Legislature(2007 - 2008)CAPITOL 106
03/29/2007 03:00 PM House HEALTH, EDUCATION & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Overview: Office of Children's Services | |
| Adjourn |
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH, EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 29, 2007
3:01 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Peggy Wilson, Chair
Representative Bob Roses, Vice Chair
Representative Anna Fairclough
Representative Mark Neuman
Representative Paul Seaton
Representative Sharon Cissna
Representative Berta Gardner
MEMBERS ABSENT
All members present
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
OVERVIEW: DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES - OFFICE OF
CHILDREN'S SERVICES
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous committee action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
KARLEEN JACKSON, Commissioner
Department of Health & Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Introduced the overview presentation.
TAMMY SANDOVAL, Deputy Commissioner
Central Office
Office of Children's Services (OCS)
Department of Health & Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented the overview for the Office of
Children's Services.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR PEGGY WILSON called the House Health, Education and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:01:49 PM.
Representatives Wilson, Gardner, Roses, Seaton, and Fairclough
were present at the call to order. Representatives Cissna and
Neuman arrived as the meeting was in progress.
^Overview: Office of Children's Services
3:02:21 PM
CHAIR WILSON announced that the only order of business would be
an overview from the Commissioner of the Department of Health &
Social Services and the Deputy Commissioner, Office of
Children's Services (OCS).
3:02:57 PM
KARLEEN JACKSON, Commissioner, Department of Health & Social
Services (DHSS), introduced the presentation. She informed the
committee that she and Deputy Commissioner Tammy Sandoval of the
Office of Children's Services are presenting their plan for
improvements to the OCS system. Commissioner Jackson noted that
during the years between 2001 and 2005, there were four
different agency directors of OCS. Current Deputy Commissioner
Sandoval has 20 years experience in child protection services
and has been with DHSS since 2004. Commissioner Jackson praised
Ms. Sandoval for the work she has done so far. She explained
that one of the first steps taken to stabilize OCS was to
contract with an outside consultant, ACTION for Child
Protection, Inc., to study and evaluate internal operations.
Through collaboration with the Department of Law (DOL), the
incoming attorney general provided approval for the report to be
released in March, 2006, and a copy of the report was provided
to each committee member. She said that the report has been
discussed with OCS staff statewide, the Citizens' Review Panel
(CRP), the Senate Health, Education and Social Services Standing
Committee, and the press. Commissioner Jackson informed the
committee that, although there are no surprises in the report,
members of her staff are personally impacted by the
recommendations therein.
TAMMY SANDOVAL, Deputy Commissioner, Office of Children's
Services, (OCS), relayed her office's intent to look at issues
not covered by a 2003, federal review, or by the CRP. The first
area to be reviewed by the contractor's internal report, that
was begun in November, 2006, was the organizational structure of
the interface between OCS state and local offices. The second
aspect was to review community relationships. Third, the policy
and front-end procedural review and a safety assessment model
were studied. Fourth, a review of the Training Curriculum and
Orientation of New Employees (TONE) was requested.
3:10:46 PM
MS. SANDOVAL continued to say that OCS management wanted to
study its effectiveness and efficiency. Employee morale, job
satisfaction, turnover, and retention were critical areas of
concern. A job satisfaction survey was taken and employee
interviews were held. She listed findings that indicated that
there is a high level of dissatisfaction among employees in many
areas; however, there also remains a high level of job
motivation and she expressed her belief that OCS has a strong
foundation on which to build.
3:12:52 PM
MS. SANDOVAL continued to note that the majority of OCS's front-
line staff, who are overworked and are in the limelight,
indicate that their job motivation is high, they believe that
they are supported by management, and they are happy in their
positions. The author of the report noted that employees have
many positive feelings about their responsibilities, but they
are concerned about how to complete their tasks. In addition to
other problems, communication inconsistencies exist between
local, regional, and state offices. These communications
problems continue within offices, and the majority of those who
responded to the survey felt that employees are not held
accountable for their work. Training is considered inadequate,
workloads are unmanageable, salaries are low, the requirement
that supervisors hold a degree in social services is
unreasonable, the case management information system (ORCA) is
not current, the organizational climate is dysfunctional, and
too much clerical work is required of front-line staff.
