Submittal to the Board of Supervisors County of Riverside, State of California Submittal Date:*

Foster Homes In the fiscal year 2003-04, there were seven certified foster homes in Blythe, but at the time of this current report there are only two. In emergency situations foster homes may be utilized as temporary shelter homes. Due to the low number of foster homes and lack of shelter facilities in Blythe, children must be transported to Indio or in some cases other communities as far away as Moreno Valley, Riverside, Corona and Fontana or Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County. These trips can take up to 6-8 hours. This multiplies the time and expense incurred by the county, and the added emotional stress on the individual social workers as well as the anxiety placed on the recently displaced children. Investigation revealed foster parents have reported they were not always provided access to necessary resources and training (e.g., health services, mental health services, and special education services) to adequately provide for children's needs. Response 2: Respondent agrees with the finding (see clarification). Several of the foster care homes in Blythe that were available in 2003-2004 have since adopted children that were placed in their care and voluntarily removed themselves from being an active foster home. There are currently three Licensed Foster Family Homes and one Foster Family Agency home in the City of Blythe. Due to the limited availability of foster care placements in the City of Blythe, children are sometimes transported outside of the immediate area and at times, out of the entire desert region for placement. Generally these placements are short term while assessing and certifying relatives for placement. Many of the current caregivers located in Blythe are relatives. With regard to services and resources, this is addressed more fully in response to Finding and Recommendation 4 below. Despite the services that are available, foster parents in the Blythe community do express ongoing concerns about the lack of services and resources for children in placement. They report a lack of training to meet the needs of the children, lack of transportation resources and lack of advanced medical services requiring them to transport for follow up appointments to Loma Linda Medical Center in most instances. Training for foster parents in the Blythe Community has been minimal. There is some on-line training available; however, caregivers would like training on more advanced topics to assist them to care for the children being placed in their homes. The local Community Colleges do receive funding for foster parent training; however, Palo Verde College has not offered this service to caregivers. DPSS will initiate discussions with Palo Verde College regarding the need for ongoing training for foster parents and pursue the development of this resource for the Blythe community.

Safety Security At the time of this report, the exterior doors at the Blythe CPS office do no close completely when the staff enters at the back of the building, consequently the alarm system is not always dependable. Although there is lighting in the front of the building, it functions intermittently. Investigation and inspection of the Blythe CPS office revealed there are two security cameras on the rear of the building. However, the poor resolution and improper placement negates the camera's reliability, making identification of people or vehicles virtually impossible. Further investigation revealed that vehicles often operate in an unsafe manner within the interior of the parking lot near the CPS entrances utilized for moving children into and out of the facility. The geographical and physical settings of the office, especially in relation to other county facilities attracts a variety of individuals, including vagrants. The necessary night utilization of the facility, usually involving children, presents a definite security issue. Response 3: Respondent disagrees partially with the finding. The exterior doors, inadequate lighting and security camera issues were referred to County Facilities Management and these issues are in the process of being corrected. The concern about the parking lot has been addressed with the Landlord and there is a plan to place speed bumps in both the front and rear parking lots. The CPS location is not isolated from other County programs. The building is currently co-located with Adult Protective Services and adjacent to the DPSS Temporary Assistance Programs office. Additionally, County Department of Mental Health and Family Services of the Desert are also adjacent to the CPS/APS office. The immediate availability of these services in one location allows customers to more readily access the services they need to complete their case plans.

Services The Blythe CPS social workers and their clients have limited access to local community services and county support systems in the Palo Verde Valley area. These support services are required for individualized intervention to families, which in turn, allow the opportunity for children to be raised in homes free of abuse and neglect. Examples of services required by families through CPS programs include parenting classes, drug treatment and testing, psychotherapy, life skills training services, transportation services and support services to relatives and foster caretakers. Many of these necessary support services are only available at distant locations such as Indio, Riverside or Moreno Valley. Interviews revealed excessive travel times to receive required services negatively impact social workers' ability to effectively and efficiently manage their caseloads. Due to minimal staffing levels, the Blythe Office of the Department of Mental Health is only able to respond to emergency CPS referrals. A Mental Health Clinical Therapist is needed to expand mental health services capacity to provide both routine and emergency counseling for CPS clients. Blythe CPS workers must often travel long distances to receive their required professional training. In an attempt to coordinate CPS activities, quarterly meetings are currently held between representatives of CPS, Mental Health and Probation Departments. However, these meetings are too infrequent to best meet the needs of the affected families. Response 4: Respondent disagrees partially with the finding. DPSS currently contracts with Family Services of the Desert to provide a range of services to children and families in the Blythe area. These services include parenting, counseling, anger management and domestic violence programs. The County Department of Mental Health provides out patient mental health services to adults and children to include crisis intervention, individual and group counseling, medication management and a drug court program. Parents are referred out of the Blythe area for residential substance abuse programs due to a lack of these programs within the Blythe area. The Department of Mental Health has a full time clinician available to provide the services outlined above Monday through Thursday from 8am-6pm. Training for Blythe social workers is being offered locally. Social Workers are now provided training opportunities via online courses, web-based courses and DPSS Staff Development Officers providing on-site training. Additionally, a Training Mentor Supervisor has been traveling to the Blythe office one day per month to provide mentoring and training on-site. The quarterly meetings held between Mental Health, Probation and CPS have been changed to monthly meetings to better address the needs and concerns related to services in the Blythe community. B. RECOMMENDATIONS