Legislature(2017 - 2018)CAPITOL 106
03/21/2017 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Alaska Citizen Review Panel | |
| HCR2 | |
| HB151 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
| += | HB 151 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| *+ | HCR 2 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
HB 151-DHSS;CINA; FOSTER CARE; CHILD PROTECTION
4:42:17 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ announced that the final order of business would
be HOUSE BILL NO. 151, "An Act relating to the duties of the
Department of Health and Social Services; relating to training
and workload standards for employees of the Department of Health
and Social Services; relating to foster care licensing; relating
to placement of a child in need of aid; relating to the rights
and responsibilities of foster parents; relating to subsidies
for adoption or guardianship of a child in need of aid;
requiring the Department of Health and Social Services to
provide information to a child or person released from the
department's custody; and providing for an effective date."
[In front of the committee was Version R, which had not yet been
adopted as the working draft.]
4:43:11 PM
LAURA CHARTIER, Staff, Representative Les Gara, Alaska State
Legislature, directed attention to the Sectional Summary
[Included in members' packets] for the proposed committee
substitute, Version R, and she paraphrased these changes, which
read:
Section 1 provides that the short title of the bill is
the Children Deserve a Loving Home Act.
Section 2 provides that an adoption subsidy for a
hard-to-place child may be paid until the child turns
21; under current law, the subsidies are available
until the child turns 18.
Section 3 amends legislative findings related to
children to add a finding that the Department of
Health and Social Services (the department) should
enable a child's contact with previous out-of-home
caregivers if it is in the best interests of the
child.
Section 4 amends requirements relating to the transfer
of a child from one placement to another to require a
supervisor at the department to certify in writing
whether the department has conducted a search for an
appropriate placement with an adult family member or
family friend.
Section 5 provides that a foster parent has the right
and responsibility to use a reasonable and prudent
parent standard to make decisions relating to the
child in care, and requires the department to provide
foster parents with training relating to the
reasonable and prudent parent standard.
Section 6 requires the department to engage a child in
an out-of-home placement who is 14 years of age or
older in the development or revisions of a case plan
or permanency plan for the child and allows the child
to select up to two adults to participate in the
development of the plan.
Section 7 amends confidentiality provisions to require
a state or municipal agency or employee to disclose
appropriate confidential information regarding a case
to the sibling of a child who is the subject of the
case if it is in the best interests of the child to
maintain contact with the sibling.
Section 8 requires a supervisor at the department,
when the department takes emergency custody of a
child, to certify in writing whether the department
has conducted a search for an appropriate placement
with an adult family member or family friend.
Section 9 requires the department to pay the costs of
caring for a foster child with a physical or mental
disability, and for respite care, until the child
turns 21; under current law, the payments are
available until the child turns 18.
Section 10 requires the department to search for an
appropriate placement with an adult family member or
friend when the child is removed from the parent's
home. The section also requires a supervisor at the
department to certify in writing whether the
department has conducted the search.
Section 11 amends AS 14.14.1 OO(i) to provide that
when a child can remain safely at home with an adult
family member or guardian who lives with the child,
the child may not be placed with an out-of-home care
provider.
Section 12 requires the department to provide contact
information to siblings who are in separate placements
if it is in the best interests of the children to
maintain contact.
Section 13 requires the department to implement
workload standards and a training program for
department employees and to provide a report to the
legislature if the department is not able to meet
certain standards.
Section 14 adds a new subsection requiring the
department to assist an adult family member in
obtaining a foster care license, including any
necessary variances, if placing the child with the
adult family member is in the best interests of the
child.
Section 15 requires the department, for a person who
is 16 years of age or older, to provide the person, or
assist the person with obtaining, the person's birth
certificate, social security card, health insurance
information, medical records, driver's license or
identification card, and certificate of degree of
Indian or Alaska Native blood, if applicable, when the
person is released from state custody under AS 4 7
.10.
Section 16 requires the department, to the extent
feasible, to approve or deny a foster care home
license, including a request for a variance, not more
than 45 days after the date the department receives
the application for a foster care home license.
Section 17 provides that sections 2 and 9 of the Act,
which relate to payments for foster care,
guardianship, and adoption, apply to a person who is
eligible for a payment on or after the effective date
of sections 2 and 9, including a person who was
ineligible for a payment solely because the child
turned 18. All other sections of the Act apply to a
child in the custody or under the supervision of the
department under AS 4 7 .10 on or after the effective
dates of sections 3 - 8 and 10 - 16 of the Act.
Section 18 allows the department to adopt regulations
necessary to implement the changes made by the Act.
The regulations may not take effect until the
effective date of the section of the Act implemented
by the regulation.