3:16:16 PM
MS. SANDOVAL pointed out that the contractor provided the
following recommendations: review efficiencies specific to each
region; clarify authority, responsibility and accountability of
administration at each level; increase clerical support; create
a support group for workers; develop an exceptional training
program for everyone; reduce work load; reassess the degree
requirement for supervisors; have an ORCA expert in every
office; physically separate regional and field offices; develop
a communications strategy link to the mission of the agency; add
services to children and families; expand the family to family
program; and continue to decrease the over representation of
minority children in the child welfare system.
3:18:21 PM
MS. SANDOVAL described some of the steps OCS is taking to
address problems raised by this report and others. She stated
that this year OCS has begun a newsletter, The Pipeline, and
that the staff morale survey will be continued annually. In
addition, the new safety assessment process will also be
continued. She relayed that the budget allows for six new
front-line positions for her office, and that retention of
employees will be a focus for management. She reported that OCS
is working with the Department of Administration towards
promoting from within to prevent the loss of experienced staff.
Regional managers are reaching out to the judicial system and
the community to talk about the new safety assessment model.
Lastly, Ms. Sandoval stressed that her office is always
searching for ways to prevent child abuse and neglect through
prevention programs and federal grants.
3:21:29 PM
MS. SANDOVAL called the committee's attention to the portion of
the review on community relationships. The contractor was asked
to do focus groups on 12 key community stakeholders, in addition
to the Mat-Su, Anchorage, and Juneau field offices, and the
state office. The report indicates that, generally,
professional agencies' view of OCS was more positive than views
held by the general public. The majority of professionals view
OCS as highly effective in investigating reports of child
maltreatment; however, the review reported that a wide variation
exists between offices in the quality of work and procedures
involving the sharing of information. Several key informants
cited the difficulties in internal procedures and community work
in the Mat-Su office. Throughout the report, communication
continued to be the main issue.
3:24:41 PM
MS. SANDOVAL relayed that there needs to be more cooperation
with tribes on investigations and on the placement of children.
Further recommendations are that OCS should: retain successful
staff; achieve manageable workloads; improve responsiveness;
return phone calls; support and conduct regional outreach
activities with community stakeholders including families,
foster parents, and professionals in related fields; enhance the
skills of supervisors; continue cultural sensitivity training;
develop guidelines on the sharing of information; and maintain
transparent and open working conditions at local offices. Ms.
Sandoval acknowledged that OCS has had limited success in
community relationships. In October, 2005, she issued a program
instruction of the policy for returning phone calls and email.
Also, surveys of families, tribal organizations, foster parents,
service providers, and the judicial community are posted online;
however, she recognized that there continues to be a
communications gap. In addition, Commissioner Jackson has
issued policy and procedures guidelines regarding the sharing of
information, in order to foster inter-agency relationships. She
described OCS's response to the CRP request for clarification
regarding confidentiality. In conjunction with the DOL,
guidelines were developed, distributed, and put in statute by
legislation. Nevertheless, confidentiality remains a troubling
issue.
3:30:28 PM
MS. SANDOVAL told the committee that, in September of 2006, work
with tribal partners on disproportionality was begun by inviting
them to participate in investigations in cases where a tribal
affiliation is known. Extensive work with DOL will continue to
establish tribally licensed foster homes. She added that the
new safety assessment model is being discussed at the local
level in communities.
