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.