Consultant Reports on Review of Child Welfare Program

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Liberty, NY - Legislators listened to an extensive review of Sullivan County's child welfare policies and procedures today in the Health and Human Services Committee of the Legislature.

Undertaken by the Bonadio Group, the review was ordered by the Legislature, at the request of County Manager Joshua Potosek, at the beginning of this year as a follow-up to investigations conducted by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and a Sullivan County Grand Jury into the death of a toddler at a local hotel last year.

"The review was very beneficial because the folks from Bonadio Group provided us with fresh ideas to make the most of our limited time and resources. These lessons will help us enhance safety for children in our community while also helping us to preserve families," remarked Health and Human Services Commissioner John Liddle.

"Staff vacancies have been challenging for both my office and the Department of Social Services over the past year," remarked County Attorney Robert H. Freehill. "This report will help us map out our strategy as we continue to fill these vacancies."

The 60-page report detailed areas of strength and needs for improvement across the County's child welfare program, including Child Protective Services, Preventive Services, Foster Care, and the programs' legal support.

Noted areas of strength included:

• The County's immediate responses to abuse and neglect reports made to the State's Central Register and the quality of support provided
• Quality of coordination with preventive service providers
• The stability and appropriateness of foster care placements.

Challenges included:

• Staffing shortages
• Delays in entering case notes and closing cases
• Gaps in visits with families
• Delays in court filings and fair hearings.

The report noted improvements in the relationship between the Department of Social Services and County Attorney's Office that was a focus of previous reports. It endorsed a plan developed by County staff to address ongoing coordination challenges exacerbated by short staffing, while continuing to build trust between the two departments.

What's Next

After the auditors completed their presentation, Commissioner Liddle provided an overview of the way ahead.

"The good news for everyone in the community with regard to this report is that we haven't been waiting for it to be released to start improving our practice," he stated. "We had as many as 12 caseworker vacancies last year, and we're down to three at this point. That's helped us to put a lot of these recommendations into action before they were even made public. I'm looking forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with the County Attorney's Office and providing Sullivan County with the safety and better health that our children must have to thrive in a challenging world."

Based on Bonadio's recommendations, key goals include:

• Filling remaining vacancies
• Adding three caseworkers and two case aides (to be proposed in the 2025 Tentative Budget)
• Establishing a Managing Attorney position
• Creating a formal policy for transportation services
• Increasing the utilization and responsibilities of case aides
• Improving timeliness of referrals to community-based providers
• Reducing gaps in case activity
• Increasing the frequency of case conferences with supervisors
• Establishing a shared network folder to facilitate communication between involved County offices, along with Family Court
• Monitoring improvement through regular reports to the County Manager, including consistent meetings with the County Manager's Office, County Attorney's Office, Health & Human Services Division, and the Legislature

County Officials Promise Action

"We need to address these concerns, particularly by hiring more caseworkers to handle the growing workload," acknowledged Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz. "Also, establishing a managing attorney and staff attorneys for Social Services will help communications immensely, ensuring that both Social Services and the County Attorney's Office are responsive to the urgent needs of child welfare casework."

"This was a prime opportunity for an independent look at our child welfare system, and we are taking the results very seriously," explained County Manager Josh Potosek. "I've already included the addition of personnel into the 2025 Tentative Budget, which I'll be presenting to legislators next month."

"I want to thank the Bonadio Group for their detailed, unbiased review of this critical program for the health and safety of our children," said District 5 Legislator Cat Scott, chair of the Legislature's Health & Human Services Committee. "Our staff, even while overburdened with cases, is incredibly dedicated to keeping our children safe. Maintaining these efforts and undertaking Bonadio's recommendations will be a focus of our committee moving forward."

"We wanted a thorough report, and that's what we got," observed District 1 Legislator Matt McPhillips. "Now it's our turn to be thorough in our response. As both a legislator and Majority Leader of the Legislature, I will be certain to follow through on whether or not Bonadio's recommendations have been implemented in the months and years to come. Taxpayers expect no less."

Available for Review

The complete report, Bonadio's presentation to the Legislature, and the County's Service Quality Improvement Plan in response are all available at https://sullivanny.gov/Departments/Legislature.