3:31:24 PM
MS. SANDOVAL pointed out that the policy and procedures review
was the final area studied by the contractor. OCS specifically
wanted to know whether its policies and procedures support the
practice of decision-making on the part of staff. Lacking in
the policy was the reference to the mission of the organization,
the objective of a intervention, or the desired results. The
reports author explained that these references would provide a
critical foundation for employees on the goals and methods of
OCS. Additionally, the writing was not precise and policies are
unclear. The report found that, in the policies, there is an
assumption that the reader will know what is not stated.
3:34:14 PM
MS. SANDOVAL provided examples of confusing policies and
explained that the federal government continues to establish new
policies and regulations and, despite the passage of HB 153 and
subsequent bills, the distribution of new policy and procedures
has fallen behind. Organization of OCS policy is vague and
confusing, and the numerous and significant problems with the
current policy led the author of the report to suggest that new
policy must be written, rather than a revision of the old. Ms.
Sandoval said that there must be many people involved, including
community stakeholders, in order to write a new policy and
procedure manual.
3:38:52 PM
MS. SANDOVAL referred to the last report that is on the training
and orientation of new employees. Findings indicated that the
training for information collection is too general for an
accurate safety assessment. For example; the imprecise use of
definitions of the abuse, neglect, maltreatment, risk, and
safety of children. When the curriculum was written, although
OCS states its family centered orientation, there is an emphasis
placed on the legalistic issues and mandates of the child in
need of aid petition. Ms. Sandoval added that the curriculum
focus of investigations is on risk and maltreatment, and that
OCS is now in the process of moving to a safety assessment
model. Recommendations of the reviewer urge the employment of
the safety assessment model as the foundation of training for
case workers. She stressed that this shift will bring
everything into alignment. Additional recommendations are:
define who OCS is serving; structure investigations into a
linear format; and spend more time on safety planning. Ms.
Sandoval observed that her office had identified problems with
TOME before the internal review was ordered, and its
recommendations will be fully integrated into the revisions
already under consideration. She stated that tribal partners,
regional offices, and stakeholders will be involved to assure
that concerns of disproportionality will be addressed in the
revised training procedures.
3:44:57 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES stated his appreciation for the efforts of
OCS to respond to this comprehensive self-review. He said that
he has been involved in undertaking personnel studies, primarily
in schools, and that issues of insufficient support from
supervisors, and communications problems, are not uncommon. He
asked how OCS will provide sufficient time to implement
improvements and the continuing education of employees.
MS. SANDOVAL responded that this is an essential issue. She
explained that classes for existing employees are provided.
However, it is difficult for front-line workers to make the time
to attend. She described her attempts to talk with her staff
about workload and burnout, and emphasize to them that when the
staff will not take the opportunity to refresh, improve their
education, and be mentored, they will not be able to continue
their work.
3:49:02 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES asked whether OCS employees are part of a
collective bargaining unit
MS. SANDOVAL said yes.
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES questioned whether Ms. Sandoval has
coordinated with the bargaining unit to evaluate ineffective
employees through the union.
MS. SANDOVAL replied that the state has a personnel system, in
conjunction with the union, to evaluate employees on an
individual basis. She said that, according to staff comments,
some problem employees have not been disciplined.
3:50:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES observed that when dealing with a
collective bargaining unit, the grievance process is available.
Therefore, formal evaluations and work self-assessments are
especially valuable. He opined that weak personnel systems
encourage employee burn out.
3:52:46 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN stated that changes at OCS have been
discussed before, and he said that he could not see that any
progress has been made. Representative Neuman asked for
specific management changes for the Mat-Su area. He noted that
Mat-Su cases have been referred to the Anchorage OCS office and
slow responses from the Mat-Su office continue to be a problem.
He opined that how the OCS Mat-Su office deals with the public
is an ethics issue. He suggested that the Mat-Su staff be asked
whether there is a cyclical nature to the issues there; that
might help them discover what is not working and facilitate
change.
3:57:03 PM
COMMISSIONER JACKSON replied that continuing education for
employees is an issue that is larger than OCS and DHSS alone.