Section 19 requires the department to (1) adopt
training regulations necessary to meet the standards
in AS 47.14.112(a)(3)(A) (sec. 13 of the Act), not
later than one year after the effective date of sec.
13 of the Act, (2) hire the staff necessary to meet
the workload standards in AS 47.12.112(a)(l), (2), and
(3)(B) (sec. 13 of the Act), not later than two years
after the effective date of sec. 13 of the Act, and
(3) implement the changes made by the remainder of the
Act not later than three years after the effective
date of secs. 1 - 12 and 14 - 16 of the Act.
Section 20 provides that sec. 18 of the Act take
effect immediately.
4:49:23 PM
REPRESENTATIVE KITO asked about the limitations on placements
and penalties and what were the consequences of limiting the
number of placements and not meeting that level.
REPRESENTATIVE LES GARA, Alaska State Legislature, said there
was not any limitation on placements or penalties for those
limitations in the proposed bill. He opined that the discussion
for limits was with trying to meet the federal standard of case
load limits for new case workers, as there was a 50 percent
turnover rate by new case workers in the first year. He said
that there was a 75 percent federal match for meeting the
federal standard of no more than six cases in the first three
months, and no more than twelve cases in the first six months,
in order to learn the job and train. He reiterated that there
were no penalties for the number of placements, even though "we
don't like a lot of placements."
REPRESENTATIVE KITO asked to clarify that the limitation was on
the number of cases per caseworker.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA expressed his agreement, and explained that
a major part of the proposed bill was to limit the number of
cases for a new caseworker, in order to decrease the 50 percent
caseworker turnover in the first year. He shared that each new
worker training cost about $50,000.
REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSTON pointed out that the CRP did not track
the cases per case worker as different cases resulted in
different time demands, and asked if this should instead reflect
the time element instead of the number of cases.
REPRESENTATIVE GARA explained that the only case load
limitations were for new case workers, as the training
necessitated a smaller case load. He reiterated that there was
a 75 percent federal match if this was implemented. After the
six-month period, the case load limit was determined by the
department in order to allow for each case to achieve permanency
in a loving home. He said that the standard was for good work
to "get youth out of the system as quickly as possible." He
shared that OCS wanted to achieve a case load limit of twelve
families per case worker, although this would differ per region
as some areas were more accessible. He pointed out that case
workers in the Matanuska-Susitna office had 43 cases each at one
point.
4:54:44 PM
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ removed her earlier objection to the committee
substitute, Version R [objection carried from House Health and
Social Services Standing Committee meeting on March 16, 2017].
There being no further objection, the proposed committee
substitute (CS) for HB 151, labeled 30-LS0451\R, Glover, 3/7/17,
was before the committee as the working document.
4:56:15 PM
BARBARA MALCHICK stated that she was in support of HB 151. She
reported that she had served for 25 years as a guardian ad litum
in Anchorage and other urban and rural communities. She noted
that she was on the board of directors of Facing Foster Care in
Alaska and was also a part time, temporary employee of the court
system, working on a multi-disciplinary training curriculum for
the judges, lawyers, tribal representatives, and child
advocates. She stated that she was speaking on her own behalf
and that she had submitted a letter of support. She said that
she would focus on three topics. She addressed Section 13 of
the proposed bill regarding the extra training and the case load
standards for new OCS employees. She offered her belief that
hiring, training, and retention of good case workers would
alleviate the necessity for other areas of the proposed bill.
She stated that the lower-case load would allow for
establishment of the necessary relationships and the adequate
assessment of the situations, as well as the time to do
relative, family, and friend searches for appropriate adoptive
homes. She declared that the huge turnover at OCS was bad for
families, and it was her firm belief that children, families,
and the system as a whole would benefit if OCS was able to do
its job better. She moved on to discussion of the relationships
with siblings, which were often the most important, as when the
parents were not available for physical and emotional needs, the
children become care givers for each other. She relayed that
current law required that siblings be placed together if
possible, and, although OCS policy required that communication
should be arranged between separated siblings, this was "one of
those things that falls by the wayside when the case workers are
overworked," and it was not happening. She pointed out that the
proposed bill required OCS to provide contact information for
siblings, and it encouraged that care givers provide
opportunities for siblings to see each other. She suggested
that the proposed bill could be even stronger and include
legislative language recognizing the importance of sibling
relationships. She suggested that there should be provisions in
the adoption decree if siblings are separated for there to be
ongoing contact, if it was in the best interest of the children.
She added that confidentiality should allow for the contact
information to be shared in order to maintain the relationship.
