Presentation Transcript

1. Advocacy Plan to Obtain Interim Increase in Funding for Social Workers in FFAs

   Budget Hearings Assembly Bill (Ammiano) Grassroots Governor, Department of Finance, Department of Social Services, Legislative Analyst Office, California Department of Health and Human Services County Welfare Directors Board of Supervisors Outreach to Advocacy Groups
2. How Can You Help? Ask your Boards of Directors for support. Letters of support from you, board members, staff, foster families to Assembly members and Senators requesting interim increase in funding for social workers in Foster Family Agencies. Meetings with legislators and/or staff in Senate and Assembly district offices where Alliance members have offices, satellite offices or serve youth and where you have closed your office or satellite office! Meetings with county Social Services and CWS Directors and/or staff in all counties where Alliance members have offices, satellite offices, closed offices or serve youth. Meetings with county Boards of Supervisors and/or staff in all counties where Alliance members have offices, satellite offices, closed offices or serve youth. Legislative meetings at the Capitol in Sacramento – To be Determined. Budget hearings and testimony (Assembly: April 9. Senate: May 1.) Policy hearings and testimony for the Assembly Bill TBD (no date scheduled yet). Support from other advocacy groups (John Burton Foundation, National Association of Social Workers, Children NOW, ACHSA, etc.).
3. The Alliance will provide you with: Template of a Support Letter Meeting Request Script Excel Spreadsheet listing the Assembly members and Senators representing all of your offices and satellite offices Talking Points Charts, graphs, statistics and background material FAQs All day 24/7 assistance to help write, call and answer anything
4. The More Agencies that Participate, the Greater the Odds of Success!
5. Template for Support Letter for Assembly members and Senators
6. [Place on your letterhead] [INSERT date] The Honorable (name of Assembly member) State Capitol, Room (number) Sacramento, CA 95814 FAX: 916-xxx-xxxx SUPPORT: Interim Increase in Funding for Social Workers in Foster Family Agencies Dear Assembly member (Last name of Assembly member): I am writing in support of increasing the funding for Foster Family Agency (FFA) social workers who provide intensive supports and services to foster children and youth with high behavioral and emotional needs and to the families caring for them. This investment would require an interim increase of the Social Work component of the FFA rate until completion of the state’s Continuum of Care Reform effort. [Insert YOUR AGENCY’S NAME and a short paragraph describing your organization and indicate if you serve children and families from this legislator’s district or if your agency has an office or satellite office in their district.] According to available state data, the average pay for a FFA social worker – who is required by law to have a Master’s degree – is lower than average pay for all other publicly funded social work positions in schools, county child welfare agencies, prisons, the California Department of Social Services, group homes and hospitals. Indeed, the FFA rate includes just $15.13 an hour for social worker wages. Compare this to $30.07 an hour for a California Department of Social Services (CDSS) adoptions social worker, $26.64 an hour for psychiatric social workers in state facilities, and $23.37 an hour for social workers in group homes.
7. This inequity is particularly acute at a time when foster children and youth have greater needs and challenges, county child welfare and probation departments are requiring increasingly more in services from FFAs, and the cost of living has risen nearly 45%. Still, the amount built into the FFA rate for the compensation of social workers employed by Foster Family Agencies (FFAs) has been frozen since 2001 and cut an additional 10% in 2009. When the state set rates that lock in social worker wage levels at unrealistically and unsustainably low levels, there are adverse impacts to our foster children and youth. Recruitment, hiring and retention of qualified social workers become increasingly difficult, with foster children experiencing social worker turnover and resultant disruption of that important relationship. It is not uncommon, moreover, for FFA social workers to take on second full time jobs, as documented by the Los Angeles Times, resulting in social workers who are less able to effectively serve their children. [If you would like to expand in this section, list how your foster children have been negatively affected by: high turnover, disruption of relationships with the family and foster youth, disruption in permanency efforts, low morale, loss of skilled workers, increased trauma for youth who have already experienced grief and loss, a youth’s loss of trust leading to anger and resentment; etc.] It is also becoming increasingly more difficult to recruit and retain qualified foster families to care for youth with challenging needs when foster parents cannot count on the support of qualified social workers. Without qualified social work support, fewer families are stepping forward to care for children with significant needs, and the number will continue to decline precipitously. Our social workers care deeply about our foster children and the families that care for them.…[If applicable,insert a short sentence or two: about unique activities your social workers engage in that are particular to your agency such as working with a specific population such as teenagers, LGBTQ, medically fragile youth, relatives, etc.]