Also, she said, there has been a justified culture of
confidentiality around protecting children. This
confidentiality, however, should not shield the office from the
investigation of problems. She agreed that OCS front-line
workers have some of the hardest jobs in state government.
Nonetheless, the problems OCS faces must be corrected by systems
changes. For example, correcting confusing policy and improving
training for employees. Commissioner Jackson assured the
committee that this presentation is not a budget exercise but an
overall plan for the next four years. She expressed her
commitment for making changes in her department.
3:59:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN repeated his previous questions regarding
the changes for the Mat-Su office.
3:59:27 PM
MS. SANDOVAL answered that she is maintaining the safety
assessment model to improve practices on the front-line, and
that has been issued in memoranda from her office. She will
establish whether these expectations are not being fulfilled and
will then follow up with employees. Regarding the Mat-Su
office, she assured the committee that she and the Commissioner
Jackson have plans to address the problems there. State
personnel rules prevent her from public disclosure about these
plans at this time.
4:01:22 PM
CHAIR WILSON observed that the commissioner of the Department of
Education & Early Development (DEED) should be able to assist
OCS with the evaluation of employees. There is a similarity to
how DEED manages teaching and administrative staff. These
written evaluation procedures are very helpful when staff
members are unsuccessful in their responsibilities and do not
respond to additional training efforts.
4:03:03 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES clarified his statement that documentation
is helpful, but the ideal solution is to identify a problem and
provide the means for someone to correct the situation and
improve their performance. When people self-reflect they may be
their own harshest critics. Representative Roses observed that
employees rarely leave their jobs because they are happy with
what they are doing. He stressed that positions in each
department of the state are being are deleted because they can
not be filled. He suggested that filling positions with
mentors, or quality assurance experts, to assist failing
employees would be invaluable.
4:06:15 PM
COMMISSIONER JACKSON agreed that that the positions removed from
her budget are positions that are not needed in their present
capacity. She affirmed that management is sometimes in a myopic
position; too close to identify a particular need. Hence, there
is the need for contracting an internal review.
4:07:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA reflected on the history of OCS and how
chronic, entrenched problems are difficult to correct. She
cautioned that people are more comfortable with past systems and
behaviors, no matter how dysfunctional. She suggested the value
of re-hiring employees, who left disgruntled, versus bringing in
new employees. These previous workers will be familiar with the
issues and may be willing to work towards improvements.
Representative Cissna opined that good exit interviews reveal
important information for management. She commended OCS workers
that know the mission is important and added that a structure
that allows workers to translate the mission statement to their
own position is necessary. Her personal experience is that many
other states are struggling with the same issues; in fact, one
solution is to, with technology and software, connect the
mission and corrective measures taken to the performance of
workers in each region.
COMMISSION JACKSON agreed that many helpful policies and
procedures do exist in other states.
4:12:27 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA continued to state the importance of
changing the public perception which is that "this is a problem
that will never be solved." She opined that there are citizens
working against OCS; however, the volunteers of the CRP could be
very helpful to change public opinion.
COMMISSIONER JACKSON affirmed that, at its inception in 2002,
the role of the CRP was not clear, and an adversarial situation
ensued. However, a new partnership is being forged with them
and its collaboration is now welcomed.
4:16:02 PM
MS. SANDOVAL added that, when the CRP came to their recent
meeting, it was a tipping point in its relationship with OCS.
The CRP was the first group briefed on the internal review
report and an agreement was made to work side by side in a more
meaningful way. In fact, as recently as last week, she traveled
with a CRP member to Bethel. The Bethel office staff debriefing
was part of what was shared with a panel member and Ms. Sandoval
expressed her enthusiasm about the new beginning of the
partnership with the CRP.
4:18:32 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA observed that the new administration's
retention of the commissioner and [deputy commissioner] is a
positive factor in rebuilding the foundation for DHSS and OCS.
