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of July they told DSS that after seeing the cost figures they had decided to close <br />permanently. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked about the $165,000 appropriation and Nancy <br />Coston said Wane of this money has been released. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked how many children would be placed and Nancy <br />Coston said that in the therapeutic home model, they have 1-2 children placed in each <br />home and it provides more of a professional parenting training model. Sheaffer House <br />served a great need for them in terms of having an immediate place for a child to go. <br />For a social worker, that is a great relief, because they had a "no reject" policy. She said <br />they need that kind of model for this to succeed. They need to know that a home or <br />facility can take the majority of the children that are referred. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that the report said that a stipend is given to hold the <br />sponsor. <br />Nancy Colton said that a sponsor would get $10,000 whether they take a child or <br />not but they also have to agree that they can be called on at any time. <br />Cammissioner Gordon clarified that the "payments to the Caring Family Network" <br />is an estimate of what it may realistically be. <br />Nancy Caston confirmed this and she said that she expected to put in two beds <br />in November and maybe two in February. She said that mental health told her today <br />that they are already looking for four beds for mental health during this year and then <br />they will have some additional beds in Person and Chatham counties. Of course, DSS <br />wants Orange County children to stay in Orange County. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked if there would be a total of $ children. <br />Nancy Colton said that there would be a total of 8 emergency beds in Orange <br />County between DSS and Mental Health. She said they would have some children to <br />come through DSS that would not meet the mental health criteria or are not meeting it <br />yet and DSS would be responsible for paying for them. <br />Commissioner Foushee clarified that there may be some overlap and the same <br />child may be eligible for services of both groups and in that case particularly if it relates <br />to mental health it would be referred to mental health and that would leave a place for <br />another child to be served. <br />Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said they could be transferred from <br />DSS to OPC. <br />Nancy Coston said that they get children in faster care where it is a treatment <br />issue mare than a protection issue. They all agree that they have not done everything <br />they would like to do in these circumstances. There is a lot of potential here and the <br />group that is working is trying to address these problems. <br />Chair Carey asked about an evaluation mechanism for determining if this <br />process has made a difference and Nancy Coston said they were working on that and to <br />please let her know if there are any specific items that the Board of County <br />Commissioners would like to address. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that they need to think about what outcomes they <br />would like to see. She said it needs to be documented at the beginning so they will have <br />a baseline for comparison. <br />Nancy Colton said that they would work with mental health and juvenile courts <br />because they have another whole set of outcomes and they need to develop joint <br />outcomes. <br />