8. [Insert YOUR AGENCY’S NAME]can no longer continue to serve youth at the level needed without immediate relief. [List what your agency is doing to cut costs: Freezing salaries; laying off support staff; eliminating positions; reducing mileage reimbursement rates; eliminating janitorial and maintenance services; reducing the amount of support staff further burdening social workers to complete the massive paperwork requirements; reducing training on current best practices; hiring contract social workers; providing the bare minimum in services and not what the family needs; staff working additional jobs to supplement their incomes; agency forced to close FFA main, satellite or sub offices, etc.] There is hope on the horizon. In the past year, the State has undertaken a legislatively-mandated statewide “Continuum of Care Reform” effort to transform the foster care system and to increase permanency outcomes for youth. However, according to State officials, it will take at least two years before this goal is realized. We are therefore, asking the State to approve an interim solution to re-invest in social worker wages to reflect the CNI to 2001 to bring the social worker wage up from $15.13 an hour to $23.91 per hour. This interim rate increase would sunset when the reforms are enacted. We strongly and sincerely ask for your support for this proposal. Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely, [INSERT Your Full Name][INSERT Your Title] cc: The Honorable Shirley Weber, Chair, Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1, Health and Human Services (FAX: 916-319-2179 and 916-319-2199) The Honorable Nancy Skinner, Chair, Assembly Budget Committee(FAX: 916-319-2115) The Honorable Jeff Gorrell, Vice-Chair, Assembly Budget Committee(FAX: 916-319-3560) The Honorable Roger Dickinson (FAX: 916-319-2107)
9. Please send letters of support to your legislators as soon as possible Amend the letter to reflect details of your organization and how the abysmal funding for your social workers is affecting your children, their families and your agency’s ability to provide excellent services. Additional information will be provided to you with a Fact Sheet, Talking Points and Q&As. For each district where you serve youth or have an office, you will need to change the name of the legislator to whom you are addressing the letter. Please use any “titles” when addressing legislators with titles such as: President pro Tempore, Speaker, Majority Leader.FAX the letters to each legislator’s district office(s) and Sacramento Capitol office. Please fax a COPY of the letters to the persons listed on the bottom of the draft letter as well. It would also be helpful if you send a copy of the letters to Jackie Rutheiser at jrutheiser@cacfs.org. Decisions are being made today regarding what items will be included in the budget hearings. Fax your letters as soon as possible, but no later than Thursday, March 13th.
10. Find Your Legislator Dani Mole will be sending you an Excel spreadsheet listing all of your offices and satellite offices and identifying the legislators representing those areas. You may also click on the following links to find additional information. This page has all the senators on one page. http://senate.ca.gov/senators This page has all the assembly persons on one page. http://assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers Don’t hesitate to contact Dani, Doug, Carroll, or me if you have any questions or need assistance. Thank you in advance for your efforts!
11. Key Legislators: Democrat SENATE President pro Tempore: Darrell Steinberg Majority Floor Leader: Ellen Corbett ASSEMBLY Speaker: John Perez Speaker pro Tempore: Nora Campos Assistant Speaker pro Tempore: Kevin Mullin Majority Floor Leader: Toni Atkins
12. Key Legislators: Republican SENATE Minority Floor Leader: Bob Huff ASSEMBLY Minority Floor Leader: Connie Conway
13. Key Legislators: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and Subcommittee SENATE Full Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee Chair: Senator Mark Leno (D) Vice-Chair: Senator Jim Nielsen (R) Senate Budget Subcommittee #3 on Health and Human Services Chair: Senator Ellen Corbett (D) Members:Senators William Monning (D), Mimi Walters (R)
14. Key Legislators: Assembly Budget Committee and Subcommittee Full Assembly Budget Committee Chair: Assembly member Nancy Skinner (D) Vice-Chair: Assembly member Jeff Gorrell (R) Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 on Health and Human Services Chair: Assembly member Shirley Weber (D) Members:Assembly members: Wes Chesbro (D); Roger Dickinson (D); Shannon Grove (D); and Allan Mansoor (R)
15. Sample Telephone Script to Request a Meeting with Assembly members or Senators Remember: Your agency serves children and youth in the Legislator’s district or has an office, satellite office or administrative office in the Legislator’s district. Legislators and their staff are always willing to meet with constituents from their districts or with individuals serving youth in their district. They are there to serve you, they want your vote, and they will want to understand your issue and help you.
