Minutes 04-29-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Tina Clark said the Child Care program provides services for working parents, parents who are participating in the Work First program, families in child protective services, shelter families, and teens. She said the waiting list has been cleared since February, and the program is serving about 845 children per month. She said this is good; however there is uncertainty about the allocation for next year and the ability to maintain this. Nancy Coston said the proposal being presented in May is to spend County funds in June. She said the state funding year runs June 1St through the end of May, so by spending some County funds in June and requesting some Social Justice funds, it will get them ahead. She hopes to continue serving all of the target groups and delay a waiting list for the working families. Nancy Coston said a contract with Orange County schools was started about 10 years ago in an effort to help the schools have a better funding source for social workers in all of the schools. She said the funding source was called At Risk Case Management. She said there have been some changes in the interpretation of this, and it will no longer be available for this purpose. She said the schools will now hire whatever staff they can, and this means a reduction in force with DSS staff. She said there are 8 social worker positions in the department, and 7 of these are filled. She said 2 positions have been frozen and 2 positions had been proposed for next year's budget; but even if all of that occurred, there would still be a shortage of 3. She said she is not sure if the school is going to hire any of these people. She said the proposal is to find a way to have these people paid while a plan is worked out. She said notices will have to be given or a plan worked out soon. Nancy Coston referred to NC FAST. She said health reform applications added an incredible amount of work to the DSS plate. She said they are part of the Medicaid pilot, and this will continue until July 1St Pat Garavaglia said this will be her last meeting with the Board since she is cycling off of the DSS board. She said she is proud to be associated with the people at the Department of Social Services. Commissioner Rich asked about the reference to a target group for the childcare program. Tina Clark said these are groups that are not subject to a waiting list, such as the Work First participants and Child Protective Services clients. She said these people are automatically served. Commissioner Rich asked how adults and children are reached when they need help but don't come to DSS. Nancy Coston said staff is involved in the community, and there are a lot of other groups that refer individuals to them. She said people have misconceptions about what is required in order to receive services. She said more community outreach is still needed. Sharron Hinton noted that there are also 8 social workers in the Orange County Schools, though that is in jeopardy, and there are also 2 social workers at the senior centers. Commissioner Pelissier said in the past, DSS has provided information about how many families need the various types of assistance. She would still find this information useful to gauge what is happening in the community. She requested that this information be provided to the Board of County Commissioners. Nancy Coston said this information is available, and she will forward it to the Board. Commissioner Pelissier asked if there is a way to know when people get their needs met by local non-profits instead of coming to DSS. Nancy Coston said OCIM has a relationship with DSS to screen emergency clients. She said DSS staff verifies the client's low income status and makes the referrals to OCIM. She said IFC does not require that clients have a DSS referral.