Legislature(2017 - 2018)BUTROVICH 205
03/22/2017 01:30 PM Senate HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES
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| Audio | Topic |
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| Start | |
| Departmental Overview: Office of Children's Services | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
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+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| + | TELECONFERENCED | ||
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ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES STANDING COMMITTEE
March 22, 2017
1:32 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Natasha von Imhof, Vice Chair
Senator Cathy Giessel
Senator Peter Micciche
Senator Tom Begich
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator David Wilson, Chair
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW: OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
- HEARD AND HELD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
CHRISTY LAWTON, Director
Office of Children's Services
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a departmental overview of the
Office of Children's Services.
ACTION NARRATIVE
1:32:28 PM
VICE-CHAIR NATASHA VON IMHOF called the Senate Health and Social
Services Standing Committee meeting to order at 1:32 p.m.
Present at the call to order were Senators Giessel and Vice-
Chair von Imhof.
^DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW: OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW: OFFICE OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
1:32:54 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF announced that the committee will hear a
departmental overview by Ms. Christy Lawton, Division Director
for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS),
Office of Children's Services.
1:33:27 PM
CHRISTY LAWTON, Division Director, Office of Children's Services
(OCS), Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Juneau,
Alaska, summarized her presentation agenda as follows:
· Overview of key data.
· Address OCS work-force challenges.
· Highlight new initiatives.
· Address upcoming child and family services review.
· Address the Citizen Review Panel (CRP) report.
She addressed child maltreatment data from 2007 to 2016. She
noted that a 54 percent increase occurred for out-of-home
children from 2011 to 2016, [2011: 2,730 vs. 2016: 4,132]. She
revealed that four out of Alaska's five-geographic regions have
seen significant growth, the only part of the state that has not
seen the growth is the western region. She added that the
state's overall population has experienced a less than one-
percent growth from 2011 to 2016.
SENATOR GIESSEL asked Ms. Lawton to verify that Alaska's western
region did not see significant growth.
MS. LAWTON answered yes.
1:35:16 PM
She addressed children's foster care and maltreatment data in
Alaska as follows:
Alaska is one of 35 states across the country or 71
percent of states who have reported an increase in the
number of children in foster care over the last 3
years. Nationally, family stress related to the
recession and to the opioid epidemic around parental-
substance abuse are the top two reasons that states
are articulating for that growth, so Alaska is not
alone.
Alaska has one of the highest per capita rates of
child maltreatment in the country. Alaska's children,
sadly, are 56 percent more likely to be abused than
the national average. Alaska's rate of child abuse is
14.5 while the national rate is 9.2 per every 1,000
children. In 2016, 1-in-10 Alaska children was
reported to OCS.
Alaska also has historically one of the highest rates
of repeat maltreatment. Repeat maltreatment is really
measured when we receive a report of maltreatment, we
go out and assess and investigate that. If we
substantiate, meaning we indicate that the abuse did
occur and then we have a subsequent report where we
also substantiate within 12 months, that's considered
repeat maltreatment and that is not a good thing for
children; so unfortunately, that is a very high rate
in Alaska. We have been making some significant
efforts which is also part of our increase in growth
because we made some policy changes to say, "We need
to get out to see more families so we don't keep
seeing them come back again and again.
1:37:03 PM
MS. LAWTON referenced a graph that showed key data points for
the past five years as follows:
1. Total protective services reports: 17,418 reports in 2016;
2. Removals: 1,356 in 2016;
3. Unduplicated children in out-of-home care: 3,905 in 2016;
4. Discharge: 1,038 in 2016.
She detailed that the graph shows the total number of protective
services reports which are the reports that the public makes to
OCS, 70 percent come from reports who are mandated by law to
report to OCS: law enforcement, education, and the medical
community.
She revealed that neglect is far and above the type of
maltreatment that OCS sees, followed by mental injury and
physical abuse. She said of the 17,000 reports received in 2016,
9,500 reports were for an initial assessment that resulted in an
investigation. She disclosed that the 7,900 remaining reports
that were not screened for an investigation were recorded into
OCS's database and no family contact was made.
1:37:12 PM
SENATOR BEGICH joined the committee meeting.