16. Script “Hello, my name is _____________. I work with Name of Agency, a Foster Family Agency, and we have an office/serve children and youth in (Name of County).” “I would like to schedule a meeting with (Senator/Assembly member)to discuss the critical lack of funding for our social workers.” “Is there a convenient time to meet with (Senator/Assembly member)?”
17. The person with whom you are talking may: Inform you that the Legislator is out of town, in Sacramento, or is otherwise unavailable and ask if you would be willing to meet with the District Director or a staff person. You should accept the meeting with the District Director or the staff person and ask if you could also have a follow-up meeting with the Legislator at the earliest possible opportunity when the Legislator is back in the district. Want you to send a fact sheet or letter with more information on your issue (the fact sheet/one pager). Ask you for more information about your agency. Ask you “what is the purpose of the meeting?” Answer: The purpose of the meeting is to ask for his/her support on the budget request to reinvest in social workers and foster youth by increasing the funding for the social worker component of the Foster Family Agency rate. Want to know what you want the legislator “to do for you?” What is the “ask?” Answer: The “ask” is to have him/her request that (Senate/Assembly) Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services include an agenda item in a budget hearing on funding for FFA social workers.
18. Scheduling a meeting The person with whom you are talking will then let you know of available times and dates. If possible, offer to have the meeting at your offices and to give them a tour. Please let them know how many persons will be attending the meeting and follow up with an email thanking them and include the names, titles and any follow up material they requested.
19. Important Dates April 9: Assembly Budget Subcommittee #1 Hearing for Child Welfare Issues. April 11 – April 20: The Senate and Assembly are on Spring Recess and the legislators will either be on vacation or will be working back in their district. This is a good week to request a meeting with the legislator – but do not wait until this week – try to meet with staff and/or the legislator in March or as soon as possible. May 1: Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee #3 Hearing for Child Welfare Issues. June 15: Budget must be passed by midnight. July 1: First day of State fiscal year 2014-15. August 31: Last day for bills to be passed out of the Legislature. September 30: Last day for Governor to sign or veto bills.
20. The Meeting Talking Points for Interim Increase in Funding for Social Workers in FFAs
21. The Amount Built Into the Foster Family Agency Rate for Social Work Reflects a $15 Hourly Wage for Master’s Level Professionals, Much Less than All Other Publicly Funded Social Work Positions The amount built into the FFA Rate for Social Work pencils out to a wage of just $15.13 an hour for a Master’s level professional. The Social Work component of the rate has been frozen since 2001 – 13 years – and was cut an additional 10% in 2009. According to available state data, the amount provided in the current FFA rate social worker who is required by law to have a Master’s degree is lower than the wages of all other publicly funded social worker positions offered by schools, counties, prisons, the state, group homes and hospitals. For example, the state provides $30.07 an hour for a California Department of Social Services (CDSS) adoptions social worker, the average hourly wage for psychiatric social workers in state facilities is $26.64 an hour, and the foster care group home rate provides for an average of $23.37 an hour. FFAs are competing with hospitals, counties, schools and many other fields that offer social work positions with better wage and benefit packages and more convenient working hours. FFA social workers must be available when it best serves the foster youth and families; not just days, but weekends, evenings, holidays, 24/7 on call, and with no hope of significant salary increases. It is especially difficult to hire and retain bilingual and bicultural social workers.
22. FFA Social Workers are Required by Statute and Regulation to Have a Master’s Degree and Carry a Caseload No Greater than an Average of 15 Youth The professional requirements for FFA social workers if very high, while the amount built into the rate for pay is very low. The California Department of Social Services enforces statutory FFA social work requirements, including: qualifications that all social workers have a Master’s level degree; average FFA social worker to child ratios must not exceed 1:15; social workers must visit each child in the foster home at least monthly; and FFAs must provide 24/7 crisis intervention availability. The Social Work component of the FFA rate, however, provides for an annualized salary for these highly qualified professionals of around $31,500, about the mean annual wage of file clerks, according to EDD figures, and less than the average wage of data entry keyers, pest control workers and dental assistants.
