Editor: Jan McDonald fight the problem of substance abuse. € * To instill in our community's youth-"Fitness can € Publication Technician: Patty Molina be fun." x Sponsored by Delta Kiwanis to benefit: Contributors: Sheri FergusonFergusonLens Crafters of Concord -Delta Kiwanis Key Club- Tom TorlaksonShe Walton-Rashid -Panther Striders Running Club- -Kiwanis Construction Club- -(AII Youth Clubs) - A Drug Free School Event } Contributions and ideas for the newsletter can be addressed to: 1 Mile Walk/Run Jan McDonald 3 Mile Walk/Run Social Service Department 10K Run 30 Muir Road Martinez,CA 94553 For Information call: (510) 757-2427 646-2710 Contra Costa County Social Service Department 30 Muir Road Martinez, CA 94553 Foster Family's Forum The United Way Information and Referral service Foster Care and Adoption Quarterly Report April 1992 - June 1992 Number of Requests The United Way Information and Referral service received a total of 390 requests for information on foster care and adoption during the second quarter of 1992, including 172 calls for the Waiting Child Program. Client Demography 33% . (128) of the call 'rs reside in Alameda County, 18% (72) in Contra Costa County, 13% (50) from San Francisco County, 10% (38) from Santa Clara County 8% (33) from San Mateo County, and 5% (16) from Solana County. 17 people called from Sonoma County, 14 from other California counties, and 11 from Marin. The remaining 3% (7) called from Napa., Mendocino, counties outside California. One person called from Lake County. Referral Source 81% (316) of our callers heard about the HELPLINE from television and 11% (41) found our numbers in the phone book. 10 people were given our number by a relative or friend, 7 had an unknown referral source, 6 were referred by agencies and 3 had used I&R before. The remaining 3% (7 callers) were from the newspaper, radio or flier/brochure/poster. Family Status 37% (145) of the callers are families, 230 (91) are couples, 20% (77) are single parents and 16% .(63) are single adults. Income Source 69% (269) of our callers are employed full time, 7% (28) are self employed, 5% , (21) are receiving AFDd and 5% (18) are employed part time. The remaining callers are collecting SSI, social security, GA, pensions, workman's compensation, unemployment insurance, SDI, SSRI, child support or have some other source of income. Ethnicity 42% (162) of the.. callers are African American, 35% (136) are Caucasian, and 13% (52) are Hispanic. 13 callers are Asian/Pacific Islander, 9 callers are either unknown or are some other ethnicity, and 5 callers are ,Native American.