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Child Family Services Report to VLSSE Board, July 2014

Child Family Services Report to VLSSE Board, July 2014. Child Family Services comm. members :

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Child Family Services Report to VLSSE Board, July 2014

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  1. Child Family Services Report to VLSSE Board, July 2014 Child Family Services comm. members: Gretchen Brown, (Henrico DSS), Suzanne Chis (Alexandria DSS), Tonya Christian (Caroline Co. DSS) Jackie Clayton (Northumberland DSS), Vicky Collins (Radford DSS), Andy Crawford (Bedford DSS), Sheila Crossen-Powell (Hanover DSS), Debra Drake Bedford DSS) , Kimberly Irvine (York-Poquoson DSS),  Tabitha Kelly, Vanessa Livingstone (Richmond Co. DSS), Jacqueline Lusk (Alexandria DSS), Kathy McElroy (Bedford DSS), Rebecca Morgan (Middlesex DSS), Cathy Pemberton (Powhatan DSS), Kiva Rogers (Chesterfield-Colonial Hts. DSS), Shawn Rozier(Henrico DSS), Mattie Satterfield (Norfolk DSS), Janine Sewell (Prince William), Ramona Simmons (Fairfax DSS, Carla Taylor (Shenandoah DSS), Celeste Williams (Harrisonburg-Rockingham DSS), Co-Chairs: Jim Pope(Fairfax DSS) and Jo Ann Wilson-Harfst (Mathews DSS) Community Partners include: Amy Atkinson (VA Commission on Youth), Amy Woolard (VOICES), Christie Marra (VA Poverty Law Ctr.) State Liaisons:    Alex Kamberis, Em Parente, Rita Katzman (VA DSS) and Suzie Clare (OCS)

  2. VLSSE CFS Comm. Charges 2014-15 Committee voted to continue with Charges assigned for this year if approved by the Board • Charge 1: Identify child welfare work groups and actively work with our state partners to assure CFS representation in the development of the implementation plans for initiatives and programs • Charge 2: Monitor the progress of the following and report concerns to VLSSE: Family Engagement, VEMAT, Adoption Subsidy and Kinship Care • Charge 3: Work with state partners to establish a more effective communication system regarding child welfare practice so that modifications to guidance is shared consistently statewide. • Charge 4: Keep apprised of potential legislation that could impact child family services and establish appropriate work groups related to same.

  3. Work groups and status • State MDT workgroup- 2 reps on this comm. formed by DCJS to address HB 334/SB421 enactment date 7/1/15 requiring MDT and collaborative response to CPS. Training on joing investigation of child abuse (9/23&24) will include panel to discuss this requirement. • HPAC ( and affiliation on 3 branch) – following up on what will be expected of FC staff related to monitoring of psychotropic drugs • Adoption and Adoption Subsidy -Budget amendment to hire state staff to do negotiations; study on state administration of adoption program . • CWAC – following the upcoming CFSR – will state develop their own review tool or use the prescribed tools of the feds. ? (use of state tool requires Fed. approval)

  4. Other work groups and monitoring • Child Fatality – 3 reps sit on State Bd. Child Fatality comm. and others sit on regional fatality review committees • Kinship -Committee is working with the National Resource Center for Permanency and  Family Connections to develop a kinship curriculum and other helpful documents for local agencies. • CANS - Have had several meetings with state DSS and CSA, attempting to address trauma informed care, etc. Will be using for IVE and CSA cases eventually. Will be tied directly to service plans – problem – state staff hired to help with this process left mid-stream so not sure of status re. CANS to service plan project • Custody Assistance-No actions currently underway – wish to see advocacy efforts to explore possibilities again; state has given verbal support of moving forward

  5. Appeals workgroup CPS APPEALS SUMMARIES - OVERTUNED CASES : This note was sent to Solomon Abah and Rita Katzman: The VLSSE child welfare team asked to contact you regarding a request from the members.  The group would like to see a little more information on the appeals summaries to help understand more about why a case was overturned.  They want this information so that they can understand and learn from what happened in previous appeals.  It helps to have the quarterly broadcasts but the group just wanted more specific information per each case so they can understand what a best practice would have been or how they can learn from this case what to do differently in the future.  One particular case re. a child fatality that was overturned has created new concerns about the precedents being set by these overturned cases...\..\cps\appeals\2014 First Quarter (2).docx (case highlighted)

  6. State Partners and communications • Alex or/and staff present at every meeting. • Susie Clare of OCS now often in attendance • VOICES, VA Pov. Law Ctr. And VA comm. on youth often in attendance • We are doing a pretty good job of having questions ready for our reps when they come to the meetings and minutes are taken to capture any inconsistencies in the messages heard. Upcoming concerns to be addressed include: adoption subsidy and funding stream re. to residential placement; reporting requirements for the Family Pres. funds, Custody assistance questions for upcoming year; and, clarification on a CPS appeal decision.

  7. Legislative items for upcoming year • The CFS report to VLSSE in April suggested a budget amendment to offset the impact of additional  monthly worker visits that will be expected with statewide implementation of new SDM requirements related to on-going cases.  CFS members believe that the concept related to the increase in number of visits, based on safety factors,  is indeed “best practice” and more funding will be needed to provide this new level of staffing.  Based on discussions at May CWAC the 2016-17 CFSR will also focus on safety and risk assessments in on-going cases and the implementation of such “best practices” prior to the anticipated review will bolster our ability to meet those standards. Fairfax rep on our comm. reported on metrics being reviewed following their piloting of the SDM on-going new best practices.

  8. Legislative items cont’d • Legislation and budget amendment to implement and fund a custody assistance, a.k.a. kinship care, system in the state to reduce  FC placements and keep children with their families.  • Legislation to expand foster care and adoption subsidies to 18-21 year old youth statewide regardless of whether the funding stream is IVE or CSA. • Legislation that addresses requirements for Central Registry checks for volunteers working with youth in the capacity of coach, counselor, mentor or similar role where they are acting in caretaker status – ( related to payment for this check, see COVA 63.2-1515 – last paragraph identifies certain registry checks that “shall be conducted at no charge” – it would be the intent of this proposal  that this group would be included under that category, thereby not placing an undue financial burden on such volunteers.) We need more research on where this requirement should be in code; this is simply a place holder for the concept.

  9. Legislative items cont’d • Finding:  The Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) is a powerful tool for assisting professionals in understanding prescription medicine use and abuse among their patients and clients.  Yet, use of this electronic database is not required for Virginia physicians. • Recommendation:  The Virginia Department of Social Services’ State Board of Social Services should work with the Department of Health Professions and support legislation that (1) requires that all Virginia physicians register and use the PMP; and (2) adds child protective service workers as permissible users of the search function of the PMP database when investigating caregivers for suspicious child abuse and neglect. (concept comes from discussion with Virginia Powell, Ph.D., Program Manager, Fatality Review and Surveillance, Office of the Chief Medical Examiner)

  10. Next meeting August 1 meeting will include: • Introducing our new legislative liaison, Mr. Pickrall, to our committee and getting his assistance in proposing legislation earlier identified for this coming year. Partners in attendance can also note their support, concerns, opposition to any such proposals which can help us better collaborate on interests this coming session. • Getting a better handle on connections/policies re. to adoption subsidies and CSA vs. state DSS funding streams • Talking with state staff about cps appeal summaries and what implications may be for future findings

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