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- 25-36 months - 4% <br />- 37-48 months - 4% <br />- 49-60 months - 3% <br />- over 60 months - 9% <br />DSS Staff member Gwen Price said that 14 families have reached lifetime status, <br />which is 60 months. <br />John Link asked what happens to the children after the five years. Gwen Price <br />said that they have not tracked the families. DSS is required to coordinate with other <br />agencies. Most of the families have issues of disability, so they receive social security. <br />Barry Jacobs asked about fixing the child up with childcare. Gwen Price said that <br />the Work First staff person has priority for childcare. <br />John Link asked how many were on the DSS waiting list for childcare. Nancy <br />Coston said that there are 200-300 families waiting for day care. <br />Gwen Price made reference to the next two pages of the handout and the <br />Medicaid and food stamps increase. She said that these services have continued to <br />increase over the past six months. This has impacted the quality of service. <br />Commissioner Carey asked about the increase and what percentage was Latino <br />children. Gwen Price will research this and provide this information at a later date. <br />Commissioner Carey asked how many cases they process to get one enrolled. <br />Gwen Price said that with Medicaid, there are 560 applicants and they enroll about 280 <br />per month. She said that the Medicaid number on the handout does not include Work <br />First. <br />Gwen Price said that the Orange County Skills Development Job Link Center has <br />been accredited by the State as a Level 3 Job Link facility, which is the highest <br />chartering criteria. <br />5. Medicaid Spending <br />Nancy Coston spoke next about Medicaid spending. She made reference to the <br />pie chart, "Selected Orange County Medicaid Providers Earnings". The County receives <br />about $177 million for Medicaid - $111 million of which is hospital care. The County <br />pays out about $64 million, most of which is spent on hospitalization and mental health. <br />She said that they try very hard to help people get aid when they need it if they are <br />eligible. They do not try and turn people away. <br />6. Annual Report <br />Nancy Coston went over the handout entitled, "Orange County Department of <br />Social Services Accomplishments 2003-2004." <br />- Managed large increase in workload with limited new staff resources. Utilizing <br />two new time-limited income maintenance positions to help with high volume in <br />Medicaid and food stamps. <br />- Implemented new policies in emergency assistance programs which now offer <br />financial counseling to families and require counseling for families who make <br />second requests for assistance during a year. Contracts with HR Consulting and <br />Women's Center effective in changing the program. <br />- Maximized revenue from all available resources to help defray agency expenses. <br />- Surpassed County goals for completed adoptions and received incentive <br />payments from the State for this work. <br />