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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-18-2021 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 18,2021 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: October 18, 2021 virtually BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Garavaglia, Jane Garrett, and Oscar Fleming GUEST: None BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS ABSENT: Earl McKee STAFF PRESENT: Nancy Coston, Director; Sharron Hinton, Human Services Manager; Crystal Mitchell, Child Welfare Manager and Brittany Mann, Social Work Program Manager I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Pat Garavaglia, called the meeting to order at 4:06 pm. II. Board Comments None. III. Public Comments None. IV. Agenda Changes None. V. Action Items On a motion by Jane Garrett, the Board approved the minutes of September 2021. Oscar Fleming seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. Holiday Program Sharron Hinton provided an overview of the Holiday Programs for 2021. OCDSS will offer the Share Your Holiday sponsorship program. This will operate as it has in years past. Staff in our Child Welfare, Employment Services, Adult Services, Adolescent Parenting, and Child Care programs refer families they are working with. OCDSS recruits individuals, businesses, and churches in the community to sponsor a child or adult. Gifts will be turned in the first weekend of December at Southern Human Services Center or Hillsborough Commons. Our second holiday program we will offer this year is Toy Chest. Ms. Hinton explained OCDSS is a Toys for Tots partner site. We typically distribute 75-90 boxes for toy collection to businesses throughout the Orange County area; we are in process of reaching out to local businesses. Ms. Hinton shared we also accept monetary donations. This year Toy Chest will be altered in response to the pandemic and to promote health and safety. Toy Chest will be held the week of December 13-17th 2021. There will be an online registration for families; if families are unable to register online they can call the office. Each family will be given an appointment date/time. This year the program will only serve ages birth to 12 years old. If needed, toys will be supplemented with gift cards. Each family will receive a gift card to Food Lion for food. 1 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 18,2021 Families with children in diapers will be given a pack of diapers. Pat Garavaglia asked if we will utilize volunteers this year. Ms. Hinton explained while we may have a few volunteers, there will be a reduction in the number of volunteers. Any volunteers will require advanced planning as the County policy in regards to vaccination/testing will need to be followed. Jane Garrett asked what about the teens ages 13-18; Ms. Coston explained we are not doing anything for teens this year. Oscar Fleming asked how many children are served through this program. Ms. Hinton stated 2600- 2800 children. 2. Divisional Updates Community Outreach and Education Division Sharron Hinton shared the Employment Services unit hosted several hiring events during the summer that did not yield the results they hoped for. These events consistently had more employers than employees. Ms. Hinton anticipates an increase in number of participants as social programs such as unemployment end. There will be a Job Fair on Wednesday at University Place with 30 employers. Child and Family Services Division Crystal Mitchell provided an update to the Board of the one-time Consolidated Appropriations Act money provided to young adults who spent time in foster care at age 14 or later. A total of$237,500 in one-time payments were sent to young adults. The money served 29 youth ages 18-20 and 33 youth ages 21-26. Crystal Mitchell and Brittany Mann provided an overview of workload increase for CPS social workers during the month of September. The number of intakes received were the highest number for the month of September in five years. The number of CPS assessments open on the last day of September was nearly double the amount from August. In Home and Permanency Planning numbers have remained consistent but these areas typically see an increase following increases on the front end of the service delivery system. Oscar Fleming asked if there are months where we see increases in numbers. Ms. Mann explained we typically see an increase of reports in the fall when school starts and also in the spring months. Adult Services/Child Care Nancy Coston, Director, shared Adult Services has seen an increase in number of cases. She explained during the pandemic, there was a decrease as many individuals did not want people in their home. Ms. Coston shared during the pandemic, the demand for childcare has been down. There is money still available and parent fees will continue to be covered through January 2022. 3. Community Child Protection Team Member Brittany Mann informed the Board the CCPT is in need of a DSS Board member to sit on this team. This role was filled by prior Board Chair Tamara Dempsey Tanner who has completed her term. Ms. Mann provided an overview of CCPT purpose to the Board; detailing the members of team, types of cases discussed, and actions taken by the Team. The meetings are held quarterly on a Tuesday from 8:30-11:00 a.m. The team seeks to make recommendations in regards to systems level work that will strength child safety in our community. The next meeting will be 2/8/2021. After discussion, Oscar Fleming volunteered to be the Board Member for the CCPT. 2 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES October 18,2021 4. Director's Report Nancy Coston shared the following updates to the Board. Early One-Stop Voting is occurring at Hillsborough Commons. COVID testing is occurring in the Commons' parking lot Monday through Friday 11 a-7p. Micah Guindon, our business officer, resigned; we are actively recruiting for this vacant position. Debra Everhart, accounting technician, retired from the County. She will come back and assist us with some part-time work. Ms. Coston shared she is assisting the County with Recovery Work plans. Funds to pay outstanding water bills are expected to be available to the public by 12/1/21. There will be additional money for energy programs. Ms. Coston shared she is attending ongoing meetings with Alliance Health leading up to the MCO transition occurring on 12/15/21. She shared we are optimistic things will go well. Ms. Coston is also participating in Child Welfare Transformation Meetings on the State level. Ms. Coston informed the Board the County will start enforcing the vaccination/testing employee requirement on November 1, 2021. Ms. Coston recently completed orientation with three new County Commissioners. In-person meetings for the Board of County Commissioners is expected to begin March/April 2022; Ms. Coston will keep this Board informed about the need to resume in- person meetings and the timing of doing so. Nancy Coston will send Board Member training at UNC School of Government to all Board Members, which will be held in November 2021. VII. Announcements Oscar Fleming moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:08 pm. Jane Garrett seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Submitted by: Nancy Coston, DSS Director Pat Garavaglia, Chair 3