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Extracted from Consolidated Report

This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.

Score: +4 (4/0/0)

Sacramento County Grand Jury • 2008-2009

Child Protective Services “Nothing Ever Changes – Ever”

Published: July 14, 2009 20 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Findings 32 findings

There is a longstanding absence on the part of HHS and CPS management to accept responsibility and accountability for the role of CPS in meeting its community responsibilities. This is a recurring criticism found for over a decade of many published reports.

A shield of privacy and secrecy that surrounds much of the operations of CPS is unwarranted. This lack of transparency serves to raise questions and leads to inaccurate conclusions being made regarding what takes place in CPS. The acknowledged need to protect the confidentiality of case information can be accomplished without adopting a “closed door” attitude.

1: CPS personnel have rarely had performance evaluations.

The County’s Human Resources Department (HR) disseminated annual evaluation reminders to CPS management. However no follow-up action was done to see if such evaluations actually took place.

HR has neglected to train supervisory personnel in the proper method of personnel evaluation.

Substantial finger pointing exists between CPS and HR personnel regarding quality of service. 20

Disciplinary proceedings are compromised by the absence of evaluations of all employees.

There is an average time of one year from the start of paid administrative leave to resolution. This contributes to the caseload of other employees, and decreases staff morale.

According to sworn testimony, the recent HR reorganization increased the ratio of CPS disciplinary cases per HR analyst.

F10

Poor communication between HR and CPS contributes to lengthy disposition of discipline cases.

F11

A 22 percent annual turnover rate in CPS social workers is a major impediment to program efficiency and effectiveness.

F12

Skilled social workers who do not want to be supervisors have no way to be promoted.

F13

1: Except for the first year of employment, employees are not compliant with the 30-hour training requirement. In a sample review of 60 employee records, 50 were not in compliance.

F14

Training entries for new employees do not show the correct total number of training hours those employees actually took.

F15

1: A caseload is not defined.

F16

Social workers do work that could be done by support staff.

F17

Management has not required personnel to take full advantage of their available software. CPS management acknowledges its failures to fully use these systems. 23

F18

The Grand Jury found that supervisory personnel and upper management were not adequately using IRIS. The current design of the software changes each case entry information to a red font when the case exceeds certain limits. This is helpful but does not provide enough information about the urgency of the case.

F19

The CWS/CMS software package is provided and controlled by the State and cannot be modified by CPS IT personnel. These personnel can recommend appropriate change through statewide user-councils to improve the software.

F20

There is a lack of management control of SDM usage. It was reported to the Grand Jury that at most 60 percent of the social workers adequately use SDM. The Self Assessment Report states: “. . . its use remains inconsistent and inaccurate.” 24

F21

The SafeMeasures program has not been used adequately by many of the supervisors and managers. Usage is reportedly less than 20 percent.

F22

Quality Assurance (QA) personnel are not knowledgeable in the use of all the software and were not using the SafeMeasures software to assess the quality of services provided.

F23

The CPS in-take phone lines currently do not have recording capability. CPS personnel have investigated this issue and found that other counties have this capability and it did not interfere with reporting.

F24

Testimony from CPS management indicates that social workers do not have electronic devices to record information while they are in the field.

F25

Currently social workers, with password generation devices called “Tokens” (a secure means of handling sensitive data) can access the CWS/CMS computer system from home. CPS has issued about 80 of these “Tokens.” 25

F26

Flaws in the SDM may result in children being exposed to dangerous and abusive conditions. The Risk Assessment process requires that CPS respond within 24 hours if a child is under age two. If the child is over two, the response time may be extended to ten days.

F27

SDM is not been utilized as envisioned. Testimony indicated that this valuable risk assessment tool was frequently completed after the fact and viewed simply as an administrative “requirement” by social workers.

F28

SDM allows a response of ten days even when there is a history of “physical abuse, domestic violence, caregiver mental health, or substance abuse concerns” if there is a “responsible” adult on the premises. Experts in domestic violence state that if there is domestic violence in the home there is a 50 percent chance that the children will also be abused. When these circumstances exist, no adult on the premises should be considered “responsible. “

F29

The California Family Risk Assessment Tool can fail to adequately determine the level of risk to which a child may be exposed.

F30

2: The CPS manual does not have a usable table of contents, index, or electronic search engine capability.

F31

The law governing reporting does not require that the Mandated Reporter hold or detain a child suspected of being abused. It only requires that he or she report the suspected abuse to the proper authorities.

