Legislature(2009 - 2010)CAPITOL 106
02/05/2009 03:00 PM House HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation: Ocs Citizen Review Panel: Response from Ocs Director Tammy Sandoval | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
February 5, 2009
3:00 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative Bob Herron, Co-Chair
Representative John Coghill
Representative Bob Lynn
Representative Sharon Cissna
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Wes Keller, Co-Chair
Representative Paul Seaton
Representative Lindsey Holmes
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION: OCS CITIZEN REVIEW PANEL: RESPONSE FROM OCS
DIRECTOR TAMMY SANDOVAL
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No Previous Action to Record
WITNESS REGISTER
FRED VAN WALLINGA, Chair
Alaska Citizen Review Panel (CRP)
Willow, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented a Power Point of the Alaska
Citizen Review Panel report on the Office of Children's Service.
SUSAN HEUER
Alaska Citizen Review Panel (CRP)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and answered questions on the
Alaska Citizen Review Panel report on the Office of Children's
Service.
TAMMY SANDOVAL, Director
Central Office
Office of Children's Services (OCS)
Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS)
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Testified and responded to the CRP report.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:00:59 PM
CO-CHAIR BOB HERRON called the House Health and Social Services
Standing Committee meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. Representative
Herron was present at the call to order. Representatives
Cissna, Coghill, and Lynn arrived as the meeting was in
progress. Representatives Seaton, Holmes, and Keller were
excused.
^Presentation: OCS Citizen Review Panel: Response from OCS
Director Tammy Sandoval
3:02:08 PM
CO-CHAIR HERRON announced that the only order of business would
be a presentation by the OCS Citizen Review Panel with a
response from OCS Director Tammy Sandoval.
[Included in the members' packets were copies of the Power Point
presentation, "Alaska's Citizen Review Panel."]
3:02:45 PM
FRED VAN WALLINGA, Chair, Alaska Citizen Review Panel (CRP),
presented a Power Point titled "Alaska's Citizen Review Panel"
and cited the background of the Alaska Citizen Review Panel. He
explained that the CRP was mandated by state and federal law, as
shown on slide 3, "Mandate for the Group."
3:04:59 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA reported on slide 4, "CRP Vision," that the CRP
role was to enable the Office of Children's Services (OCS) to
implement its policies and procedures in a culturally sensitive
and consistent manner across the state. He went on to recount
the CRP membership on slide 5, "Who are we?" and slide 6,
"Current members." He introduced the members who were present.
3:06:24 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA summarized the CRP Duties, which included an
evaluation of the OCS, on slide 7, "CRP Duties" and slide 8,
"CRP Duties, (continued)."
3:06:44 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA indicated that the latest CRP focus included a
review for the addition of a fifth service region, slide 9, "Our
focus for the past year."
3:06:59 PM
SUSAN HEUER, Alaska Citizen Review Panel, mentioned that the
group did not investigate individual cases. She discussed slide
10, "What we've been doing," and slide 11, "What else we've been
doing," which reported attendance at teleconferences, meetings
with OCS partners and staff, and national conferences.
3:08:21 PM
MS. HEUER summarized slide 12, "A couple more things we did,"
slide 13, "Where some of us have been," and slide 14, "We've met
with..." and informed the committee that CRP had attended
conferences in more than ten Alaska communities with key local
citizenry, which included counseling center staff, state
troopers, tribal representatives, and health aides.
3:09:49 PM
MS. HEUER acknowledged significant improvements to the OCS
delivery of child protection services, as shown on slides 15 and
16, "OCS is improving due to... ," which included key personnel
changes, system changes, and increased responsiveness and
collaboration.
3:12:10 PM
MS. HEUER referenced slide 17, "Issues of concern," and said CRP
would talk about hiring freeze, standardization, and a proposed
Region 5.
3:12:39 PM
MS. HEUER addressed the hiring freeze, highlighted on slide 18,
"Issues of concern." She stressed that OCS had a protective
role in public safety, and that this freeze would increase the
risk of departure of already overloaded workers should vacancies
remain unfilled.
3:13:45 PM
MS. HEUER addressed the creation of a new Bethel-based Region 5,
as explained on slide 19 and slide 20, "Issues of Concern Region
5." She relayed the strong support for a smaller, more
culturally focused region as it would be in the children's best
interest.
3:15:45 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA added that this new region would be comprised
primarily of bush communities with tribal representation.
3:16:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL stated his consideration for the issue,
but advised that the budget would still need to be addressed.
He recounted that the current region was comprised of the
judicial district in Fairbanks, the OCS office in Mat-Su, and
the support services in Anchorage. He analyzed that
organizational changes might better serve the Bethel region.
3:17:44 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA acknowledged that the funding was not
available, but that a search for a solution was kept in the
forefront. He mentioned that there was strong vocal support
from the line workers, the tribes, and the Indian Child Welfare
Act (ICWA) workers.
3:19:00 PM
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked if the regions were based on geography or
population.
MR. VAN WALLINGA said that he did not know.
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked about the staff vacancy rate for each of
the regions.
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA offered her belief that many of the
problems were generational.