MS. LAWTON provided an overview of OCS's workforce as follows:
· Primarily young and inexperienced, a lot right out of
school;
· Primarily women;
· Lacking diversity, very few Alaskan native staff when 55
percent of the children are Alaskan native;
· May or may not have social work education;
· Average length of training: two weeks;
· Starts in investigations, tend to be the most
inexperienced;
· Average length of stay: 18 months, studies show that
caseworkers need 2 years to learn their job.
She summarized that OCS's staff turnover ultimately impacts
outcomes for children and families by not providing the proper
support.
1:41:59 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked if training for two weeks is long
enough. She inquired what the caseload was for an individual
that starts in investigations.
MS. LAWTON explained that normal classroom training is two
weeks, some workers get three if they are in a rural office
where an individual has to be more of a "generalist." She noted
that OCS has "onboarding" plans when employees come onboard that
outlines what a person needs to understand in terms of the
agency, communities, services, and meeting work partners. She
detailed that investigators typically do not receive more than
12 cases per month. She admitted that investigators typically
get more than 12 cases per month, which results in OCS not being
able to initiate and access child safety on a timely basis.
1:44:17 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked what kind of support is provided for
a new, young person. She asked if support is provided on a
regular basis to help a young person emotionally as well as
looking at strategy in how to help with all of the different
situations.
MS. LAWTON replied that a new worker receives support from their
supervisor as well as colleagues in their unit. She revealed
that supervisors average seven to eight workers per unit. She
noted that ideally a supervisor should have no more than five
workers. She disclosed that new workers "shadow" other
caseworkers as well.
SENATOR BEGICH addressed workers' average length of stay and
asked if exit interviews have been conducted to identify reasons
for the high turnover rate.
MS. LAWTON explained that exit surveys are offered, but not
required. She stated that the main reasons most often for
exiting are: workload, inability to do meaningful work with kids
and families, and not connecting with supervisors.
1:47:38 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked Ms. Lawton when visiting with
caseworkers what is she finding.
MS. LAWTON explained caseworkers often feel overwhelmed and
limited due to administrative tasks and the inability to do home
visits for one-on-one encounters.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked if Ms. Lawton travels to different
sites around Alaska to do some home visits and see what is going
on.
MS. LAWTON answered that she has not in the last couple of
years. She specified that she visits field offices to
communicate with staff.
SENATOR BEGICH stated that Ms. Lawton has underscored what he
had seen regarding the continued frustration with retaining
staff, workload, and not being able to do what a person was
hired to do. He asked Ms. Lawton if she had a list of
recommendations to specifically address turnover and workload.
1:50:43 PM
MS. LAWTON replied that the state and Legislature has to take a
comprehensive look at tackling child maltreatment in Alaska
regarding prevention and determining the optimum workforce level
to get caseloads down.
SENATOR BEGICH concurred that a comprehensive review makes a lot
of sense.
1:53:38 PM
MS. LAWTON provided turnover rates for caseworkers as follows:
· FY2012: 37 percent,
· FY2013: 25 percent,
· FY2014: 35 percent,
· FY2015: 39 percent,
· FY2016: 38 percent.
MS LAWTON reiterated the reasons for the caseworkers' turnover
rates. She added that the pay for caseworkers is not in line
with the type of work they are asked to do.
1:55:27 PM
She addressed OCS's successes and opportunities as follows:
· DHSS 5-year strategic plan to transform child welfare in
Alaska. Commissioner Davidson initiated the plan. Focus is
placed on Alaska natives due to disproportionate
representation and outcomes.
· Reduced rate of repeat maltreatment.
· Streamlined practices (National Electronic Interstate Child
Exchange/Centralized Intake) to help get children placed
with out-of-state relatives.
· Medicaid reform, 1115 Waiver that will benefit families.
Access expansion to telehealth services will have a
positive impact on rural areas.
· Safe Baby Courts starting in Palmer in July 2017 to help
struggling first-time moms.
· Federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) in May
2017.
2:02:41 PM
She explained that the federal government requires a
comprehensive assessment of what OCS is doing well and wrong.
She referenced the first phase of the CFSR as follows:
· Provides the state an opportunity to gather and analyze
qualitative and quantitative data and information in order
to assess and evaluate the current child-welfare programs
and practices.