F32

The Grand Jury does not have full access to unredacted reports for legitimate investigative purposes.

Recommendations 32

R1

1: The Board of Supervisors conduct a thorough assessment of the performance of HHS and CPS management. These administrators must demonstrate more than subject matter expertise. They must demonstrate an ability to ignite the enthusiasm of CPS supervisory and rank and file professionals and exhibit the creative energy and management skill necessary to lead CPS in the challenges ahead.
R2

Greater transparency of CPS operations must be exhibited on the part of CPS management. They should do more to aggressively open the doors of CPS activities to the eyes of the public, the County Board of 19 Supervisors, non-profit organizations, K–12 schools and universities, the Legislature, the medical community, and the media. Transparency does not prevent possible negative publicity, but does mean that questions can be asked and answered in an atmosphere of openness and honesty. Evaluations
R3

The completion of yearly evaluations on all employees must be recognized as a critical, high priority activity required of supervisors and managers.
R4

HR must accept its responsibility for ensuring the completion of annual performance appraisals as part of their fundamental personnel oversight responsibilities.
R5

CPS supervisory personnel must attend a training course specifically focused on employee performance evaluations
R6

Greater interdepartmental cooperation must exist between CPS and the HR Department. CPS management must do more to demand and improve the delivery of services from the HR Department. Management attention and involvement must be brought to the table to reconcile this festering issue. Discipline Procedures
R7

1: CPS management should work with the Human Resources Department to immediately complete employee evaluations on all CPS personnel.
R8

1: Given the number of cases referred for discipline and the lengthy time until resolution, the Grand Jury recommends that more of the current HR staff be reallocated to CPS.
R9

An alternative organizational structure, which would provide more efficient HR disciplinary support to CPS, should be considered.
R10

HR should develop effective training seminars for all supervisors and managers of CPS to promote greater understanding of the requirements needed for a rapid adjudication of cases. Recruitment and Retention
R11

CPS management should prepare an analysis of this turnover problem and implement a recommendation plan.
R12

Establish a “specialist” classification in CPS available to social workers who are able to take on unique and complex cases. Training
R13

1: Program managers and supervisors must ensure that their employees attend classes and satisfy the 30-hour annual requirement. 22
R14

CPS should review the training log for accuracy and corrects erroneous entries. Caseload
R15

1 CPS should define a case and establish caseload and workload criteria.
R16

Tasks not needing the skills of a social worker should be turned over to support staff. Information Technology
R17

1: All CPS personnel should be required to pass software proficiency examinations.
R18

1: Division Managers should provide additional IRIS training and demand greater use of the software by program managers and supervisors. Program Information Notice 08-12, which provides detailed instructions of the use of IRIS, should be strictly followed.
R19

1: Changes should be made that will not allow deleting, but will require strikeouts and additional comments.
R20

Social workers should be required to use SDM 100 percent of the time.
R21

1: All supervisors and management should receive additional training in the use of SafeMeasures.
R22

QA personnel should receive training in the use of all CPS software and be required to use SafeMeasures in their assessment of CPS programs.
R23

High priority should be given to purchasing and installing the voice recorder system as soon as possible.
R24

CPS should investigate electronic devices that could improve social worker efficiency. Factors such as worker safety and client confidentiality should be considered.
R25

This system should continue but annual reassessments should be conducted to evaluate its value, safety and security. Structured Decision Making and Risk Assessment Tools
R26

The County should expand this age group to five and under. With this change in place any child who is not of school age would require 24-hour response.
R27

Social workers should use the SDM tool as designed to adequately assess risk.
R28

Whenever there is prior history of physical abuse or domestic violence, the response should be 24 hours or less.
R29

CPS should reexamine this tool and find ways to improve its usage. Policies and Procedures Manual
R30

The CPS policy manual should be completely rewritten to include an index and expanded table of contents and be in digital form with electronic search capability. Legislative Needs
R31

1: The County Board of Supervisors should request the State Legislature amend the appropriate sections of the Penal Code to authorize such detention.
R32

1: The County Board of Supervisors should request the State Legislature amend Welfare and Institutions Code 827 to include the Grand Jury in the list of “Persons Authorized to View Juvenile Records without a Petition or Court Order.” 27

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Sacramento County Board of Supervisors re Child Protective Services, Probation, Sheriff's and County

September 20, 2010 • 54 pages • 8 responses • Score: +4 (+4, 0, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