4:19:15 PM
CHAIR WILSON agreed. She expressed her gratitude for how far
Commissioner Jackson and Ms. Sandoval have brought their
departments.
4:20:09 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER asked about the problems with ORCA. Her
understanding was that the intent of the system was to improve
the sharing of information and recordkeeping.
4:20:55 PM
MS. SANDOVAL responded that ORCA was developed from another
state's model. Moreover, constant changes in federal and state
laws, and new mandates and rules, have to be programmed and add
demands on the system. She stated that the "level of effort
time" to make ORCA a working system is not there yet. Ms.
Sandoval assured the committee that ORCA will perform as needed
at some point.
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER commented that computerized systems are
supposed to save on paperwork but that does not seem to be the
reality. She asked whether the front-line workers will still
have too much paperwork.
MS. SANDOVAL answered that the front-line workers will say that
ORCA does not save time. However, she is confident from her
past experience that it will, eventually.
4:25:00 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER said that there are three parts to the
child protection field: identifying a child in need of removal
from the home; a plan for the child; and the permanency plan.
She asked whether better permanency outcomes are being achieved.
MS. SANDOVAL responded that OCS passed its federal performance
improvement plan that mandated improvements in those areas.
Permanency is being achieved more quickly; however, OCS is not
at a satisfactory federal standard level yet.
4:26:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE NEUMAN pledged his support to assist in garnering
funding for the department. The safety of the state's children
is a top priority.
4:27:30 PM
REPRESENTATIVE FAIRCLOUGH said that she appreciated the
department's efforts toward transparency and improvement. She
expressed her desire to learn more about the safety assessment
model and how it will help the front-line workers make
determinations. Also, she asked how the contractor was chosen
for the study. She then asked whether the reported turnover
rate and employee morale levels for OCS workers are consistent
with national standards, and if those statistics can be
attributed to the difficulty of the work. Representative
Fairclough suggested that community outreach might be part of
every OCS worker's job description. Working with schools, or
representing OCS in a different capacity, will broaden the
possibility of being more than a crisis intervention person, and
enable a front-line employee to spend some time working more
positively in their community. She recalled that, in her
experience in crises intervention, a two-year turnover rate for
employees was the norm. She also supported a union partnership,
as suggested by Representative Roses, to look at morale and
training. Finally, she reflected on the truancy issues for the
Mat-Su area, and how other problems in the region may affect
that office's success.
4:33:20 PM
REPRESENTATIVE GARDNER noted that the Office of Public Advocacy
(OPA), Department of Administration (DOA) maintains a successful
guardian ad litem program with good morale and longevity of
personnel.
4:34:22 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES stated that federal Title 1 program schools
have home school coordinators that work only during the school
year. These social workers may be available to work for OCS
during the summer season, as temporary replacements, for the
full time workers. Additionally, he suggested that rotating
schedules through temporary administration positions would
provide a respite for crisis intervention workers and prevent
burnout.
4:37:10 PM
REPRESENTATIVE SEATON stated that the internal review was a
tough report, and that the governor has shown wisdom in keeping
the commissioner, and deputy commissioner, in their positions to
continue the needed reforms. He expressed confidence that the
work will be done and he pledged his support for the
commissioners.
4:38:29 PM
CHAIR WILSON predicted that finding community support will be
very difficult. She suggested looking at other state's models
for direction. She then offered to form a subcommittee for
assistance, if necessary, and encouraged Commissioner Jackson
and Ms. Sandoval to ask for help.
4:39:55 PM
REPRESENTATIVE ROSES suggested that changing public perception
may be difficult; however, OCS is the responsible agency in many
crisis situations and as a proactive, versus a reactive agency,
positive public relations will result.
4:41:20 PM
COMMISSIONER JACKSON expressed her belief that the public, the
committee, and the state will work together for children's
safety in Alaska.
4:41:54 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health, Education and Social Services Standing Committee meeting
was adjourned at 4:42:04 PM.
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