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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 03071989 - IO.4 TOS BOARD OF SUPERVISORS I. 0. 4 FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Contra @ C;o^ Costa DATE: February 27, 1989 SUBJECT: Sick and Emergency Child Care Program for County Employees SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1. Authorize the Director of Personnel to proceed with Phase II in the proposed sick and emergency child care program for County employees as is outlined in the attached memo from the Director of Personnel. 2 . In developing the. Phase II program, request the Director of Personnel to carefully review the need for the level of administrative support suggested in the budget attached to the Director of Personnel ' s memo and provide additional justification for the staff requested or revise the administrative budget downward. 3 . In developing the Phase II program, request the Director of Personnel to review more carefully the salary suggested for the Aides to insure that the County provides a high enough salary to attract quality employees and does not unnecessarily expose the County to increased liability for actions the Aides may take toward the children placed in their care. 4 . In developing the Phase II program, request the Director of Personnel to consider the advisability of including one or more of the major employers in the County, such as Shell Oil Company or Chevron in order to spread the costs of the program more broadly and hold down the resulting costs to the employee. 5 . Request the Director of Personnel to make a further status report to our Committee on the development of the sick and emergency child care program by June 1, 1989 with a view toward actual implementation of the program by September 1989 if at all possible. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: X YES SIGNATURE' _ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNT AD INISTRATOR, X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE X APPROVE T R SIGNATURE(S): To Powers Sunne Wright McPeak ACTION OF BOARD ON Marc , 1989 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN' OF SUPERV I SORS,, ON TH/E� DATE SHOWN. cc: County Administrator ATTESTED Personnel Director Risk Manager PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF County Counsel SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR M382/7-83 BY ��� ,DEPUTY Page 2 6. Refer to the Finance Committee the question of funding for the development and implementation of the program with the request that the Finance Committee strongly consider funding the program in the 1989-90 County Budget. BACKGROUND: In December, 1988, the Board of Supervisors asked the Director of Personnel to further explore various options for a sick child care program for County employees. The purpose of such a program is to make it possible for a parent to obtain child care for a sick child who is often not accepted in a day care center when the child is ill so that the parent is still able to come to work without worrying about his or her child. on February 27, 1989, our Committee met with the Director of Personnel and members of his staff to review the attached report on this subject. It. appears that addressing only the needs of the sick child 'may not provide a broad enough basis to support a child care program. The concept has, therefore, been enlarged .to include cases where the parent' s normal child care provider may become ill or have an emergency and the parent is suddenly left without any child care for a day or so.. This emergency child care option, coupled with the care of a sick child, appears to have a better chance of becoming a viable program. Such a program has operated successfully for some eight years in Phoenix, Arizona as a joint oper.ation between government and the private sector employers in the area. The Director of Personnel has provided a general idea of how such a program would operate, as is set forth in the attached. memo. In order to work out all the details of' the program, the Director of Personnel is suggesting a Phase II program which would investigate and develop the program in more detail, if directed to do so by the Board. We believe that development of a detailed program as is outlined for the Phase II work is appropriate and should proceed. We do question the need for the level of administrative staff suggested by the Director of Personnel and would like to see further justification for this level of staffing. We are also, on the other hand, concerned that the proposed salary of $4. 25 an hour for the Aides who would be providing the child care may be too low a wage and may not adequately screen out individuals who would prove to be undesirable and whose actions might expose the County to unnecessary liability for having recommended the Aide to care for an employee ' s children. We are asking that the wage question be examined in more detail, even if that means that the County has to consider subsidizing the program directly by underwriting part of the hourly wage. Another possibility which we would like to see explored for underwriting part of the program costs would be to enter into a cooperative program with one or more of the major private employers in the County. Since we do want to see this program implemented during the early part of the 1989-90 fiscal year, we are asking the Finance Committee to take into account this new program cost as they review the 1989-90 County Budget. Finally, we are requesting a status report from the Director of Personnel in June and will report in more detail to the Board following receipt of that status report. Contra Personnel Department Costa Administration Bldg. 651 Pine Street County Martinez, California 94553-1292 DATE: February 23, 1989 TO: Internal Operations Committee FROM: Harry D. Cisterman, Director of Personnel SUBJECT: Proposed Sick Child Care Program for County Employees At its December 13, 1988, the Internal Operations Committee requested the Personnel Department to explore further the development of an available and - affordable Sick Child Care Program for use by County employees. Thefollowing report summarizes our efforts and presents a preliminary proposal for an in-home program for use by employee-parents who require child care on an emergency basis due to illness of a child or lack of child care. I. BACKGROUND The concept was put forward at an earlier meeting of providing child care for the sick children of employees through the use of workers who would work under the County's direction and care for the child in the home. The first research into the proposal indicated that it was not feasible to use existing County staff and classifications to provide the service. Since December 13, 1988, we have contacted several agencies, reviewed other programs and visited the Tucson Association of Child Care (TACC) because they are currently operating a successful in-home sick child care program. We have incorporated elements of their program, such as an extensive training program, into our proposal along with modifications and enhancements for use in Contra Costa County. The benefits of such a program are: - reasonable cost to the County parent-employee and the County; - provision of quality services by a carefully screened in-home child aide who is prepared to meet the needs of an ill child; the availability of a trained