8 responses to findings and recommendations

0 Based on data supplied bycity employees, a consultant’s draft report estimated that the city’s annual cost of potential violations is more than $5 million. The present worth cost of one-time projects and recurring costs over the last three years is in excess of $21 million. The mayor and members of city council received copies of this report in July2008. No action was taken.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Concur It seems reasonable to assume as lower level offenders are released from custody that the percentage of those inmates will decrease. However, the release of sentenced inmates does not equate to an increase in custody level for all other inmates. Recommendation 1.1 The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and the Sacramento County Sheriff should implement the management recommended conversion of the minimum security housing to medium security housing. Sheriff

1 Thecitycouncil should disclose the entire consultant’s report to the public.

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

1: Concur The inmate population is currently more violent and criminally sophisticated than those inmates traditionally housed on the Honor Facility (minimum security). Lower level offenders are now participating in alternative sentencing programs in the community. RCCC is in need of additional medium and maximum security housing units to handle the overflow pre-trial inmates from the Main Jail. <b>Board of Supervisors

0 Once the city manager and the assistant city manager over the Department of Utilities (DOU) learned that there were potential and substantial Proposition 218 violations, theyhad a duty to pursue the issue and determine the existence and extent of any actual violations. Theyfailed their duty.

Response: Agree Score: +1

0 - Concur Recommendation 2.1 The proposed idea of SCOE senior management to implement an evening education program needs to be immediately negotiated with SCOE staff, labor union and the Probation Department. If this plan is unworkable, another plan should be developed and negotiated immediately to ensure that all students at Juvenile Hall have appropriate educational services. Response Probation has made efforts to reduce the number of minors taken out of school to attend Court. Probation works with the Court to ensure that minors are only removed from school when they are actually require...

1 The citycouncil should admonish the citymanager and the responsible assistant citymanager for this failure.

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

1: Concur Several staffing audits have been completed over the past 5 years. In each audit, it has been reported that staffing at RCCC is grossly inadequate given the physical layout, types of housing units (turn-key) and number of programs and services staff is required to provide to the inmate population. Inadequate staffing has also resulted in millions of dollars in overtime expenditures annually. <b>Board of Supervisors

0 For years DOU has supplied water to cityparks at a reduced rate of only 15 % of the usual rate of providing water to other metered users.11 The grand juryis of the opinion that this is a violation of Proposition 218, which limits fees or charges to ratepayers for property related services. Providing water at reduced rates to the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is not a property related service to ratepayers. The April 2009 agreement between DOU and DPR provides for this violation to b...

Response: Agree Score: +1

0 - Concur Recommendation 3.1 Annual training on mandated reporting for all Sacramento County Probation Department and SCOE personnel employed at Juvenile Hall needs to occur. Response Institution probation staff responsible for the supervision of minors initially complete a two week Probation Institutions Training (PIT) course, which includes information about the responsibilities of mandated reporters. Staff currently are required to review the Juvenile Hall Policy and Procedure Manual and sign an acknowledgement that this has been completed (Attachment 2A - Attachment B). The manual inclu...

1 The citycouncil should modifythis agreement and direct that DPR begin paying the comparable full metered rate in FY 2012.

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

1: Concur Some teachers do currently have personal alarm devices. This is being explored as an option for all teachers. Finding #4: The Sandra Larson Facility for female inmates offers a vocational program not available at the SCMJ.

0 The cityhas shifted the cost of providing city services from the general fund to the enterprise funds of DOU. The city improperly uses DOU labor and equipment, without reimbursement, to provide services to other city departments, sports facilities and city buildings.

Response: Agree Score: +1

Concur Due to budget constraints, the Sandra Larson Facility has been closed and all female inmates are housed at the SCMJ. Inmates once enrolled in various vocational programs at RCCC will not have the same opportunities at the SCMJ. However, the Main Jail staff is exploring alternatives to previous programs as a means by which to provide similar opportunities. Recommendation 4.1 Funding to house female inmates and the vocational education program at the Sandra Larsen Facility should continue.

1 If the advice of outside counsel confirms these violations, the citycouncil should direct that DOU enterprise funds be reimbursed for future services from non-ratepayer funds.

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

1: Concur The Sandra Larsen Facility is best suited for sentenced female inmates due to a variety of housing units, a medical housing unit, and access to educational and vocational programs. Additional funding would be necessary for SSD to staff the facility appropriately.