Stanislaus County bolsters staffing for child welfare services

Stanislaus County will increase staffing to manage a growing number of child welfare cases and achieve better outcomes when children are removed from homes because of abuse or neglect.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the addition of four social workers for the Community Services Agency, as well as two public health nurses and two mental health clinicians.

CSA Director Kathryn Harwell expects to ask the board for four more positions to work on issues identified in a five-year review of county child welfare services. She said the 12 positions would be added in the next six months.

The CSA, Health Services Agency and Behavioral Health and Recovery Services say they have funding for the eight positions approved Tuesday, which will cost $740,000 annually.

The state requires counties to self-assess their child welfare systems every five years to evaluate the services provided to mistreated children and develop ways to improve the results. The latest review concluded Stanislaus should dedicate resources to reunite foster kids with their families and find permanent homes more quickly for those who can’t be reunited.

It also found an increased number of children who needed to be removed from their families again after their release from foster care.

The key data from 2009 to 2014 included:

▪ A 28 percent decrease in foster children who were reunited with their families within 12 months.

▪ 14 percent of children released from the child welfare system were placed in foster homes again within a year. The re-entry rate was a 4 percentage point increase.

▪ 20 percent fewer children in foster care for two years or more were placed in permanent homes through adoption or guardianship.

During last year’s labor negotiations, supervisors heard from child service employees who said they were straining to keep up with the caseload after years of budget cuts.

The number of local families receiving child welfare services rose significantly in the past three years. The Community Services Agency is managing 27 percent more cases in the family maintenance program for children considered at risk of abuse or neglect. Its family reunification caseload has climbed 44 percent.

In the 2013-14 budget year, Stanislaus County had 421 children in the family reunification process and 441 who received services so they could safely stay with their families.

The review found that almost 10 percent of mistreated children in the county became victims of another substantiated case of harm within six months. That exceeded the national standard of 5 percent.

In 2013, about one-fourth of children who had been in foster care for two years or more were matched with adoptive parents or legal guardians.

Supervisors approved a plan that aims to prevent recurring abuse, help foster children reunite with their families, reduce the re-entry rate and find permanent homes to shorten the time spent in foster care.

Board Chairman Terry Withrow said staff members should not feel pressure to improve the reunification data if children can’t safely return to their families. Harwell said those decisions are made in court based on reports prepared by county staff members.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Harwell said foster children often are not returned home because of their parents’ ongoing issues with substance abuse or mental health problems. She suspects the economic slump, drug use and mental illness were contributing factors to the rise in child welfare cases.

A report said two of the new social workers will focus on helping kids who are reuniting with family or at risk of being removed from troubled homes. The employees will make sure parents complete substance abuse counseling, parenting classes, anger management or mental health treatment.

Another social worker will search for relatives to care for children when they are removed from abusive homes. That way, the children can stay with someone they know and trust. Another will help coordinate services for families that need medical or mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling or other assistance.

The Health Services Agency will restore positions for two nurses to work with children who have medical needs and educate the parents to meet those needs. Harwell said there’s also a need for two mental health clinicians to assist families.

This story was originally published January 27, 2015 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Stanislaus County bolsters staffing for child welfare services."