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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 06101997 - C67 C. 67 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on June 10, 1997 by the following vote: AYES: Supervisors Rogers, Uilkema, Gerber, Canciamilla, DeSaulnier NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Grand Jury Report IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED that the 1996-97 Contra Costa Grand Jury Report No. 9709, " Accelerating the Placement of Court-Dependent Children, " is REFERRED to the County Administrator and the Family and Human Services Committee. I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: �ic 1.99.7 PHIL BATCHELOR, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator By ,Deputy cc: County Administrator Human Services Committee Social Services A REPORT BY THE 1996-97 CONTRA COSTA COUNTY GRAND JURY 1020 Ward Street Martinez, California 94553 RECEIVED (510) 646-2345 JUN 4 1997 CLERK BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONTRA COSTA CO. Report No. 9709 ACCELERATING THE PLACEMENT OF COURT-DEPENDENT CHILDREN APPROVED BY THE GRAND JURY: DATE: 1 O? - RAMIRO AROSE G JURY FOREMAN ACCEPTED FOR FILING: j DATE: (� / '>I i' , - _ JOHN F. VAN DE POEL JUD4 OF THE SUPERIOR COURT I 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 Delq_vc Children 'S I'crni(inew P/aceniew, by the 1995- 96 Grand Jury, was critical of the Division's perfonnance. 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. • refining of assessment tools. • the possible merging ofthe licensing and adoptive home study units. • adding the 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 (S13154) 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. Nevv workers now begin classroom training at the time they enter the Department. 9. For overall training, a set of three 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 .lune 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 other recommendations 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 ofadoptions finalized increased almost 89%. • overall state figures were down during this same time period. J 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 ofparticipant(s) and failure ofparents 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 lacy attorneys contesting termination of parental rights are still causing long 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. S. 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 wav thins!s are done. a 7. The state-wide database of CWS/CMS will enable the Children's Services staft'to do 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. 1 1. 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 ofchildren.