Response from County of Sacramento

CPSU has experienced, compassionate and dedicated staff whose priority is the welfare of the children they serve. County Executive Response: The County Executive agrees with this finding. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

The current location of the CPSU is in a high crime neighborhood that places CPSU staff and traumatized youths in undue danger. County Executive Response: The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. Recognizing the issues faced in the neighborhood, CPS does everything possible to keep children and staff safe. This is done regardless of where children are placed or where CPS staff conduct their work. The Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento (CRH) serves as the Emergency Shelter Care facility for Sacramento County. The CPSU is co-located on the CRH campus to ease the transition for children who may need to be placed at the shelter facility. The department employs two security guards who monitor the CPSU site at all times. The number of security guards can be and is, augmented when needed. Additionally, the Children’s Receiving Home has security guards on campus and is partnering with neighboring businesses to strengthen services in that area. In May 2017, CPS partnered with the Sacramento Police Department to install a Police Observation Device (POD) in a strategic location in the area around CRH to provide monitoring services. CPS eliminated shelter utilization for children under age 6 at the CRH shelter. It worked with CRH to repurpose the dormitory previously used to house children under 6 to create more capacity for older foster youth. To find alternative placement for children 6 and under, CPSU increased its efforts to place young children into foster homes. Part of this effort included calling every approved resource/foster family in Sacramento County in August 2017, more than 400 in all, to gather accurate information on each family’s placement preferences and to discuss the need for emergency placements. As a result of this outreach, there are now more than 60 resource/foster homes with a total of 104 beds willing to take younger children as well as older youth which reduces the flow of children through CPSU. The long-range goal for CPS is to eliminate the use of shelter placements in Sacramento County. In order to achieve this goal, the county needs to find more adults who are willing to provide a loving and stable home for children who are unable to remain with their families. Sacramento County and its Foster Family Agency partners have been working diligently to increase capacity of Resource Homes (formerly called Foster Homes) but there are fewer families than in the past willing to serve in this capacity (The diminished capacity of Resource Homes is an issue across the state and country). 2|Page Attachment 1 CPS is also focusing on increasing placements with relatives as research shows that outcomes are better when children removed from their families are placed with relatives or with non-related extended family members - someone outside the family who has a relationship with the child. CPS is piloting a new strategy to increase relative placements. It created three social worker positions to serve as Relative Engagement Specialists. The Relative Engagement Specialists attend Child and Family Team meetings to identify as many relatives and non-related extended family members who might be able to provide care for the child if a removal from the home cannot be avoided. The social workers then conduct immediate assessments and background checks to determine if the relative/s are able to provide care for the child. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

