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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 11-04-1998 - 10bOrange County Board of Commissioners Agenda Item Abstract Meeting Date: November 4, 1998 Action Agenda Item # -b SUBJECT: Community Child Protection Team Annual Report Department: Social Services Public Hearing Yes----No--X-- ATTACHMENT (S): Annual Report INFORMATION CONTACT: Marti Pryor-Cook, Director TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough - 732-8181 Durham - 688-7331 Mebane - 227-2031 Chapel Hill - 967-9251/968-4501 Purpose: To present the Community Child Protection Team's annual report to the Orange County Boazd of Commissioners. Background: Community Child Protection Teams (CCPT) were established in response to Executive Order 142 in May of 1991. The Governor issued this order outlining initiatives to strengthen services for children due to the dramatic increase in child abuse and neglect reports. The COPT was identified as one means for the state and local communities to form a partnership to strengthen child protection. One of the duties of the COPT is to prepaze an annual report to the County Board of Commissioners. The report is to include issues that have been identified by the COPT as well as resource needs/gaps in the community. Issues that impact the protection of children aze to be a primary focus. Dr. Desmond Runyan, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Pediatric, will present the CCPT report to the Boazd of Commissioners. Dr. Runyan has been a member of the Orange County Team since its inception. He is also a national and international expert on child abuse and neglect issues. Recommendation: The Manager recommends acceptance of the report. 2 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Submitted by the Community Child Protection Team General Statute 143-576.1 Fiscal Year 1997- 1998 The Community Child Protection Team met bi-monthly to review active cases as the Department of Social Services (DSS) in which young children are found to be abused, neglected or dependent. The majority of the children reviewed were identified by DSS, with occasional requests for reviews by other team members. In review of the cases presented, 90% shared a common risk factor of substance abuse/dependency by one or both of the identified caretakers which severely impacted their parenting capacity. The remaining 10% reviewed had caretakers with diagnosed mental illness and/or mental retardation. The team identified the need for DSS to have the ability for frequent random drug screening which is currently cost prohibitive to many clients and it is difficult to locate a medical facility where testing can be done. It is also imperative that testing be available on demand in order for it to be an effective measure of parental drug use. A request was made to include some funding in the DSS county budget to help cover testing cost in some of these situations. The CCPT is exploring community resources for a site where immediate, random drug testing can be carried out. 3 Also under exploration is the need for a local group home for children needing therapeutic group caze, as well as teens needing group Gaze with independent living skills being taught. This gap in our community services has been identified in previous yeazs but inadequate funding has been an ongoing barrier. Members of the Community Child Protection Team aze again working to find resources to address this need for children in Orange County. In order to successfully transition children needing therapeutic caze back to their families, the families need to be involved in their treatment and the children need the consistency of the clinical services during transition and after they return home. Success is severely impacted when children aze placed in group homes in other communities and then returned home to this community. Many children needing independent living skills and a transitional placement prior to adult living do not receive this service as they refuse to leave their friends, family and their home community. The lack of prepazation impacts their ability to be productive, independent young adults. Additional needs aze anticipated with two recent events which will impact the children of this county and help to shape juvenile law in North Carolina. The first is the passage of a federal law, the 1997 Adoption and Safe Family Act (ASFA). In general, the provisions in this law seek to speed the process towazd permanency for children removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. The desired goal for disrupted families continues to be reunification, but this law clearly focuses on safety and stability for children as the number one priority. Courts, for example, will now require that 4 Termination of Pazental Rights petitions be filed on behalf of all children who have been in foster care for 15 out of 22 months unless there is a cleaz reason not to proceed. The second event of importance for children in the dependency/delinquency system is the work of the Governor's Commission on Juvenile Crime. The Commission produced a lengthy report with a number of recommendations for dealing with juvenile offenders and for revising the Juvenile Code. The proposed revisions in the Juvenile Code are aimed at clarifying procedures in both Dependency Court and Delinquency Court. These provisions will expand the definitions of abuse and neglect and will increase the emphasis on speed and safety in permanency planning for children. These reports and proposals are now before the General Assembly. These likely changes in the laws that affect North Cazolina children will have an Impact on the systems that serves them. For example, the focus on expediting permanence for children by termination of their parent rights will increase the number of older children who will be freed for adoption and will be in need of adoptive homes. This will therefore create a need for expanded adoption services to prepaze children for permanence who may have suffered from a variety of behavioral and emotional problems. The laws also recommend more frequent judicial reviews to speed the process to permanence which will require the increased need for attorney time both in court and for legal consultation. 5 In 199'7 there were legislative changes passed which gave the CCPT the authority to establish creative outreach services which can reduces risk of harm to children. This year there are proposed legislative changes which will give additional responsibility to the local CCPT to include the evaluating for the District Attorney's office, certain case reviews regarding abuse and neglect decisions made by DSS. This means that cases in which the director of the department of social services has decided not to file a petition for custody, an appeal can be made and the COPT shall review the case and submit a written report and recommendations to the District Attorney within 20 days of the appeal. This expanded responsibility would afford a more effective and open means for the average citizen to share their concerns for the safety and well being of children. The CCPT may also review additional select cases where any of the following situations may occur: • A second and/or subsequent substantiated report of abuse of neglect occurs without the filing of a court petition by the DSS director; • DSS has substantiated a report and has stayed involved with the case for over 12 months without filing a petition; • Cases where the investigative assessment has not been completed by DSS within 30 days. If the recommended changes are passed this year, there will be even greater opportunities for coordination and collaboration among community service providers to achieve intended outcomes for the safety and well being of children. 6 COMMUNITY CHILD PROTECTION TEAM 1998 RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS • The County should ensure that the caseload size is in compliance with established standards to assure the highest level of protection is available for children in Orange County. • The County should set aside $50,000 per year over the next three years to assist with the start-up costs for a group home facility established to meet the needs of our community's children. • The County should set aside $5,000 to be used as needed for testing parents for drugs who have a history of substance abuse and are abusing/neglecting their children. • The County should support the expansion of community based drug treatment programs particularly for parents of young children to promote safety and permanence for children.