Sunday, May 31, 2015

Mendocino County children “at risk,” grand jury finds


Describing the agency charged with protecting local children as caring but understaffed, the Mendocino County grand jury declared in a recent report that there is “a disaster waiting to happen” in regard to the Family and Children’s Services Agency.
Formerly known as Child Protective Services, FCS is tasked with serving children at risk of being abused or neglected, and receives funding from state and federal programs.
According to the grand jury, the county’s FCS “is one of the lowest-scoring child protective services agencies in the state,” and that all indications point to “understaffing as the main culprit.
“In spite of a dedicated, caring and hard-working staff, the agency appears to be falling further behind,” the report titled “Family and Children’s Services: Children at Risk” states. “The understaffing has many causes: non-competitive compensation, work overload, poor management and low morale. Senior management is aware of the issues and their consequences, but has failed to address them.”
The grand jury began investigating the agency after receiving complaints about the agency’s ability to provide “timely and appropriate services to children at risk,” alleging that the “services are not provided in a timely manner, or not provided at all, due to staff shortages and management decisions.”
To explore the issue, the grand jury interviewed 15 members of staff and management, and both current and former employees of the county’s Health and Human Services Agency.
It found that “more than one-third of the allocated social work positions are unfilled,” and many of the others are filled by employees who do not have the proper “educational or experience requirements.”
This lack of staff has “translated into work overload and a significant number of late or unscreened referrals, which may not be processed within the guidelines FCS uses.”
In addition, the grand jury notes that the agency’s workload is only increasing, with the average number of allegations of child abuse “increasing by more than 12 percent in the last six years.”
The grand jury notes that after salaries were cut by 10 percent in 2011, “there was an exodus of experienced staff.” Then a “reorganization” of the agency in 2013 caused “controversy among the staff and supervisors, significantly decreasing morale.” The level of morale was described as “almost malignant.”
The grand jury recommends that:
     FCS management bring to the attention of the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors the ranking of the county with respect to all measures of its agency’s performance with respect to the rest of the state, which is “at the bottom for two of the three state measures for job performance.”
     Management bring to the MCBOS the consequences of late investigations and late court reports.
     That the Health and Human Services agency report to the MCBOS that the county “is not in compliance with the staffing requirements” for the agency, and that the county “institute an active, continuous and well-publicized effort to recruit qualified staff.”
     And that the MCBOS supply the Health and Human Services “with the resources necessary to provide adequate services to the children of Mendocino County.
Responses are required by the Mendocino County CEO, as well as the directors of the county’s Health and Human Services agency and its Human Resources department.
May 30, 2015
Ukiah Daily Journal
By Ukiah Daily Journal Staff

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