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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES March 16,2026 11, providing information/resources, gun locks, medication lock boxes, pinwheels, and fun activities for kids. 2. Child Welfare Updates Crystal Wiese, Assistant Director, updated the Board on PATH NC. PATH NC is the new child welfare technology system that we are transitioning into with a go live date of April 27, 2026. We will be one of the last 11 counties for intake and assessments, but one of the first 11 for in-home, foster care, adoptions, licensing, and LINKS. There are lots of trainings staff will need to complete for the new system, and the State is also rolling out new policies at the same time. Some of the policy changes for intake are leading to a higher number of immediate response referrals. This doesn't change the number or flow of cases but will require a much quicker turnaround for initiations. It could potentially have impacts on our initiation rates that have historically been good; with the new policy it will require workers to drop everything and go more often. We have seen with other counties with vacancies this quick turnaround is presenting a problem. Most staff will average 7 full days of training, and some will need 12 full days depending on what program area they are in. There are lots of training expectations for April, and at the same time we are also working on data cleanup for conversion. Final readiness meeting with DHHS is scheduled for next week to ensure we are prepared for the implementation. So far, we are on track and really like what we have seen from the product. Counties have had different levels of systems, some paper, some standalone case management systems. PATH NC will help counties see if cases have crossed county lines and will help make sure nothing falls through the cracks, especially for the more mobile families. We have been in CWIS since 2018, and all of our data will convert over since that time. For new counties, it will be day forward, so no historical information beyond seeing that a family had a case in another county. So far, we haven't seen or heard any downsides to the system; there is always a learning curve and some glitches, but when there are, they are being addressed timely. 3. FIR 1 Updates Lindsey Shewmaker provided a short update on HR 1. There are no major changes but policy changes continue to roll out. Counties in NC have fully implemented the program and eligibility changes for FNS. DHHS at the state level continues to work on the payment error rate that will ultimately determine how much the state will have to pay for benefits. The state is providing onsite technical assistance for counties with higher errors rates. We are not one which is good because we are not considered high risk, but it sounds like the services being provided are good and it is something we would be interested in receiving. We are right now in the middle of the second year that the federal government can use to determine the error rates. Orange County doesn't have an error rate but based on the number of cases that were pulled, we would be at 50%. It all depends on how many of our cases are pulled for review. They are also doing some work on technology to try to decrease areas where some of those errors are in. FNS administrative reimbursement rate will decrease from 50% to 25% in October. We are doing preemptive work in that space, including sending an email to Travis and Gary requesting to expedite the CAP plan if we can get it approved and in before October and looking at frontloading purchasing in the first 3 months to get the larger reimbursement rate. All the Medicaid changes are coming later this year, and the state continues to get guidance from the federal government. For example, the new policies go into effort for cases that we start working in January for March recertification, instead of October for January recertifications. This gives the state more time to advocate to the general assembly for more funding for technology implantation and for counties. 2