HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2017-034 Resolution Opposing the Mandatory Regionalization of Social Services Departments Resolution 2017-034
BOARD OF ORANGE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE MANDATORY REGIONALIZATION
OF SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENTS
WHEREAS,Orange County is committed to protecting children from maltreatment and to working with the community to
improve child wellbeing and strengthen families; and
WHEREAS,Orange County commits significant local funds to support the programs and services to meet these needs by
administering both mandated and County initiatives that are designed with the particular needs of the local community in mind;
and
WHEREAS, SB594/HB608,now provisions in the Senate budget bill,would require mandatory regionalization of all social
services programs and require counties to continue to finance these services; and
WHEREAS, most authority for services would be vested in regional authorities with little county input or control; and
WHEREAS,Orange County continues to provide quality services to families and believes that mandatory regionalization will
negatively impact the quality of services available to our families; and
WHEREAS,local departments,in addition to their child welfare duties, provide a wide arrange of services to their
communities,including Medicaid,Food and Nutrition,employment services,child care support, services to elderly and
disabled adults,crisis assistance and disaster assistance; and
WHEREAS,Orange County's data shows over the course of the last five years improved outcomes for children including the
percentage of children achieving placement stability within the first year, the percentage of children remaining in their initial
placement, and reduced court involvement due to effective social work intervention; and
WHEREAS,the State of North Carolina already has better performance than the national average on six of seven national
performance measures; and
WHEREAS,there is no evidence that regionalization will provide improvements in the statewide child welfare system;there
seems to be no national evidence of any correlation between performance and structure of services; and
WHEREAS,fiscal and legal issues related to regionalization will be extremely complex, and will take considerable time to
study, and may lead to unintended negative consequences; and
WHEREAS,county employees are already raising questions about the impact of this bill on their ongoing work at social
services potentially causing the system to lose well-trained social workers who choose to seek more stable employment; and
WHEREAS,counties are working aggressively on program improvement plans and continuous improvement initiatives to
improve practice and to have that reflected in the next federal child welfare review;disrupting services with studies or with
staff concerns about their employment during this time will prevent state and county resources being committed to meeting
these goals;
NOW,THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED that the Orange County Board of Commissioners declares its opposition to any
mandatory regionalization of local departments of social services and requests that any study of this system be fact-based and
include child welfare staff from the local departments, and urges the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to
do the same.
This is the 25th day of May,2017
Mark Dorosin,Chair
Orange County Board of Commissioners