The Department for Children and Families needs eight more staff immediately and stronger coordination of the services it provides Vermonters, according to a report released Wednesday.
The recommendations are part of a 15-page analysis on ways to improve the department, which has come under fire this year after the death of two toddlers whose families were involved with DCF. In addition to authorizing the department to create 27 new positions earlier this year, Gov. Peter Shumlin asked state human services officials to analyze whether DCF should be reorganized.
The report recommended against splitting its two divisions, economic services and family services.
Instead it called for eight new positions immediately as well as four more staff later, if budgets allow. It also calls for more staff training, better collaboration between DCF and other state and community partners, more transparency and better communication within DCF and with the Legislature and public, and more effective mid-level management so the department’s commissioner is free to move DCF forward.
At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, new DCF Commissioner Ken Schatz and interim Agency of Human Services Secretary Harry Chen, both of whom took those positions in the wake of the toddler deaths, said they believe these changes would help DCF significantly.
However, the recommendations will not be immune to potential budget cuts coming next year. Departments have been told to prepare two budget requests, Chen said, one with level funding and one including a five percent cut. Chen cautioned that although the recommendations are crucial to improving child safety in Vermont, next year’s budget may not allow for them to happen. It is possible, Chen added, that the eight new staff could be funded through savings from another DCF program, Reach Up, whose caseload is declining.
The report elaborates on each recommendation. The eight positions would be mid-level managers, positions that had been cut from DCF in the past. Those jobs would help front-line workers better perform their duties and allow Schatz to focus on the big picture.
The deputy commissioner’s office has no employee who oversees all administrative functions of the office, such as budgetary, fiscal, human resources, facilities and telecommunication matters, according to a memo from Schatz to Chen released with the report.
DCF also needs another regional manager for economic services, the memo said, because two of the 13 economic services district offices do not have managers: Middlebury and Morrisville.
The report also talked about better integration of existing services in DCF, which range from investigating reports of child abuse to working with juvenile delinquents to administering food stamps, fuel assistance and child care subsidies.
Chen said past efforts to integrate services have struggled. Pilot programs exist in Addison and Franklin/Grand Isle counties. AHS’s director of Integrated Family Services departed earlier this year and Chen said he has advertised for a replacement.
Floyd Nease, who also oversaw integration efforts, left temporarily in February to help with the administration’s health care reform effort. Chen said Carol Maloney has filled Nease’s position.
In the next six to eight months, DCF intends to develop an integrated pilot program in the Northeast Kingdom to coordinate services for adults. When that model is successful, it will be applied across other districts, the report said.
“We’re breaking new ground here,” Chen said.
Operations managers in DCF will also form a working group immediately, to “develop and align policies and practices, training and operational decision-making to further enhance integrated planning and service delivery for families served by multiple DCF divisions,” the report said.
The report is a result of months of solicited feedback from entities including the public, law enforcement, legislators, child and family advocates, AHS staff and others. That input is available online.
Gov. Shumlin Wednesday thanked those who provided input.
“My hope is that the legacy of (deceased toddlers) Dezirae Sheldon and Peighton Geraw will be an improved child protection system that keeps children safer, ensures families are stronger, and ultimately helps prevent such tragedies in the future,” Shumlin said in a news release Wednesday morning.
Chen said DCF especially wants to refine its response to families where substance abuse is present. A program that puts contracted substance abuse staff in district offices will be expanded from the present two offices, to six.
Chen and Schatz said this report is only the first in a string of reports that will analyze DCF.
A panel of lawmakers is investigating the state’s child protection system and anticipates recommending changes soon. The national group Casey Family Programs, the National Center for Substance Abuse and Child Welfare, and the Vermont Citizens Advisory Board are also examining DCF’s child protection services.
The report also lists actions already taken this year. DCF has revised or developed policies having to do with serious physical injury, placing children in custody at home, unaccepted reports on open cases, risk of harm/sexual investigations, and child safety interventions.
DCF has 105 policies on its books and 60 of them have not been revised in the past five years, according to a memo from Schatz to Chen, released with the report. Twenty-four of the policies have revision dates before 2000, it said. Twenty-six policies have been reviewed between 2013 and 2014 but ideally, each policy should be reviewed every three years, the memo said.
“In addition, (the Family Services Division) has regulations in effect that have not been reviewed in over 30 years. Given that regulations have the force and effect of law, this should not be,” the memo said.
One of the proposed new positions will be dedicated to reviewing policies, the report said.
DCF also wants to assess parent education programs across all of AHS to make sure that best practices are being followed and the programs are as efffective as possible, the report said.
It also calls for an increase the use of “multi-disciplinary teams,” which collaborate between state workers and community organizations that work with DCF.
Schatz also requested an assistant director for the St. Albans family services district office as well as an assistant director at the centralized intake and emergency services office, the report said.
To improve transparency, the report recommends creating a legislative oversight committee for child protection and building a mechanism for ongoing public input and feedback to DCF as well as creating better public access to information about laws, policies, and procedures that guide DCF.
The report says of all the feedback, one message is clear: “Child protection and safety must be understood and identified as a community problem with community solutions.”
That means it is up to not only DCF, but the community at large, to make long-term solutions to best serve children and families, the report said.