Since the enactment of SB 855 in 2014, no measureable Progress has been made to find suitable options that address the 3|Page Attachment 1 unique treatment and placement needs of the expanded population of high risk children. County Executive Response: . The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. Since the enactment of SB 855, significant progress has been made to find suitable options for sexually exploited and other high-risk children. CPS developed a team of staff experts and providers that continue to focus on the unique treatment and placement needs of this population. CPS recruited and placed social workers with specialized training on child sexual exploitation in programs that focus on investigations and ongoing case management services. The specialized team works with CPS staff, Juvenile Probation and other partners to address the specific needs of children and youth who have been sexually exploited. Sacramento County also established a community-wide, interagency memorandum of understanding that defines a response and engagement protocol when young people are identified at risk of or being sexually exploited. The list of agencies that signed the protocol include: Department of Health and Human Services, Behavioral Health, Public Health and CPS Divisions, Sacramento County Office of Education, Sacramento County Probation Department, Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, Sacramento Police Department, the Offices of the District Attorney and Public Defender, UC Davis CAARE (Child and Adolescent Abuse Resource and Evaluation) Center, and other community-based providers. With respect to the placement issue, as of June 1, 2018, there were 154 children identified as being at risk of or being sexually exploited in ‘Sacramento County who had an open case with CPS. Of the group of 154 children: e 61 were in a foster/resource family home or were placed with relatives, guardians, or non-related, extended family members e 56 were in a group home or Short-Term Residential Therapeutic Program e 18 were in an independent living placement e 15 lived with a parent e 4 were in Juvenile Hall CPS works closely with Sacramento County Behavioral Health Services and community-based providers to address the mental health needs of sexually exploited minors. In an excellent demonstration of interagency commitment to the needs of this population, CPS contracts with the UC Davis CAARE Center to provide more than 600 hours per year of training and consultation | 4|Page Attachment 1 for social work staff, mental health providers, foster family agencies, resource parents and group home providers on the complex needs of sexually exploited children. UC Davis also provided a psychoeducational group for parents of children who have been exploited. The California _ Department of Social Services also recognizes the need to continue to develop placements and resources to meet the needs of minors who are sexually exploited. It embarked on an extensive information gathering process and is currently planning to issue a Request for Proposals to provide funding for foster family agencies to implement new placement and service strategies. While the above efforts speak specifically to placement and services for sexually exploited minors, CPS has also increased efforts to better serve other youth with high levels of need. Sacramento County partners with two Foster Family Agencies that have trained Resource Parents to provide Intensive Services Foster Care for children and youth with high needs. Additionally, child welfare Continuum. of Care Reform has enhanced requirements for Foster Family Agencies, county Resource Homes and group homes to ensure the provision of mental health services to address the - needs of children and youth placed in their care. In order to prevent and/or address crisis situations, CPS has utilized Sacramento County’s Crisis Support Team, Wraparound providers, Therapeutic Behavioral Services and other strategies to address the trauma responses of our youth. CPS is also hoping that the use of Relative Engagement Specialist (RES) social workers can also address placement needs in Sacramento County. The RES pilot started in March 2018, and as noted above, RESs complete emergency home assessments and. background checks on relatives and non- related extended family members who may be able to provide care and supervision for children. While CPS is still gathering data to determine if this strategy is working, CPS social workers are reporting an increased ability to focus on safety assessments and other mandates while the RESs work on the relative placement part. This has allowed many children to go directly to placement upon removal from the family, rather than going to CPSU for an assessment and/or to an emergency resource home. Another strategy to increase placement capacity that CPS has employed in the past and plans to revisit in the fall is specific outreach to schools. Schools are a great place to find non-related extended family members, such as teachers, counselors, custodians, yard duty staff, etc., who have a meaningful relationship with a child and who might be willing to provide care for the child if they are unable to remain in the home with their parents. Additional strategies will be developed with a consultant provided by CDSS 5|Page Attachment 1 as part of a statewide effort to increase capacity of Resource Homes across California. While Sacramento still needs more placements that can provide appropriate care and supervision to meet the more acute needs of children and youth, the efforts above demonstrate substantial, positive, measureable progress in addressing the unique treatment and placement needs of the expanded population of children with higher levels of need. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