· Provides data and analysis specific to the safety,
permanency and wellbeing, as well as the seven-systemic
factors, and outlines OCS's child welfare system strengths
and weaknesses.
· Informs the Children's Bureau of key areas that the state
has identified as areas needing improvement. The assessment
also helps inform phase two of the review process, which is
the on-site evaluation.
2:04:20 PM
MS. LAWTON explained that the CFSR is Alaska's third review
since 2002. She detailed the onsite review process as follows:
· Alaska is scheduled for the onsite review May 22-26.
· Three sites have been identified: Anchorage, Fairbanks and
Ketchikan.
· A random sample of 25 in-home cases and 40 out-of-home
cases will be reviewed in Alaska.
· During the onsite review, teams of state and federal
reviewers will examine case records and conduct case
related interviews to collect information on the outcomes
and systemic factors.
· A key component of the CFS is the statewide stakeholder
interviews.
· The combination of information from the Statewide
Assessment, the onsite CFSR and the stakeholder interviews
will be used to determine if the state is in substantial
conformity with the federal requirements, or if a
performance improvement plan is needed.
She summarized that a comprehensive report will be presented in
August 2017.
2:06:55 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF noted that three sites were selected for
the CSFR. She asked how many sites OCS has in Alaska.
MS. LAWTON answered that OCS has 24 sites.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked if the CFSR sites are rotated.
MS. LAWTON answered yes. She noted that Anchorage will always
have to be a site as the largest urban area. She specified that
Bethel and Juneau were sites in 2008. She disclosed that many of
the state's small sites do not have enough sample sizes to
qualify.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF pointed out that the previous CSFR occurred
in 2008. She asked how often the CSRF occurs.
MS. LAWTON answered that the CSFR is supposed to occur every
five years.
2:08:21 PM
MS. LAWTON addressed the Citizen Review Panel's (CRP)
recommendations for OCS as follows:
1. Assign CRP a significant role in implementing priority
areas of the "Transforming Child Welfare Outcome for Alaska
Native Children: Strategic Plan 2016-2020."
2. Tribal-State Collaboration Group should consider a dialogue
with leaders of Alaska native for-profit corporations to
garner their support and any resources they may be able to
leverage to enhance child protection services.
3. The CRP should be evaluated by an external entity to assess
its effectiveness with attention to: internal structure and
the CRP-OCS statutory relationship to ensure roles and
responsibilities are clear.
4. OCS should consider building on CRP's survey effort by:
viewing training in more detail, including special sections
or topics of interest, identifying other survey efforts OCS
conducts and consider leverage resources from external
entities.
5. OCS should work with the CRP to strengthen the CRP's
ability for public participation, rely on it to improve
public awareness of the nature and content of OCS work.
2:13:38 PM
SENATOR BEGICH suggested that maybe it was time for a
Reimbursable Services Agreement (RSA) between the university and
the division. He recommended that Dr. Vadapalli, CRP chair,
write the regulations.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF asked how long Dr. Vadapalli has been a CRP
member.
SENATOR BEGICH answered that Dr. Vadapalli has chaired CRP for
four years and served on the panel for five years. He opined
that the university is a function of state government and has
the power to RSA over to OCS.
SENATOR GIESSEL opined that because Dr. Vadapalli is faculty, he
is required to spend 20 percent of his time in community
service. She noted that Dr. Vadapalli is stepping down and
suggested that he may be interested in community service to
assist with writing regulations.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF remarked that Dr. Vadapalli has amassed
unique knowledge that probably should be captured.
2:18:45 PM
SENATOR BEGICH asked Ms. Lawton if consideration has ever been
given for a retired social worker to apply and volunteer to be
on the CRP for providing expertise that could mitigate the
tension from the "got you" elements that naturally emerge in
panels like CRP.
MS. LAWTON replied that she has not considered retired social
workers. She stated that she would be supportive of Senator
Begich's suggestion.
SENATOR BEGICH concurred with Ms. Lawton that a more
comprehensive review would help in finding out what is needed.
He stated that he would like to help in any way. He opined that
there must be a way to craft the review to help OCS without
being just another mandate or burden put on the division.
MS. LAWTON replied that she appreciated Senator Begich's offer
to help. She explained that a comprehensive approach is being
addressed.