3:21:42 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL commented that the caseload for proposed
Region 5 would be ICWA and that many of the issues would be
cultural.
3:22:37 PM
MS. HEUER agreed that cultural bonding, travel limitations, and
other issues unique to the Bethel area were important. She
informed the committee that the Bethel region did not feel they
were heard, which lead to a very high staff turnover due to
worker frustration.
3:24:52 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL reconfirmed that the interconnectedness
of state and tribal courts made this a unique area.
3:25:54 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA offered his belief that OCS and ICWA workers in
Bethel needed to collaborate to better understand each group's
restrictions.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL offered his perception that this
collaboration would provide a positive example for the rest of
Alaska.
3:27:28 PM
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked to identify the communities in the Yukon-
Kuskokwim (Y-K) Delta that did not want to be part of the Bethel
hub.
MR. VAN WALLINGA clarified that the workers and the community
members did want to be part of the Bethel hub, but that the OCS
supervisors did not.
3:28:48 PM
MS. HEUER reviewed slide 21, "Issues of Concern, Many solutions
to problems..." and explained that the OCS Director lacked the
discretionary powers for resolution to many problems.
MS. HEUER continued on to slide 22, "Issues of Concern,
Standardization..." and addressed the lack of standardization
for support services among state agencies, which included worker
housing and high speed internet access.
3:32:42 PM
MS. HEUER requested support for the concerns listed on slide 23,
"We'd like your help to address these concerns," which included
an OCS exemption to the hiring freeze, and resolution to the
lack of standardization of services among state agencies.
3:33:31 PM
MS. HEUER cited some very positive, enthusiastic results of
recent CRP and OCS collaboration.
3:37:09 PM
MS. HEUER shared slide 24, "Benefits of CRP," which recapped the
unique volunteer role of the CRP advocacy for child protection.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL noted his appreciation for all the CRP
help.
3:38:44 PM
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked if the regional problems were due to
distance or culture.
MR. VAN WALLINGA replied that travel was part of the problem.
He explained that although the procedures were similar, there
was a rural uniqueness.
CO-CHAIR HERRON agreed that there were differences between rural
and urban communities.
3:45:02 PM
TAMMY SANDOVAL, Director, Central Office, Office of Children's
Services (OCS), Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS),
agreed that CRP was a valuable tool for OCS.
3:46:39 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL observed that the hiring freeze and
Region 5 were the most important issues to discuss.
3:47:30 PM
MS. SANDOVAL, in response to a question from Co-Chair Herron,
replied that a waiver for an exception to the hiring freeze had
been submitted.
3:48:18 PM
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked if the waiver criteria were available.
MS. SANDOVAL offered to speak to the justification for the
request.
CO-CHAIR HERRON repeated his request for a list of waiver
criteria.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL suggested that this was a public safety
policy issue, which would be resolved through the Office of the
Governor.
3:49:30 PM
MS. SANDOVAL explained that the need to provide for the safety
and protection of children was the rationale for the waiver
request.
CO-CHAIR HERRON asked if the request encompassed all four
regions.
MS. SANDOVAL replied that it did.
3:50:30 PM
MS. SANDOVAL explained that she did not know the reasons behind
the formation of the four regions. She agreed with the
uniqueness of the Bethel area, and she suggested that OCS and
CRP collaborate to review and possibly reorganize the division
of the direct services for the area.
3:52:43 PM
MS. SANDOVAL noted that an administrative clerk had been hired
in Wasilla to solely focus on the Bethel region, and that OCS
had requested an exception to travel processes for the Bethel
region, in recognition of the unique challenges.
3:54:40 PM
MS. SANDOVAL confirmed that OCS and CRP had shared many ideas,
including an updated live response phone system, and a staffed
toll free hot line.
MS. SANDOVAL shared with CRP the success for the co-location of
OCS front line workers with other field professionals in a multi
disciplinary setting.
3:59:53 PM
MS. SANDOVAL stated that she had responded to each of the
recommendations from the CRP June report, which included CRP
training on the safety assessment model. She announced that the
results from the federal Child and Family Services review were
due. She revealed that the report would state that OCS, along
with every other state, had not substantially achieved the
measureable outcomes. She assured the committee that a plan to
remedy and implement improvement strategies was in process.
4:02:48 PM
MS. SANDOVAL, in response to a question from Representative
Coghill, said that she was not exactly sure when the report
would be issued.
4:03:24 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL detailed that scrutiny of OCS came from
three areas: Program Improvement Plan (PIP), CRP, and the
legislature. He asked how the Online Resources for the Children
of Alaska (ORCA) was working.
4:05:12 PM
MS. SANDOVAL explained that there was a federally tiered system
to reward satisfactory compliance. She reported that this
system was comprised of seven systemic factors, which included
case management systems. She expressed her belief that the ORCA
case management system was now extremely functional, and that
OCS would pass this federal factor. She relayed that
connectivity was the problem with ORCA, not the program.
4:07:48 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked if the money the legislature had
appropriated for staff training was effective as a retention
tool.