There is a lack of communication on spending priorities between senior management and the needs of the service providers. County Executive Response: | The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. CPS has worked in‘close concert with its foster family agency partners and other service providers and stakeholders in the community for years and continues to do so as it strives to provide the most effective services and supports possible for the children and families it serves. For example, in October 2014, Sacramento County entered the federal Title IV-E Waiver. Title IV-E of the Social Security Act is one of the largest federal funding streams for child welfare, but utilization of the funding is restrictive. The Title IV-E Waiver allows Sacramento County more flexibility in how the funding is utilized to test to use of innovative approaches to child welfare service delivery. When Sacramento County entered the federal Title IV-E Waiver, CPS and Probation held a joint community meeting, which included service providers, to identify needs and priorities for utilization of the funding. Similarly, when Sacramento County received SB855 funding to address child commercial sexual exploitation, CPS elicited feedback from community members and stakeholders to identify needs and priorities. When Sacramento County initially learned of the Foster Parent Recruitment, Retention and Support (FPRRS) opportunity to apply for recruitment and retention funding, it initiated conversations with service providers and placing partners, with which it had contracts or MOUs for specialized placement, about any needs they had to be able to expand the contractual work and increase the number of placement options. The agencies involved in the FPRRS work submitted proposals wherein they selected their own internal strategies based on the individual needs and dynamics of their agency. At the end of each fiscal year since then, the agencies have been asked to submit updated proposals, building on the lessons learned throughout the project. In doing so, CPS has provided ample communication on spending priorities with service providers and has allowed and supported flexibility in meeting the needs of those placement service providers. 8|Page Attachment 1 In addition, since December 2016, CPS has facilitated a monthly meeting with its foster family agency and group home partners during which they are able bring forward any concerns, questions or issues. Since the launch of the Resource Family Approval process, CPS has facilitated monthly director level meetings for both its FFA and group home partners during which higher level needs and concerns are discussed. CPS has worked diligently to create an atmosphere of transparency, open communication and partnership with its partners for years and continues to do so in the wake of Continuum of Care Reform. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

CPS and DHHS are still focused on ineffective recruitment strategies rather than considering innovative approaches to gain more placement models for the expanded population it serves. County Executive Response: The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. CPS has been innovative in its development of strategies to find additional placement models for the expanded population it serves. One such innovative strategy is the introduction of Relative Engagement Specialist (RES) social workers in March 2018. RES social workers provide support to the Emergency Response and Informal Supervision social workers by completing emergency home assessments on relatives and non-related extended family members, to prevent children from entering out-of-home foster (stranger) care. Additionally, the RES social workers provide family finding with the goal of developing a safe, lifetime support network for the child. They also assist with arranging and participating in Prevention Child and Family Team meetings in an effort to provide support to each child and family to address safety concerns and ensure positive outcomes and stability. The RES social workers have been very effective and have identified nearly 500 relatives representing more than 100 families of foster children from March through June, 2018, and were able to place 55 of those children with relatives or non-related extended family members. Based on an initial analysis of the effectiveness of the RES social workers, CPS is considering adding more RES social workers. Sacramento County has taken the lead on the Resource Family Approval (RFA) mandate created as a part of Continuum of Care Reform. With RFA, all families caring for children through CPS or Probation go through the same assessment and training process, whether they choose to foster a child, provide guardianship or adopt. Prior to January 2017, people wanting to turn their home into a licensed foster home received training to become licensed to care for foster children, however, relatives and non-related extended family members who took in foster children did not receive the same training. If either population went on to adopt or pursue guardianship, they had to go through another assessment, which took additional time and sometimes resulted in a foster family not being able to qualify for adoption or guardianship. ; Sacramento County’s new approach to Resource Family Approval is a significant change and demonstrates a sharp focus on innovative, effective recruitment and retention strategies. RFA families are now assessed more thoroughly and quickly, and are approved to provide permanency for a child as a guardian or adoptive parent from the initial placement. In Sacramento 10|Page Attachment 1 County, RFA orientation is offered weekly and provides an overview of needs and expectations of resource families. Pre-approval classes are completed in two weeks so as not to delay the approval process. Sacramento County’s Resource Family Approval timelines are, on average, below the 90-day timeframe mandated by the State of California. In another strategically innovative move, Sacramento County applied for and entered into a two-year State-funded project to receive face-to-face foster care recruitment and retention training and additional hours of technical assistance from nationally known recruitment expert Dr. Denise Goodman and her team. Sacramento County was one of only six counties selected to participate in this foster care recruitment project. In an effort to increase the number of foster children successfully placed in home-based, family care settings, Sacramento County also applied and received funding for the Emergency Childcare Bridge Program for Foster Children. The Bridge Program is intended to increase the pool of resource parents by helping them pay for childcare for their foster children. Utilization of funding available through the Mental Health Services Act ~ Prevention and Early Intervention program is another innovative strategy CPS is considering. A Request for Proposals was recently released by the Sacramento County Department of Health Services, Behavioral Health Division to locate an agency which will implement the Foster Family Urgent Response System. The program will include a 24-hour telephone support line, a mobile response team, youth advocate and former foster parent/advocate to provide supports to both foster youth and caregivers. Other innovative recruitment and retention strategies CPS has employed include: Intensive Family Finding; recruitment of Intensive Services Foster Care Homes; outreach, awareness and recruitment campaigns for African- American and LGBTQ affirming homes; Wraparound services; respite care; childcare; participation in the Nurtured Heart program; and the addition of recruitment/training positions. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

