Children and Family Services - EM, Fam Support, FC

Imperial County

Department of Social Services

2995 South Fourth Street

Suite 105

El Centro, CA 92243

Ph: (760) 337-6800

FAX: (760) 337-5716

Children and Family Services (CFS)

Intake Services

The Children and Family Services division of the department is comprised of various programs. The intake program provides prevention and intervention services to children and their families. Twenty (20) Social Workers provide services in Screening, Emergency Response, Voluntary Family Maintenance, and Family Resource Centers to assist families with safety, permanency, and child and family well-being needs and concerns.

The first point of contact from the community is through the Child Abuse Hotline which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. The purpose of the hotline is to provide the community a method of reporting abuse and neglect or inquiring about other community services.

During the calendar year 2008, Children and Family Services received approximately 2042 calls which involved approximately 5370 children. This translated to 1411 families requiring intervention by Social Workers in the Emergency response unit for investigation of allegations of abuse and or neglect. The concentration of referrals were in El Centro 32%, Brawley 23%, and Calexico 13%. The remaining referrals came from the smaller communities throughout Imperial County.

According to the data obtained in CWS/CMS, approximately 69% of the allegations were under General Neglect. Though this is an increase from 2007 (41%), there was a slight decrease in other allegation types. Most of the cases arising from neglect are due to parent or caretaker substance abuse.

Continuing Services

The purpose of the programs under continuing services is to protect children who cannot remain safely in their homes. The ultimate goal is to reunify children with their parents whenever possible or to seek alternate, permanent and loving homes for children.

Twenty-two (22) Foster Care Placement and Dependency Care Social Workers provided services to an average of 483 dependent children and their families each month during the calendar year 2008. There were as many as 564 dependent children/youth in care in 1/08 and as few as 412 in 12/08. Of the average 483 dependent children/youth serviced, 72.5% were placed in county, 25% were placed out-of-county with relatives or in group home settings. Eight (8) continued to be placed out-of-state with relatives under the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children (ICPC).

One hundred sixty-seven (167) youth ages 16 – 18 were offered Independent Living Program (ILP) through contracts with Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program (IVROP) – ACE and out-of-county placement homes. One hundred fifty (150) youth participated in the services offered. Six (6) youth attended the Teen Forum 2008 at Cal Poly Pomona with other foster youth from across the state from June 26 through June 28, 2008. Additionally, ILP participants attended the Imperial Valley Summer Expo on August 7, 2008. Forty-three (43) Imperial County youth aged out/emancipated from the juvenile dependency and delinquency programs in 2008 after reaching age 18 or 19. Additionally 36 youth/young adults, who were no longer in foster care (ages 18-20), continued to receive ILP Services through our Aftercare Services.

Eighty-five (85) parents received intensive reunification services through our PACT Program (a collaborative with Behavioral Health Services), while twenty-one (21) received services through Linkages (a collaborative with CalWORKs).

Foster Family Home Licensing and Relative Approval

The Licensing/Relative Approval Unit had an eventful 2008. The recruitment of Foster Family Homes took priority, as there is a need to place children in homes that have “normal daily living” environments rather than in group homes or in out of county placements. Therefore, the focus was to attend as many community events as possible in order to recruit new foster family homes. Being in the public eye and making the community aware of this necessity helped with recruitment efforts. There are currently 87 licensed Foster Homes and 82 Relative approved homes.

There were several opportunities for recruitment that the Licensing/Relative Approval Unit attended, such as: The California Mid-Winter Fair, monthly Health fairs that were held throughout Imperial County, the Honey Bee Festival, the Children’s Fair, various monthly school fairs that were held at different school sites throughout the County, and National Night Out. They also set up a booth at the Imperial Valley Mall for recruitment and Adoption awareness. Attending these events has helped provide the community with the opportunity to receive information about Foster parenting and to ask questions. The goal for 2009 for the Licensing/Relative Approval unit is to increase recruitment efforts in order to increase the number of foster homes in Imperial County. Our mission is to continue to attend as many of the local events held and to remind the community that we need Imperial County homes for Imperial County Children.

Highlights

· Child Welfare Services continued with AB636, an outcome-based accountability system in Child Welfare Services in the areas of safety, permanency and well-being. This includes mandated activities such as Peer Quality Case Review (PQCR) County Self-Assessment (CSA) and System Improvement Plan (SIP). CWS is required to assess how it performs on a variety of outcomes every three years. In April 2008, Child Welfare Services began its second triennial cycle. We held our PQCR in April 2008. Our neighboring counties of San Diego and Riverside assisted with the review as well as Kings County. We then held community forums with stakeholders to complete our CSA. We submitted the report to the Board of Supervisors in December 2008. The third step is to develop our SIP which will describe strategies to improve Child Welfare Services outcomes. This report, which requires Board Approval, is due to the State in April 2009.