23. Severe Underfunding of the FFA Social Worker Wage Component Results in 50% Annual Turnover, Staff Working Multiple Full-time Jobs, Low Morale, and Disruption in the Relationships with the Children and Families There are adverse impacts to foster children when the State sets rates that result in unrealistic and unsustainably low wage levels for FFA social workers. It has become increasingly difficult for FFAs to recruit, hire and retain qualified social workers and it is not uncommon for social workers to take on second full time jobs, as documented by the Los Angeles Times. Moreover, the lack of competitive wages leads to low morale and burnout, forces skilled staff to look elsewhere for employment, and results in extremely high social worker turnover. Families and children need trusting and committed working relationships with their social workers. When a social worker leaves a FFA for a job with a county, the state or health care provider that can offer higher wages and better benefits, the child and family lose a bond of trust, continuity is disrupted with the loss of a social worker who understands the complex needs and challenges of the child and family, foster children re-experience the grief and trauma of loss of a trusted adult, and it is not uncommon for a disruption in permanency plans to occur.
24. FFAs Have Done Everything Possible to Cut Costs And Nearly 20% of FFAs Have Closed Offices Since 2007 Forced to freeze social worker salaries by rates that have not increased since 2001 and were cut 10% in 2009, FFAs have eliminated support staff; reduced mileage reimbursement rates; eliminated janitorial and maintenance services; reduced training to legally minimum levels; employed social work staff who work additional jobs outside of the agency to supplement their salaries; provided the bare minimum in services to meet family needs; closed FFA offices and satellite offices; placed more children in foster homes than is considered best practice; dipped into their strategic reserves; exhausted their credit lines; gone into debt; and increased their fundraising. Still, they are not able to generate enough money to pay their social workers a competitive salary. There is no other pocket for FFAs to dig into. As a result, many agencies, unable to cover the costs of social work and other services, have significantly downsized or closed their FFA programs in order to reduce their financial losses. Since 2007, the number of FFAs has decreased 19%, from 306 to 248.
25. Continuum of Care Will Reform the Foster Care System but It Will Take 2-3 Years Before the Changes are Implemented In the past year, the State has undertaken a legislatively-mandated statewide “Continuum of Care Reform” effort to implement foster care reform and to increase permanency outcomes for youth. Included in that effort is a reform of foster care financing including FFA roles and rates reform. It will take at least two years, however, before the Reform recommendations are approved by the Legislature and instituted by the Administration. An Interim Solution is Needed Now An interim solution is needed this year to increase the social worker wages to bring the social worker wage up from $15.13 an hour to $23.91 per hour. This interim rate increase would sunset when the Continuum of Care Reforms are instituted.
26. Foster Family Agencies Were Created in 1986 to Assist in the Recruitment of Foster Families and to Provide More Intensive Supports and Services to Youth and Families The Legislature created private non-profit Foster Family Agencies in 1986 to recruit, certify, train and support foster families to care for foster youth who may require a higher level of care and supervision than can be provided in a typical foster family setting. According to a Legislative Analyst’s Office report from 2013, “FFAs have demonstrated ability to recruit foster parents and the Legislature could consider amending current law to explicitly authorize FFAs to recruit foster parents for children of all levels of service needs.”
27. Today’s Foster Children Have Greater Emotional and Behavioral Needs The number of children and youth in foster care has decreased by nearly 45% in the past 10 years from 108,000 to 64,000. Most children and youth are reunified quickly with their biological families; not unexpectedly, those who remain in foster care have greater emotional and behavioral challenges than many children who were in foster care just 10 years ago. Of children in care, approximately 15,000 or 25% live with foster families who have been recruited and trained by Foster Family Agencies. Those foster youth and the families who care for them need highly qualified social workers to provide intensive supports and services, including counseling; permanency planning; 24/7 crisis intervention; behavior de-escalation; conflict resolution; anger management coaching; training; and help navigating the court, educational, foster care, medical and mental health systems.
28. Counties Require FFAs to Do More Than They Required 13 Years Ago Counties require FFAs to do much more than 13 years ago. FFAs were originally created to provide long-term foster care at a time when that was considered a desirable permanency option. But times have changed and with them county demands on FFAs. It is not uncommon for FFA social workers to supervise six reunification visits per week, oversee supervised visitations with siblings, provide counties with written reports in formats so they can be easily used as reports to the court, and facilitate concurrent planning with foster parents. While the vast majority of the requirements are good practice and important for children, it is both inequitable and unrealistic to expect that FFAs should be required to deliver an increasingly costly array of services without additional compensation and with Social Work rates that would be laughable if they were not so destructive.
29. CommonDo’sandDon’tsWhenMeeting with Elected Officials, Staff and Administration Officials
30. Use your meeting time productively
31. Use your meeting time productively
32. One Pager for Legislative Bill Request 2012) increased the FFA ratio for social work supervisors to social workers from 1:6, as required in state regulations, to 1:8 to help defray costs to account for the 10% FFA rate cut. This provision expires when the total FFA rate is restored to at least the rate in effect in 2009 (prior to the 10% rate cut). Solution Direct the Department of Social Services to adjust the minimum payment to the social worker component in the FFA rate to reflect CNI adjustments back to July 1, 2001, increasing the funding for the average hourly wage to $23.91 for the FFA social worker. Restore the ratio for social work supervisors to social workers back to 1:6 from 1:8. Limit the number of foster children who may be placed in a FFA certified home to no more than three foster youth except in the cases of large sibling groups. Empower Community Care Licensing to grant exceptions and waivers to provide for more than three unrelated foster children if the caregiver has special qualifications to meet the needs of the child. SPONSORS/SUPPORTERS Sponsor: California Alliance of Child and Family Services Support: ChilidrenNow John Burton Foundation for Homeless Youth National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Association of Community Human Service Agencies problem The current FFA rate provides funding for an average hourly wage of $15.13 for a FFA social worker with a Master’s degree. This compares to funding for an average hourly wage of $23.37 for a group home social worker with a Master’s degree, and actual wages of $30.07 an hour for a California Department of Social Services (CDSS) adoption social worker with a Master’s degree. Three components of the FFA Treatment rate (Increment for the Child; Social Work Services; and Recruitment / Training / Administration) have been frozen since 2001. They were additionally cut on October 1, 2009 by 10%. As a result, the amount built into the FFA rate for social work was actually higher 13 years ago than it is today. Since 2001-02, the CNI rose 47%, health insurance premiums in California increased, and the minimum wage in California has been adjusted 44% from $6.25/hour in 2001 to $9.00/hour in 2014. The California Department of Social Services enforces statutory FFA social work requirements, including: qualifications that all social workers have a Master’s level degree; average FFA social worker to child ratios of 1:15; monthly social worker visits of each child in the foster home; and 24/7 crisis intervention availability. Today’s foster children and youth, moreover, have greater needs and challenges, counties make greater demands on FFAs for permanency-related activities, and foster parents need even greater levels of supports and services. Prior or similar legislation ABX4 4 (Evans) of 2009, the human services budget trailer bill, applied a 10% rate reduction to FFA rates, effective October 1, 2009. SB 597 (Liu, 2009); AB 2474 (Beall, 2010) and AB 159 (Beall, Summary Social workers are the backbone of the system that recruits, trains, certifies, supervises and supports foster families through private, nonprofit Foster Family Agencies (FFA). FFAs were created by statute in 1986 to provide more intensive supports and services to families caring for foster children and youth with higher needs. But, FFAs are increasingly unable to provide the level of supports and services needed by foster children and youth because the social work component of the FFA rate has been frozen since 2001 and was cut by 10% in 2009. Resources necessary to hire and retain critical social work staff have been severely undermined, economic pressure has increased for FFAs to reduce services and increase the number of foster youth in FFA certified homes, turning some certified homes into mini-group homes. FFA social workers are exhausted, many are working more than one job to make ends meet, morale is low, turnover is high. According to a Legislative Analyst Office report (2013) “FFAs have demonstrated ability to recruit foster parents and the Legislature could consider amending current law to explicitly authorize FFAs to recruit foster parents for children of all levels of service needs.” Toward this goal, the State has undertaken a legislatively-mandated “Continuum of Care” effort to implement foster care reform and new rate-setting systems for FFAs and group homes. In the interim, until the new system can be implemented, in order to ensure foster youth are provided quality supports and services necessary to be successful, the current social work component of FFA rates should be increased to reflect the adjustments to the California Necessities Index (CNI) to 2001, the year of the last increase.
33. Four Proposals to Reinvest in FFAs
34. Charts, Graphs and Background Material Showing Decrease in FFAs, Loss of Purchasing Power and Salary Comparisons of Different Occupations, 2001-2013
35. Comparison of Foster Care Funding in 2001 and 2013
36. Breakdown of Current FFA Social Worker Rate Component Based 20% Payroll Tax and Benefit Package
37. Breakdown of Proposed FFA Social Worker Rate Component Based 20% Payroll Tax and Benefit Package
38. Comparison of Increases in the Actual Rates with Increases in the CNI since 2001-02
39. Foster Family Agencies
40. Foster Family Agencies: Decline in the Real Purchasing Power of AFDC-Foster Care Rates
41. Remember, right away, we need YOU: To write letters of support to legislators To get your board members, staff, and foster parents to write letters of support To let us know you did it! Get ready for Round 2: Meetings with Legislators!