Child Welfare Services:

City of San Diego City Council

September 10, 2009 • 10 pages • 2 responses • Score: -1 (+0, 1, -1) View Details ▾

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2 responses to findings and recommendations

F01

CWS workers concentrate their efforts on the protection of children. Fact: CWS workers give only oral reasons at the time of removal. Joint Statement by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency and San Diego State University. P.8, CWS Booklet, A Parent’s Guide to the Child Welfare System. State of California Welfare and Institutions Code, Section 300. 4

Response: Disagree Score: -1

the City Council disagrees with Grand Jury Finding 01 that "any action of the City Council to reduce or eliminate funding or to curtail investigative authority of the Commission could be perceived as presenting a conflict of interest.

F02

Parents assert that they do not receive sufficient information from CWS workers to exercise their parental rights effectively. Fact: The Juvenile Court works with CWS to protect children from neglect, physical and emotional abuse, sexual molestation and exploitation.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The City Council partially agrees with Finding 02 that "subpoena power for testimony during the investigative process would better serve the citizens of San Diego by: shortening the investigative process, providing protection for people who provide information to the investigator and often eliminate the need for a Commission hearing as the information provided has disproved the allegation(s).

County of San Diego

August 17, 2009 • 16 pages • 5 responses • Score: 0 (+2, 1, -2) View Details ▾

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5 responses to findings and recommendations

F01

CWS workers concentrate their efforts on the protection of children. Fact: CWS workers give only oral reasons at the time of removal. Joint Statement by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency and San Diego State University. P.8, CWS Booklet, A Parent’s Guide to the Child Welfare System. State of California Welfare and Institutions Code, Section 300. 4

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Agree in part - training effectiveness should be evaluated. Training is recognized by the Department as a necessary and critical component of the Department's mission. For example, in the 12-month period ending May 2009, maintenance employees participated in 1,740 hours of training in safety, technical, and County/Department policies and procedures. Each member of our maintenance staff receives an estimated 2-3 "tailgate" training sessions on site each month. The training is conducted by the Building Maintenance Supervisor (BMS) responsible for the work group. The sessions are active discussio...

F02

Parents assert that they do not receive sufficient information from CWS workers to exercise their parental rights effectively. Fact: The Juvenile Court works with CWS to protect children from neglect, physical and emotional abuse, sexual molestation and exploitation.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree. Finding #03: Maintaining the medical records of juveniles in an electronic format would improve the quality of the juveniles' medical care because the records would be more reliable and more readily available to medical staff. Disagree. The efficiency of medical record administration would be Response: enhanced, however, the medical care provided to the wards within the detention facilities meets or exceeds the accepted community standard of care. Finding # 04: The Probation Department lacks policies and procedures necessary to conduct effective oversight of the performance of contracto...

F03

The Juvenile Court acts to do what is in the best interest of the child and the most important thing is the child.8 Fact: CWS employs social workers to investigate reports of neglect, physical and emotional abuse, exploitation and sexual molestation of children. Fact: CWS employs social workers, some of whom, in the opinion of the Grand Jury, are biased, have personality differences with customers, or have little experience with the populations they serve.

Response: Disagree Score: -1

enhanced, however, the medical care provided to the wards within the detention facilities meets or exceeds the accepted community standard of care. Finding # 04: The Probation Department lacks policies and procedures necessary to conduct effective oversight of the performance of contractors and subcontractors in the Work Furlough Program. Response: Disagree. The Probation Department has the necessary policies and procedures to conduct effective oversight of the performance of the contractor, Correctional Alternatives Incorporated ("CAI"). Such oversight has been directly related to the mandate...

F04

It is essential to the administration of the child protection system that CWS screen its workers and train them to minimize personal bias, cultural ignorance or factual errors. Fact: CWS hires workers who have education in the social sciences and who often come directly from colleges and universities with the needed educational knowledge but little practical experience. Fact: The “Social Work Administrative Internships in Child Welfare” program is an available tool to screen and train a pool of ...

Response: Disagree Score: -1

Disagree. The Probation Department has the necessary policies and procedures to conduct effective oversight of the performance of the contractor, Correctional Alternatives Incorporated ("CAI"). Such oversight has been directly related to the mandates of the CAI contract, Penal Code, and Titles 15 and 24 of the California Code of Regulations. Probation staff have conducted inmate file audits, on-site facility monitoring and maintain regular communications with CAI in order to effectively oversee its performance. The 2008/2009 San Diego County Grand Jury recommends that the San Diego <b>County P...

F05

In the hiring of CWS social workers, in addition to education proficiency, it is useful to have people that also have experience with children and with knowledge of alcohol and drug abuse programs.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Agree. Finding #06: Many DGS personnel are inadequately trained in the use of computers. Response: Disagree. FacilityCenter (version 7/8i) is currently used for time entry and to task and document completion of PM actions as well as unscheduled maintenance. Current time entry error rates do not substantiate a significant proficiency issue. DGS receives and/or generates an average of 47,000 work orders per year which are processed within the FacilityCenter computer maintenance management system (CMMS). This total only includes work orders generated as a result of Preventive Maintenance and Unsc...

San Diego City Council

October 27, 2009 • 14 pages View Details ▾

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San Diego City Council

August 17, 2009 • 21 pages • 3 responses • Score: -3 (+0, 0, -3) View Details ▾

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3 responses to findings and recommendations

F01

CWS workers concentrate their efforts on the protection of children. Fact: CWS workers give only oral reasons at the time of removal. Joint Statement by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency and San Diego State University. P.8, CWS Booklet, A Parent’s Guide to the Child Welfare System. State of California Welfare and Institutions Code, Section 300. 4

Response: Disagree Score: -1

The San Diego City Council disagrees wholly with Finding 01.

F02

Parents assert that they do not receive sufficient information from CWS workers to exercise their parental rights effectively. Fact: The Juvenile Court works with CWS to protect children from neglect, physical and emotional abuse, sexual molestation and exploitation.

Response: Disagree Score: -1

The San Diego City Council disagrees wholly with Finding 02.

F03

The Juvenile Court acts to do what is in the best interest of the child and the most important thing is the child.8 Fact: CWS employs social workers to investigate reports of neglect, physical and emotional abuse, exploitation and sexual molestation of children. Fact: CWS employs social workers, some of whom, in the opinion of the Grand Jury, are biased, have personality differences with customers, or have little experience with the populations they serve.

Response: Disagree Score: -1

the amount of material being recycled. The San Diego City Council disagrees wholly with Finding 03.

San Diego Mayor

August 24, 2009 • 3 pages View Details ▾

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Findings 5 findings

Recommendations 3

Agency Responses 5