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2 <br />ANNUAL REPORT TO THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF <br />COMMISSIONERS <br />Submitted by the Community Child Protection Team <br />General Statute 143-576.1 <br />Fiscal Year 1997- 1998 <br />The Community Child Protection Team met bi-monthly to review active cases as the <br />Department of Social Services (DSS) in which young children are found to be abused, <br />neglected or dependent. The majority of the children reviewed were identified by DSS, <br />with occasional requests for reviews by other team members. In review of the cases <br />presented, 90% shared a common risk factor of substance abuse/dependency by one or <br />both of the identified caretakers which severely impacted their parenting capacity. The <br />remaining 10% reviewed had caretakers with diagnosed mental illness and/or mental <br />retardation. <br />The team identified the need for DSS to have the ability for frequent random drug <br />screening which is currently cost prohibitive to many clients and it is difficult to locate a <br />medical facility where testing can be done. It is also imperative that testing be available <br />on demand in order for it to be an effective measure of parental drug use. A request was <br />made to include some funding in the DSS county budget to help cover testing cost in <br />some of these situations. The CCPT is exploring community resources for a site where <br />immediate, random drug testing can be carried out. <br />