Citizen Complaint: City of Long Beach

Recommendations 2

• R2

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  The Deputy CEO should develop and Not Applicable - Awaiting direction from CEO implement a regular and systematic pro- DCFS continues to support this recommendation cess of program review and evaluation for and awaits direction from the CEO regarding how TAY programs which includes a goal of its TAY programs can be evaluated via a sys- periodic, streamlining of operations in tematic process. DCFS, Probation and DMH. 2b. Agencies should cultivate community Partially Implemented - Ongoing resources and partnerships to seek new The Department has a new staff member whose revenue sources, including grants from sole responsibility is to develop resources such private and governmental agencies, to as grant funding, donations, computers, and cor- fund the new programs. porate sponsors. This staff member also works with our faith-based and community partners in a collaborative approach to identifying community resources.
• R3

  Page 401
  DCFS, Probation, DMH, and DPSS Partially Implemented - July, 2013 should develop and implement innovative The Community-Based Support Division has programs to target high-risk families and several prevention-based projects recently ap- high-risk children for proactive early inter- proved to receive an increase to their funding vention. through the Title IV-E Waiver. On December 13, 2011 the Board of Supervisors agreed with the proposal to utilize Title IV-E Waiver funds to increase the Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project (PlDP) by an additional $1.25 million for fiscal year 2011-2012, and to fund an additional year (FY2012- 2013) at a total program budget of $2.5 million. In conjunction with DCFS Regional Offices, most 2011–2012 LOS ANGELES COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT 361 DCSF REVIEW – EXHIBIT 1-C 2007–2008 Item and Recommendation Status and Response PlDP agencies have initiated Visitation Centers at faith-based community centers to provide safe and family-centered, locations when monitors are required for visitation. The Year-Two PlDP Evaluation and Executive Summary reports have been completed and the results and recommendations were presented to the Board Deputies as well as the Children's Commission. This evaluation provided evidence based results demonstrating generally positive outcomes for building family strengths; safer communities; decreased subsequent referrals to the child abuse hot line and increased family sta- bility. DCFS has requested and extension of the PlDP program through June 30, 2013. Further- more, several of the more promising strategies are being incorporated into the Promoting Safe and Stable Families/CAPIT program re-design, which is projected to begin July 1, 2013. In addition to prevention programs, addressing the needs of high-risk communities requires con- sideration of caseload size and complexity, re- cruitment and retention for social workers serving these communities. Difficulty in working with cli- ents and the scarcity of resources to meet the needs of the community must be acknowledged. In high risk communities, there is increased pov- erty, high rates of unemployment, high crime rates, and significant disparities in health related issues, which all impact family functioning and add to the complexity of case issues. 3d. More intensive programs on drugs Partially Implemented - January, 2013 and access to drug rehabilitation pro- DCFS and the Department of Public Health grams should be provided to parents for (DPH) Substance Abuse Prevention and Control themselves and their children. (SAPC) are working to strengthen collaborative efforts through Project SAFE (Screening and As- sessment for Family Engagement). Specifically, the Project SAFE collaboration seeks to strengthen the screening and assessment pro- cess for better identification of the needs of cli- ents with substance use disorders and provide timely access to treatment. The intent of this ini- tiative is to develop a comprehensive screening and assessment protocol emphasizing clinical assessments and therapeutic interventions by 362 2011–2012 LOS ANGELES COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT