03/01/1995 09:05 AM Senate HES

 SHES - 3/1/95                                                                 
                                                                               
            SB  15 EXTEND FOSTER CARE REVIEW PANEL                           
                                                                               
 Number 160                                                                    
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN GREEN introduced  SB 15  as the next order of business               
 before the committee.                                                         
                                                                               
 SENATOR ELLIS, prime sponsor, thanked the Chair for having the bill           
 before the committee.  He stated that children in the custody of              
 the state deserve a high commitment.  He recounted the history of             
 the issue of permanency planning, independent citizen dominated               
 foster care review.  Independent citizen dominated foster care                
 review is a group of citizens and service providers working with              
 social workers to achieve the best for the child, placing the child           
 in a permanent placement as early as possible.  He pointed out that           
 a child often endures abuse first, from an individual and then from           
 the system; the legislature has the power to change the abuse of              
 these children by the system.                                                 
                                                                               
 Senator Ellis explained that SB 15 proposes to extend the                     
 permanency planning effort in Alaska, although it would not be the            
 full-blown effort envisioned with the original legislation.  He               
 noted that Representative Toohey has a similar bill.  This                    
 legislation is a bipartisan effort.  He directed the committee                
 members to the state audit in their packets which justified the               
 extension.                                                                    
                                                                               
 CECILIA KLEINKAUF thanked the committee for the opportunity to                
 testify.  She noted her involvement in the effort to establish                
 foster care review in Alaska.  She explained that under the federal           
 Adoption Assistance and Health Welfare Act of 1980, children's                
 foster care is required to have a written case plan within a short            
 time period after a child is placed.  The case plan must be                   
 reviewed on a regularly scheduled basis, but states are given the             
 ability to decide whether to do those reviews internally or through           
 an external citizen review.  Alaska chose to do internal reviews              
 until 1990.  When concerns began to arise, the original legislation           
 Senator Ellis referred to was introduced.                                     
 Number 236                                                                    
                                                                               
 Ms. Kleinkauf stated that the original legislation established an             
 independent citizen foster care review board.  Many other states              
 have established similar independent foster care review boards due            
 to the need to review the state agencies from an outside vantage.             
 She noted that research, particularly in Nebraska, has illustrated            
 that independent review is more successful in returning children              
 home or to a permanency plan.  Due to the high case loads and                 
 stress which social workers face, the federally mandated reviews              
 may fall to the wayside in order to deal with other issues.                   
                                                                               
 Ms. Kleinkauf clarified that the independent review board's sole              
 function is to review child welfare cases in order to ascertain if            
 the state is providing reasonable effort to either prevent                    
 placement or to reunite children when possible.  The independent              
 review board also reviews the efforts for permanent plans for                 
 placement of the child.  She stated that she always supported                 
 legislation in this area.  The independent foster care review board           
 is a more beneficial approach to permanency placement than an                 
 internal review approach.  She urged the committee to pass SB 15              
 out of committee.  She noted that independent review, in other                
 states, has demonstrated increased permanency for children and                
 decreased costs to the state.                                                 
 Number 280                                                                    
                                                                               
 PAULENE HAFUND, volunteer panelist for foster care review,                    
 appreciated the opportunity to testify.  She informed the committee           
 that there are approximately 20 volunteers who have contributed               
 over 1,650 volunteer hours on this project in the last 15 months.             
 These children are our future and should be supported in the best             
 manner possible.  She said that they were working with the Division           
 of Family and Youth Services (DFYS).  She explained that as a                 
 volunteer citizen, their input may be different than that from a              
 social worker.  From December of 1993 to January of 1995, the panel           
 has reviewed the cases of 263 children of which 50 percent were               
 pre-school age.  Furthermore, 142 of those children have been                 
 reviewed more than once.  She believed that this indicated that the           
 panel is having an impact.  She urged the committee to endorse                
 SB 15.                                                                        
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN GREEN inquired as to the will of the committee.                      
                                                                               
 SENATOR ELLIS moved that SB 15 be moved out of committee with                 
 individual recommendations.                                                   
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN objected.  He noted the presence of a fiscal note and           
 the back up attached.  He asked if it would be necessary to have              
 new staff for this panel or could it be integrated into the system.           
                                                                               
 SHARON BARTON, Department of Administration, stated that she                  
 currently supervises the Citizens Foster Care Review program.  The            
 fiscal note was essential when the legislation was written because            
 the funding had been zeroed out of the Governor's budget.  She                
 pointed out that the Governor's amended budget, sent across                   
 yesterday, restored the funding for the program.  The fiscal note             
 would now be zero.  If the bill passes, the funding would be                  
 supported in the department's budget.  She specified that this                
 would merely maintain the current level of staffing of the program.           
                                                                               
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN asked how many children's cases were reviewed by the            
 three person panel.  SHARON BARTON reiterated that in the last 14             
 months, they have reviewed 260 cases.  The two social workers do              
 most of the organizational work for the panels such as preparing              
 the packets, setting up the logistics, reviewing and summarizing              
 the files.                                                                    
 Number 337                                                                    
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN asked if Ms. Barton felt that such a workload for               
 three individuals was reasonable.  SHARON BARTON expressed                    
 confidence in stating that the state is receiving great work for              
 minimal resources.  The social workers are Range 14 and work many             
 hours of overtime.  Ms. Barton pointed out that the panel does not            
 have any clerical support, their furniture is surplus.  Ms. Barton            
 indicated that they have contemplated the possibility of organizing           
 this staff in another configuration in order to cover more children           
 statewide.  There may be a manner in which this money could be                
 spread to touch more children.                                                
                                                                               
 SENATOR LEMAN removed his objection.                                          
                                                                               
 CHAIRMAN GREEN noted that without other objection, SB 15 would be             
 moved out of committee with individual recommendations.