BY DAVID CASTELLON • dcastell@visalia.gannett.com • August 30, 2010
Social workers from Tulare Coun-ty Child Welfare Services will not have to get psychological evaluations on children before placing them in foster homes, nor will the process for county jail inmates to file grievances over their medical treatment change.
Those are two of the responses to eight Grand Jury reports that the county Board of Supervisors could approve during its weekly meeting Tuesday.
The reports, released last month, detailed findings from Grand Jury investigation of local government agencies and programs along with recommendations to correct problems identified.
Three of the investigations focused on the county jail, looking at medical treatment for inmates, privacy for "pro per" inmates -†those representing themselves in court -†and problems with clothing issued to inmates.
Other reports covered investigations of how speed limits are determined on county roadways, reported problems in the county Planning Commission and the Teviston Community Service District, CWS practices and possible deficiencies in the county Resource Management Agency's enforcement of zoning ordinances and collection of fines and other fees owed to the county.
If approved by supervisors Tuesday, the 43 pages of responses would be submitted to Superior Court Judge Melinda Reed.
Here are some of the Grand Jury claims and responses:
> The supervisors say mental health evaluations aren't needed for all children prior to foster care placement.
"When CWS is removing a child in emergency situations, we have no choice but to place that child in
foster care to ensure their safety," and if social workers believe that mental health evaluations or treatment are needed, they can arrange for it, the supervisors' response states.
The report also denies that youths are given little or no instruction on how to access medical services, Social Security and money for education before being emancipated as adults.
"The board disagrees with this finding," as social workers are required to provide this information to the children, along with instruction on accessing Medi-Cal and other health benefits, seeking employment, vocational training and applying for college and financial aid.
CWS will not follow the Grand Jury's recommendation to conduct unannounced visits to foster homes unless social workers already suspect that something is wrong, the supervisors state.
"As for the Grand Jury claim that not all foster homes are visited by social workers monthly, as required, the supervisors state there are exceptions to the rules, including cases in which children are placed with relatives and when waivers are granted based on the stability of the placements."
The response doesn't state if any incidents occurred in which any social workers failed to conduct one-month visits, when required.
> The supervisors disagree with the Grand Jury's conclusions that more than 400 code enforcement violation cases aren't being worked by RMA. Their response states that 257 of the cases have been corrected, and that the county is waiting for the property owners to pay their fines and penalties.
As for the 143 that haven't been corrected, the owners have code compliance agreements with the county.
A report on the effectiveness of RMA's Building Division in code compliance enforcement and revenue collection will be submitted to the supervisors within the next six months.
> The supervisors agreed that attendance and punctuality has been a problem with some members of the Planing Commission; an attendance rule has been enacted that members who miss three consecutive meetings without good cause will be replaced.
"If the grievance requires a medical response, it is immediately forwarded to the medical staff to resolve," the supervisors' response states, although no statistical data to support this is included.
The board also disputes claims that medications weren't being refilled in a timely manner, stating that there have been isolated occurrences. The response goes on to say that there may be lags of up to four days in obtaining medicine for inmates because of the county's contracted pharmacy being closed on weekends or the pharmacist needing time to clear up questions with medical providers.
As for claims of delays for inmates to be seen by medical specialists, when needed, the supervisors noted that some delays are due to the difficulty in finding specialists in this area willing to treat inmates.
> The supervisors agree to review procedures to provide privacy for pro per inmates conducting legal research in the Bob Wiley Detention Facility's law library.
Jail staff also will provide reference cards and instructions for using the library's computer for conducting online legal research.
> The supervisors deny giving preferential treatment to individual communities in setting speed limits, although priority is given when speed is a public safety issue.
> The Grand Jury investigated complaints of intimidation, sexual harassment, California open-meeting law violations, voter fraud and other claims against the Teviston Community Service District.
On several of the points, including that some meetings weren't open to the public and water meters weren't being read on a regular basis, the supervisors decline to comment, stating only that the matters aren't in their purview.
The Grand Jury reported finding no grounds to support the voter fraud and sexual harassment claims.
The supervisors agreed to schedule training for service district board members on conducting government meetings and to follow the Grand Jury recommendation to hire a general manager for the district by the end of the year.
http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/article/20100830/NEWS01/8300320
A policy prohibiting use of cell phones during commission meetings will be developed by the Dec. 20 meeting, the supervisors' response states.
> In response to the Grand Jury claim that about 40 percent of inmate clothing sent out for laundering wasn't returned, the supervisors state that a new system has been put into place at the jail to better monitor clothes.
In addition, "routine cell searches are conducted each day to retrieve the clothing."
> The supervisors disagreed with the Grand Jury's conclusion that medical and non-medical grievances by jail inmates aren't always directed to the "responsible" officials.
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