· In April 2008, Child Welfare Services was also reviewed by the Grand Jury. We appreciated their recognition of the hard work preformed by Child Welfare Services staff. They offered three recommendations: 1) Increase Child Welfare Services staff; 2) Increase programs for substance abusing parents and; 3) Increase recruitment efforts for foster parents. We were in line with these recommendations and have outlined efforts to this end.

· May is Foster Care Awareness Month. On May 6, 2008 the Board of Supervisors declared May as Foster Care Awareness Month in Imperial County. The Licensing/Relative Approval Unit held its annual conference for current, as well as prospective foster parents and relative care providers during the month. The conference is held to show appreciation for our care providers for their hard work and dedication to the foster children of Imperial County. Workshops were also provided during the conference. By collaborating with local agencies, the workshops covered an array of topics that pertain to foster children. The feedback on the conference from the care providers has been positive. The goal is to strive to make each year better than the year before.

· We celebrated our foster children/youth accomplishments on May 28, 2008 by holding a special reception in their honor with the theme “Blooming in Imperial County” reflecting their potential. A poetry/art contest was also held on the same day. Awards for academic/athletic achievements and poetry and art were handed out to winners.

· On June 19, 2008, Project ACE sponsored the Class of 2008 Graduation Celebration at the Holiday Inn Express. 12 Foster and Probation youth graduated from high school or received their GED. Board of Supervisor member Victor Carrillo and Juvenile Court Judge Juan Ulloa attended and spoke along with our Director Jim Semmes and Children and Family Services Deputy Director, Mickey Castro.

· In August 2008, a unit of five Social Workers and one Supervisor were out stationed to the Brawley One-Stop center. These Social Workers serve the north end clients. Services provided are Emergency Response and Voluntary Family Maintenance. The Brawley One-Stop also serves as the site for the Linkages Program meetings. These meetings are attended by the client, CalWORKs Social Worker, CPS Social Worker and Eligibility Technician. The Linkages program has been providing coordinated services to clients that have both an open CalWORKs case and a CPS case.

Strategic Plan

· The DEC (Drug Endangered Children) program has been in full force for a year. A CPS Social Worker is assigned to the Law Enforcement Coordination Center in the city of Imperial. The DEC Program allows the Social Worker and Law Enforcement to work together to make appropriate safety decisions on behalf of children found in homes where controlled substances are used, manufactured, and sold.

· In 2008, thirty-five (35) children/youth were placed in pre-adoptive homes with twenty-three (23) of those adoptions being finalized in 2008 and twelve (12) pending finalization in 2009. On November 14, 2008, Imperial County celebrated our first Annual National Adoption Day Celebration by finalizing fifteen (15) adoptions in one day. This would not have been possible without the cooperation and assistance of the Imperial County Superior Court, our Adoption Social Workers and of course and most importantly, the adoptive parents/families.

· In December 2008, CWS held its first Annual Christmas Toy Drive to honor the memory of Laurie Vandergriff. Laurie was a Social Worker in Children and Family Services for 15 years. A friend and advocate for children, Laurie lost her valiant fight against cancer on November 22, 2008. The toy drive was successful and during the week of December 22, 2008, Laurie’s elves wrapped and distributed approximately 300 gifts to children receiving child welfare services.

Children’s Services Strategic Plan

Goal #1: Children’s Services will work to develop strong community partnerships and enlist their support in a multiple agency approach to engage and assist our families coping with the effects of substance abuse and domestic violence. The agency, in collaboration with other community resources, will strive for the prevention of child abuse and neglect and together, through educational and professional programs, we will work with, and advocate for families to provide a safe, nurturing and permanent homes, protecting children and preserving families.

Goal #2: Staff Development will assist in the identification and development of training opportunities through Peer Case review. Children’s Services will utilize the advanced Social Worker Core Curriculum offered by the Public Child Welfare Training Academy and UC Davis to enhance social worker’s skills and education.

Goal #3: Children’s Services, in collaboration with our partner agencies, will implement and develop strategies such as the Wraparound program to assist in the support and development of local placement resources that would allow our youth to remain in their community.