child aide to care for a child when the regular child care provider is unable to do so. II. PROGRAM PROPOSAL Our proposal is to develop a pool of screened trained child aides who work on an on-call basis as contractemployees who can be dispatched to the home of an employee in need of emergency child care. The program would be operated under the direction of the Personnel Department with the assistance of staff from the Sheriff's Department, the Health Services Department and the Department of Social Service. Internal Operations Committee Page 2 February 23, 1989 The employee using the service would be responsible for paying the child care aide the hourly salary plus a $2.00 per day travel expense fee. The County would provide the Aide with health insurance through the Contra Costa County Health Plan and would provide training, supplies, administrative and medical support. A. Child Care Aide: The Aides would be recruited and selected by the Personnel Department. The Sheriff's Department would be used to conduct a complete and thorough background investigation. Additionally, a complete medical examination would be conducted before any person was selected for admission to the training program. Each Aide would be supplied with a picture I .D. and a uniform, such as a simple smock which displays the County emblem and a supply kit containing medical , arts and crafts, cleaning and miscellaneous supplies. The Aide's responsibilities would include assessing the child's condition on arrival , ensuring that all forms and instructions are complete, caring for the child, and providing a report for the parent at the end of the day. Our current plan is to set the Aide's salary at $4.25 per hour, as well as enrollment in the Contra Costa County Health Plan paid for by the County. Please note that our proposed hourly salary and health plan is comparabl-e to compensation paid an assistant employed by child care centers in the Bay Area. Based on a 1988 survey conducted jointly by the Child Care Employee Project and Bananas Resource and Referral Agency, the average hourly salary of an assistant in child care centers is $5.51. The starting salary ranged from $3.35 to $14.00 per hour. Sixty-nine percent received some health benefits and thirty-nine percent received- full health benefits. B. Training Program: Each person being considered for placement in the pool will be required to successfully complete a comprehensive training program which covers topics in the following areas: 1. Skills relating to the care of sick children such as first aid; how to care for stitches, vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration; how to take and assess temperature, pulse and respiration. It is proposed that these topics be presented by a Registered Nurse. 2. Nutrition needs of children presented by a Nutritionist, and diets and illness presented by a Dietician. 3. Communicable diseases and childhood illnesses presented by a Public Health Nurse. 4. Child abuse and behavior management presented by a Social Worker. Internal Operations Committee Page 3 February 23, 1989 Other topics would include activities for play time, communication, time planning, and administration of medications. There are persons on the staff of County Departments whom we anticipate would be qualified to present the training. The Tucson program has developed an extensive training guide which we could use as the basis for our program. C. Dispatch: The parent-employee will have access to a twenty-four hour telephone number to request the services of an Aide. The function of the dispatcher will include making a determination relative to the appropriateness of this service in relation to the child's illness. While specific details have not been determined, we anticipate staffing this function by an employee located in the Personnel Department during working hours and by a combination of a contract employee and an answering machine during other times. D. Program Support Staff: The program will require a program administrator and clerical support who will be assigned to the Personnel Department. We also feel it is necessary to have a Registered Nurse who can be available to the Aides to offer advice on an as-needed basis. This need could be met by staff from the Health Services Department. As discussed under the dispatch section, it may also be necessary to retain a worker to answer calls outside of normal working hours. E. Parent-Employee: The parent is responsible for providing accurate, complete information; for completing all required forms; and for giving written instructions for the type of medications, time and dosage amounts to be given. F. Costs: The initial estimated cost of developing this program is reasonable in light of the rewards that will be gained. As listed in Appendix A, the initial pre-employment, training and equipping of five Aides is $4,595. (It is hoped the other County Departments will contribute staff for the training, further reducing the costs. ) We have not examined costs for training equipment, materials and supplies and costs associated with the recruitment and selection of the Aides. The foregoing costs will be incurred on a periodic basis as it is necessary to replenish or enlarge the pool . The ongoing costs we project at this time include salaries of the Program Administrator, clerical support, telephone/dispatch costs, operating supplies and publicity materials. Appendix A gives an estimate for annual salaries for the Program Administrator and clerical support only. We have not estimated the additional support costs at this time. III. CONCLUSION The research and foregoing initial program specifications for our in-home sick and emergency child care service brings us to the end of our feasibility stage. We believe the proposal is workable and that with careful design, we can keep the costs within a reasonable range. Internal Operations Committee Page 4 February 23, 1989 If this preliminary proposal is approved, it would be necessary for us to move to Phase II in which we will : - develop more specific program details; - develop a more complete cost analysis; - establish a task force with other County departments whose assistance is needed; - establish specific criteria for who is eligible to use the program and under what circumstances; - determine the terms and conditions for hiring, payment and retention of the Aides; - develop operating procedures and administrative regulations; and - research possible outside funding sources. Upon completion of Phase II, a final feasibility determination will be made and if a positive conclusion is reached and Board approval is given, we would move into the implementation of a trial program in early 1990. HDC/TH:dn Attachment APPENDIX A 1. Preliminary cost of training, pre-employment security measures and initial cost of equipping five Aides. This does not include equipment for training, training materials (manuals, etc.. ) and advertising. Estimated cost of salaries for 3r $ 2,767.00 Estimated cost of pre-employment security measures for five Aides 1,340.00 Estimated cost of equipping five Aides 488.00 Total preliminary cost $ 4,595.00 2. Preliminary cost for annual Administrative staffing: Program Administrator (20/40) $ 20,286.00 Clerical Support 13,645.00 Total estimated cost $ 33,931.00 3. Preliminary annual cost for Contra Costa County Health Plan Health plan for five Aides $ 5,590.00