CPS personnel hired to recruit placement opportunities for children are unable to focus their efforts due to other job activities. County Executive Response: The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. CPS hired three RFA Recruiters/Trainers with Foster Parent Recruitment, Retention and Support (FPRRS) funding. In addition to their recruitment and training functions, they were assigned other job activities for the following reasons: 1. In order that they would have insight into what CPS families will need to go through the Resource Family Approval process so they could answer questions while recruiting and training, 2. To alleviate a high workload when there were vacancies and staff on leaves of absence toward the end of 2017, and _ 3. To assist when CPS received an increase of emergency assessments. The assignment of other job activities hasn’t affected the RFA Recruiters/Trainers ability to recruit or to train as the additional functions often take place on weekends, while trainings are in the evenings. CPS is working to relieve the Recruiters/Trainers of the cases for which they have completed assessments so they can prepare to approach schools in the coming school year. It is important to note that recruitment of resource families is a responsibility that is shared by all CPS staff, not just those with Recruiter in their job title. CPS staff and management make efforts to recruit resource families through a variety of events. Some recent efforts include hosting tables at River Cats games, Kiwanis and Soroptimist club meetings, and recruiting at golf tournaments, PRIDE celebrations, various church congregations and anywhere they spot a potential resource family. CPS also provides outreach through the placement of informational inserts it developed in both English and Spanish in the Sacramento News and Review, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento Observer, Elk Grove Citizen and Laguna Citizen newspapers. Additional copies of the publication have been distributed at RFA recruitment events and are shared _ —_ ; . - 12|Page Attachment 1 with partner agencies. DCFAS has a contract with the Sac Cultural Hub to . provide education, outreach and recruitment targeting African American communities. As a part of this contract, CPS is able to have a two-page spread in the Sac Cultural Hub’s quarterly magazine, a banner ad on its website, sponsored social media posts, and is included in their weekly email blast. . Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

The Audit Committee is comprised of department heads. Other governments that have established audit committees have included decision-makers (elected officials) and members of the public to assist the Board and the Auditor in fulfilling oversight responsibilities. County Executive Response: The County Executive disagrees wholly with the finding. The Committee is currently comprised of the following (which none are department heads): Assistant County Executive Deputy County Executive Administrative Services Deputy County Executive Municipal Services Deputy County Executive Public Works & Infrastructure e Deputy County Executive Social Services Additional members on the Committee include the Director of Finance and the Assistant Auditor-Controller. The County Organizational Chart is found at: http://www. saccounty.net/CountyDepartments/OrganizationChar t/Pages/default.aspx Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.

The Internal Audit Unit, as well as the Department of Finance as a whole, is understaffed in IT Support. Maintaining transparency of operations to the public is difficult, if not impossible, without adequate IT support. County Executive Response: The County Executive disagrees wholly with this finding. As stated above in Finding Three, the Department of Finance and the Department of Technology are working together to increase transparency for the public, and adding navigational tools and searching capabilities through the Sacramento County Open Data portal, which can be found at: http://data.saccounty.net/. Board of Supervisors Response: Sacramento County Board of Supervisors agrees with the County Executive.