HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 10-05-2004-9aORANGE COUNTY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT
Meeting Date: October 5, 2004
Action Age da
Item No. ~(~__
SUBJECT: Request to Accept State Child Protective Services Funding for the
Establishment of Two New Child Protective Services Social Worker Positions
DEPARTMENT: Social Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No
ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT:
Nancy Coston, ext 2802
TELEPHONE NUMBERS:
Hillsborough 732-8181
Chapel Hill 968-4501
Durham 688-7331
Mebane 336-227-2031
PURPOSE: To consider accepting state fiands for child protective services and establishing two
new permanent full time Child Protective Service Social Worker positions with the funds,
BACKGROUND: Orange County joined with 51 other counties to implement child welfare
reform, known as the Multiple Response System, effective July 2004. Originally, the State did
not believe that the new system would require any additional staff. However, a study of the first
ten pilot counties concluded that the changes did require additional staff time and could result in
unanticipated county costs.
Currently, Orange County has an average caseload of 194.83 cases and the equivalent of 17.5
social workers assigned to these cases. This means that Orange County was meeting the
recommended State staffing ratio of 1:12 (one worker to 12 cases), However, after studying the
experiences of the counties originally implementing child welfare reform, the recommended staff
ratio in counties who are part of the Multiple Response System has been adjusted to 1:10. The
staff at Orange County Department of Social Services are now beginning to see the impacts of
these new demands, Although the staff are supportive of the new approach, the intensity of
services requires a greater commitment of time to the individual cases.
During its last session, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $5 million in
additional funding far child protective services. These funds require no county match, but do
require that the each county commit to using the funds only for new positions in child protective
services. Some of these funds were allocated to counties such as Orange to address the
staffing needs associated with the implementation of the new multiple response system.
Orange County was determined to need two additional positions to maintain the recommended
1:10 ratio and will receive an annual allocation of $105,514. These funds are in the state
continuation budget and are therefore expected to be available each year.
FINANCIAL IMPACT: The annual casts for salary and benefits for these positions is $101,916,
The allocation from the state is sufficient to pay the salary, benefits and other costs of these two
positions, Since the allocation is far a full year, there will also be funds during the first year to
pay any start-up costs. There will be no additional County costs for these positions,
Annual Position Annual One Time Start- Offsetting 2004-05 Net
Casts Operating Costs Up Costs Revenue Position and
Sala /Benefits Start-U Costs
$101,916 $0 $3,598 $105,514* $0
State Allocation
RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board accept these state funds
and establish two additional permanent full time Child Protective Service Social Worker
positions in the Department of Social Services effective October 5, 2004.