2:22:03 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE joined the committee meeting.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF addressed OCS's workforce statistics on new
employees and admitted that Ms. Lawton's comments gave her pause
because the newly-hired caseworkers are at the heart of OCS. She
noted that Ms. Lawton mentioned annual staff surveys. She asked
who sees the surveys and if committee members could see the
comments as well.
MS. LAWTON explained that the annual staff surveys are posted on
OCS's website. She noted that last year's staff survey was
addressed by CRP. She offered that the last five years of the
staff surveys can be provided to committee members.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF disclosed that she reviewed OCS's
organizational chart and noted that there are five layers of
management between the division director down to the social-
service associates. She opined that OCS's management layers seem
to be a bit higher than other departments. She asked why OCS is
set up the way it is and how does communication work.
MS. LAWTON explained that the organizational chart that Vice-
Chair von Imhof is referencing looks at OCS on the state-office
level without including all of the five regions with field
staff.
2:25:26 PM
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF noted that the intent is to ask each agency
to look at ways to operate efficiently due to the state's
current fiscal environment. She remarked that resources should
be placed into the people who are having direct contact with
families. She said she wants to make sure that the mid-
management layers are either helping or hindering OCS. She hoped
that Ms. Lawton was spending time looking at how the division
can be made better.
SENATOR MICCICHE asked how the correlation works between the
increase since 2012 in children in foster care versus the
reduction in removals between 2015 and 2016.
MS. LAWTON replied that the focus was on the "front end" due to
an increase in removals. She shared that recent data has shown
for the first time in several years that kids exiting is
exceeding kids coming in.
2:29:20 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE opined that the parents OCS interacts with fall
into three categories: parents that are not ready to be parents,
parents that are just simply unprepared to be parents because of
the way they were raised, and folks that are unfit to perhaps
ever be parents. He asked Ms. Lawton to provide the proportions
of the parental categories he identified. He explained that the
reason for asking his question centers on OCS's priority for
reunification of people that have the potential to be fit
parents.
MS. LAWTON replied that she does not put parents into the same
categories as Senator Micciche does. She explained that some
people become parents by accident. She admitted that OCS does
not have a sense of which parents are accidental all of the
time. She said what OCS sees are parents that are struggling
with significant substance abuse, mental health, and domestic
violence. She added that OCS sees parents that are second or
third generation that have been served by OCS where they are not
prepared and have not been provided with good examples. She
asserted that OCS sees that most parents truly love their kids
and want to do what is best for them. She said there is a tiny
percentage of parents, two to three percent, that really should
never have been parents or have their children back due to the
severity of what they have done. She admitted that all parents
have the ability to improve and have their situation remedied
such that they can safely be a parent. She opined that OCS does
not expect "parents of the year," but the threshold is for
individuals to be safe parents so that a child can grow up and
not have additional adverse-childhood experiences.
2:32:00 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE stated that he hoped reunification for parents
with potential to be successful is absolutely always a priority.
He addressed OCS's annual-staff-turnover rates as being
significantly higher than the mean average of 33 percent. He
asked if there was a regional difference in staff turnover
rates.
MS. LAWTON replied that there are variables; for example,
Ketchikan has been stable due to a stable supervisor whereas
Wasilla is experiencing a higher turnover rate due to having the
highest caseload per worker in the state. She disclosed that
Alaskans out of Juneau, Anchorage and Fairbanks typically do not
apply for positions in western Alaska, and most workers going to
western Alaska are from out of state where they have no
intention of staying for a long time.
2:35:25 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE addressed the two-week training period for new
workers and asked how well the supervisors are prepared for
supporting new caseworkers.
MS. LAWTON admitted that supervisors are mostly not prepared.
She pointed out that good caseworkers get promoted, but good
caseworkers do not always make good supervisors. She disclosed
that supervisors receive training through the University of
Alaska-Anchorage, but admitted that the training is not as
extensive as caseworker training. She disclosed that a coaching
program has been initiated for supervisors in the last year and
a half. She detailed that the coaching program is showing
positive results in providing guidance to supervisors to teach
workers to think for themselves. She added that training also
addresses secondary trauma regarding the emotional aspects that
happen and how to provide support for staff members. She
admitted that the secondary-trauma component is not nearly as
robust and intensive as she would like it to be.
