P-0185 - Orange County Government Limited English Proficiency Policy 12-11-2001

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(C) Departments whose primary mission or focus is the provision of services, information, or assistance to third parties: These Departments have the potential for serving significant LEP populations. (D) Departments whose mission or focus is to serve the legal, investigative, and policy needs of County Government in a manner that involves (and in some cases is dependent upon) interactions with the public,.including predictable and periodic interactions with identifiable LEP. (E) Departments whose mission or primary function is to exercise supervision and control over special populations known to contain significant numbers of LEP individuals. Criteria: To determine what reasonable steps were necessary to develop a policy that provides LEP persons with "meaningful access" to County programs and services a number of factors should be reviewed: (1) The number of or proportion of-LEP-.persons in .Orange County -.Departments should look at the number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or encountered by the recipient in carrying out its operation. The greater the number or proportion of LEP persons, the more likely language services are needed; (2) The frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the program Departments should`assess, as accurately as possible, the frequency of contact with eligible LEP persons. -The more frequent the contact, he more need for the language service. Departments should consider if with appropriate outreach to LEP persons, the frequency of contacts will' increase usage by the. LEP group; (3) The importance of the service provided by-the program -Departments-should consider • the importance of the activity, service, or program and whether the denial or delay of access to service or information will. have seriotas implication for the LEP individuals; and (4) The resources available to the `recipient - Department`s level of resources can impact the nature of the steps it`should take: Smaller departments`with fewer resources are not required to provide the same level of resources as the' larger departments. Smaller departments should combine_their resources to provide meaningful access o LEP populations. 1. Language Assistance Principle Assisting LEP individual seeking direct County services or benefits, or where there is potential for the direct imposition of a burden onto the individual by the County: • LEP persons should be advised that they may choose either to secure the assistance of an interpreter of their own choosing, at their own expense, or a County interpreter provided by the relevant Department.3 Documentation that the service was offered and the LEP person's election should be documented in any written record generated with 3 A LEP person may often look to a bilingual family member or friend or other person they are comfortable with for • language assistance, there may also be situation in which a LEP person may want to rely on County-supplied interpretive services. (Some examples where use of an individual's own interpreter may be justified is when an individual has to reveal or describe information of a sensitive, confidential, or potentially embarrassing nature Similarly, instances where a Department's interest may justify the use of aCounty-supplied interpreter is where precise, complete or accurate translation or information is needed.)