She spoke about the guardianship and adoption subsidies. She
reported that current law allowed for subsidies until 18 years
of age, although it was proposed for an increase to age 21. She
offered her observations that, as many youth often don't
graduate from high school until after 18 years of age, the court
case stays open even though the subsidies end, and that an
increase of the age, to at least the completion of high school,
would allow for more adoptions and guardianships.
5:07:23 PM
ROSALIE REIN said that she had been a licensed front line social
worker with OCS for seven years, although she was not speaking
on behalf of OCS. She highlighted two components of the
proposed bill: improving relationships between workers and the
families, and training and caseload. She stated that case load
was directly tied to the worker being in contact with the
children and families on a regular basis. She shared that
parents and foster parents had to have communication and
concerns addressed by the case workers, yet, suffice it to say,
there were not enough hours in the day for the case workers to
keep up good communication with the invested parties, as well as
do high level social work, which included diligent searches for
extended relatives or tribal members who could provide the best
home for the children who could not return to their parents.
She declared that it was important for caseworkers to maintain
relationships between family members, the resource family, the
biological parents, and the child in care, which would lead to
an integrated sense of self for the child, with the best long-
term outcomes, but that they needed time and training to do
this. She relayed that actual social work was about educating
the parties for the importance of providing each child with the
network of support. Child welfare research suggested that
caseworkers with social work education, appropriate training,
specialized competencies, and greater experience were better
able to facilitate permanency. She stated that proposed HB 151
could ensure that case workers have the necessary training to
develop the skill set specific to child protection and to foster
resiliency. She stated that the proposed bill would help
address the steep learning curve issues for new workers.
5:11:50 PM
TAMMI SANDOVAL, Director, UAA Child Welfare Academy, stated that
she was in support of the proposed bill. She reported that she
had worked in child welfare work for 33 years, and that the
Child Welfare Academy provided the training to all the OCS
frontline workers, supervisors, and other staff. She declared
that Section 13 of the proposed bill would help the situation
for retention, meet federal outcomes, and offer best practice
for families and children. She pointed to earlier testimony for
the necessary time for staff to learn, and stated that the only
way to make a difference for the way we treat children and
families was with more training. She declared that it was
necessary to change "what we give to our front-line staff" and
that the proposed bill was "the right thing to do."
REPRESENTATIVE TARR asked that some of these individuals be
available for later testimony. She stated that she wanted the
opportunity for testimony from the Office of Public Advocacy and
to share the case worker side of things, as well as the
representation for families.
CHAIR SPOHNHOLZ said that the bill would be held over.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HCR002 Sponsor Statement 2.22.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
|
| HCR002 Supporting Document- Article ABADA.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document- Article ABADA-AMHB.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document- Article CDC Injury Prevention & Control Division of Violence Prevention.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document- Article Felitti.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document- Article Yosef.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document-Support Letters A 2.22.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| HCR002 Supporting Document-Support Letters B 2.22.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HCR 2 |
| House HSS Presentation_03202017 from CRP.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
Citizen Review Panel |
| 2016 Annual Report.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
Citizen Review Panel |
| 2016 OCS Response.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
Citizen Review Panel |
| 2017 National CRP Conference Agenda_For public release_03092017.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
Citizen Review Panel |
| Grand Jury Recommendations.pdf |
HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
Citizen Review Panel |
| HB 151 Explanation of Changes ver R 3.15.2017.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Fiscal Note DHSS-CSM 03.10.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Fiscal Note DHSS-CST 03.10.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Draft Proposed Blank CS ver R 3.7.2017.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Fiscal Note DHSS-FCBR 03.10.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Fiscal Note DHSS-FLSW 03.10.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Fiscal Note DHSS-SAG 03.10.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Sectional Analysis ver R 3.15.2017.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document - Casey Family Programs Letter 3.15.2017.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 1. OCS Office by Office Caseloads 3.1.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 2. High Caseloads How Do They Impact Health and Human Services 3.1.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 3. Children Waiting to be Adopted 2014.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 4. Applying the Science of Child Development in Child Welfare Systems (Excerpt).pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 5. NJ DCF Workforce Report (Excerpt).pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 6. Why the Workforce Matters.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 7. Creating a Permanence Driven Organization - Anu (Excerpt).pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 8. DHSS Memo OOH Growth.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 9. DHSS Memo NJ Standard and Workforce.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 10. Relevant Statistics.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document 11. Supporting Article.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 Supporting Document-Letters of Support 3.15.2017.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/23/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |
| HB 151 vers. U Sponsor Statement 3.1.17.pdf |
HHSS 3/16/2017 3:00:00 PM HHSS 3/21/2017 3:00:00 PM |
HB 151 |