2:38:50 PM
SENATOR GIESSEL noted that part of Senator Micciche's district
used be her district and her regional office was also above an
OCS field office. She disclosed that she had met with OCS
representatives while at her regional office and shared that her
visit was gratifying where she emphasized the team concept
versus the "us and you" scenario.
SENATOR GIESSEL addressed OCS's workforce-turnover rate and
compared the situation to her years of experience in critical
care where inexperienced nurses were exposed to long hours, high
stress and emotional situations where people died. She noted
that the typical span-of-life for a critical-care nurse was two
years. She said OCS's frontline folks are critical-care staff.
She stated that she does not deny that OCS has areas that could
be improved, but suggested that perhaps there is a distraction
with the wrong target.
She offered that rather than saying OCS needs improvement, she
suggested that the focus should be on how families could be
stronger; in other words, prevention. She admitted that rather
than two-parent families, fractured families are becoming more
common. She pointed out that the fractured families are commonly
in crisis. She noted that she would be interested in finding out
from OCS how many families are single-parent families. She added
that families are also becoming more separated from grandparents
where the grandmother teaches the new mother how to be a mother.
She set forth that all of the scenarios that she posed have
escalated. She added that communities have become more fractured
where other families and communities no longer step in because
people have become more transitory. She summarized that she
sincerely appreciates what OCS does and opined that OCS is
sometimes criticized when actually the focus should be on
ourselves and how much "we" as a society can improve and support
families. She thanked Ms. Lawton for her work at OCS.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF noted that Ms. Lawton mentioned Wasilla as
one of OCS's tougher areas. She asked if Ms. Lawton had an
emergency plan for Wasilla.
2:42:25 PM
MS. LAWTON replied that in the past when an office like Wasilla
would get in particular crisis the caseloads throughout the
state were looked at and workloads were rebalanced by allocating
positions from one region to another. She admitted that there
was no good answer in dealing with OCS's current situation
because there was no good place to pull from without causing
negative consequences on the communities where people would be
pulled from. She admitted that high caseloads were everywhere.
She conceded that her only available tool is excessive overtime
which people are already putting in which further burns workers
out. She noted that OCS has been using a "travel team" concept
over the past three years where five to six non-permanent people
are typically former OCS employees that are deployed in places
that have the highest urgency. She added that former employees
are brought back to work in non-permanent positions to help for
a period of time as well.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF replied that Ms. Lawton obviously has put
some thought into emergency situations where several tools are
at her disposal. She noted that Ms. Lawton mentioned that
successful caseworkers are promoted when they show promise. She
suggested that Ms. Lawton might consider a private sector "all
hands on deck" tactic where previously elevated workers take one
or two cases.
2:46:00 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE asked how effective the external partnerships
have been and could the partnerships be expanded.
MS. LAWTON replied that OCS has extensive relationships with the
tribal non-profits. She admitted that the tribal non-profits get
very few dollars that are tied to Indian child welfare cases and
their capacity is limited like OCS. She stated that OCS is
always looking for opportunities to partner where government can
play less of a role in a community or a tribe can play a larger
part.
2:49:59 PM
SENATOR MICCICHE analogized that it is a lot less expensive to
maintain steering rather than eventually having to get a vessel
off of the rocks. He suggested that all of the social ills are
connected to not breaking the cycle from alcoholism and
substance abuse, to suicide where the state is number one in the
country. He said a person feels helpless in not being able to
assist earlier in the process as opposed to what OCS has to
intervene in when things get serious later on.
VICE-CHAIR VON IMHOF remarked that Senator Micciche's previous
comment is a discussion that many have on an ongoing basis. She
asserted that a thriving economy is important were jobs are
available. She emphasized that coordination in needed between
nonprofits and all sorts of agencies to create synergy where
data and services are traded to see if a system can be developed
that works together rather than in silos.
2:51:46 PM
There being no further business to come before the committee,
Vice-Chair von Imhof adjourned the Senate Health and Social
Services Committee at 2:51 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| OCS Senate HSS Presentation March 22 2017.pdf |
SHSS 3/22/2017 1:30:00 PM |
OCS SHSS 3.22.17 |
| OCS Response ACRP 2016 Annual Report.pdf |
SHSS 3/22/2017 1:30:00 PM |
OCS SHSS 3.22.17 |