MS. SANDOVAL responded that, within six months, she expected to
see a difference in retention based on the training. She
explained that a revised curriculum had been developed, which
was implemented in November for supervisor training and in
January for core worker training. She cited that workers were
now more prepared and better able to do their jobs.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked if this was a continuing education
credit or a standardized methodology.
MS. SANDOVAL reported that this was now a standard training.
She explained that it had required a critical analysis to
determine what training was missing, and then development for
those areas.
4:10:28 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL recounted that the Ombudsman report
indicated that some OCS supervisory staff were either ignorant
of, or reluctant to implement, some of the law. He allowed that
this was a "way we've always done it" attitude.
MS. SANDOVAL replied that she was not familiar with the report.
She related her disappointment, and disclosed that OCS placed
great importance on family, extended family, and non-nuclear
family.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL acknowledged that there was some
disparity between the statute standard and the ICWA standard.
CO-CHAIR HERRON commented on the institutional memory within OCS
and ICWA.
4:17:17 PM
MS. SANDOVAL responded that during the past four years OCS had
embraced the idea of institutional racism and the over
representation of Native Alaskan children. She related that OCS
had reviewed the reasons for this overrepresentation. She
acknowledged that she had focused too closely on creating a
Region 5, as opposed to focusing on what could be done without
spending a lot of money.
CO-CHAIR HERRON acknowledged that departments, legislatures and
organizations all dealt with partisanship, and he noted the ease
of falling back into institutional practices.
4:19:51 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA shared that caseload was a difficulty in
many occupations, and that staffing to national standards might
be a solution for retention. She expressed a desire for
determining a dollar value for issues that were not resolved at
an early stage, in order to measure the long term cost.
4:23:47 PM
MS. SANDOVAL, in response to Co-Chair Herron, explained that the
federal review was in September, at the end of which OCS
received the preliminary findings. She shared that OCS had just
received a courtesy copy of the report, with an opportunity to
respond within two weeks. She disclosed that the final report
would be mailed a few weeks after the OCS departmental response.
4:25:42 PM
MS. SANDOVAL, in response to Co-Chair Herron, allowed that the
most alarming disclosures in the report were the need for
improvement to the safety and risk assessments for children, and
the low rate of home visits. She stated that the rate of home
visits had improved since the report. She reiterated her
request for more field staff.
4:29:26 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN asked about the notification for home
visits.
MS. SANDOVAL revealed that notice of the visit depended on the
type, purpose, and stage of the case.
4:30:27 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked about the flexibility of scheduling
for workers, in order to reduce the stress level of staff.
MS. SANDOVAL granted that employees had that scheduling
flexibility. She noted that several workers had four day work
weeks, which allowed for home visits, as the work day was
longer. She provided that staff could also flex their work
schedule so as to not work overtime.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked if this was determined by the local
area manager.
MS. SANDOVAL explained that permanent alternative schedule
requests were made through the state office however the unit
supervisor would make case by case decisions for temporary
adjustments.
4:33:37 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL asked about the pay range for a first
year social worker.
MS. SANDOVAL reported that a Child Services Specialist 1 was pay
range 15, which started at about $42,000 per year.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL recounted that even given that pay range,
the turnover was high. He explained that the staff needed to
use their own cars, and then request reimbursement. He
concluded that the staff had a lot of responsibility.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL continued and asked how the practicum for
the University of Alaska BSW program was working.
MS. SANDOVAL informed the committee that although there were new
partnerships with the University, there could be more
collaboration with the schools of social work. She mentioned
that she regularly visited with students at the end of the
school year to encourage them to start a career with OCS.
4:36:33 PM
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL remarked that the front line social
worker required an investment in training. He offered his
belief that new Bachelor of Social Work graduates brought a more
contemporary view than the more historical view of the
management staff. He allowed that this could create some
tension. He perceived that job turnover was more often
precipitated by the management than by the difficulty of the
job.
MS. SANDOVAL agreed, and promised to continue evaluations.
REPRESENTATIVE COGHILL recommended an investment in the
supervisory staff training.
CO-CHAIR HERRON agreed that these were very difficult jobs.
4:39:12 PM
REPRESENTATIVE LYNN asked if the home visits were dangerous.
MS. SANDOVAL disclosed that OCS had the ability for a criminal
background check before the visit. She said that law
enforcement would provide support if the situation appeared to
be dangerous.
4:41:17 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA commented that adequate training was
essential.
4:44:05 PM
MR. VAN WALLINGA lamented that connectivity for the ORCA program
was slow, that work spaces were sub-standard, and that there
needed to be staff housing. He suggested that the federal
review held OCS to an unfair standard, as travel was made
difficult by weather. He reiterated that the rural areas had
unique problems and he voiced the need for a Region 5.
4:50:49 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Health and Social Services Standing Committee meeting was
adjourned at 4:50 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| CRP 2008 annual report 6-30 FINAL final.pdf |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |
|
| CRP 2008 Annual report response.doc |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |
|
| CRP 2008 Appendix A.doc |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |
|
| CRP 2008 Appendix B.xls |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |
|
| CRP 2008 Appendix C.doc |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |
|
| HSS Agenda 2.09.docx |
HHSS 2/5/2009 3:00:00 PM |