Board of Supervisors Response to Grand Jury Report No. 1011:*

CFS lost 119 positions from January 2008 to January 2009. Of those, 65 social workers were eliminated from the foster care program. Response: Respondent agrees with finding.

Contra Costa County was serving approximately 1,100 foster children as of December 31, 2009. Response: Respondent agrees with finding

CFS foster care case file information is both computerized and on paper. Information is not consistent between the two types of files and neither contains complete information. Response: Respondent partially disagrees with finding. Contra Costa County is required to utilize a Statewide Child Welfare information system. The information in this system includes all documents generated by the social worker to allow for the documentation of services to families. If one is not familiar with that application, or has not been trained on the use of that system, it is difficult to understand. Paper files are necessary for record keeping of all services and other legal documents that are not generated by the social worker. The current state system was not designed to allow non child welfare staff the ability to enter their reports into the system. Therefore paper and electronic files are intended to be combined to make a complete file.

Access to computerized case files is restricted to the social workers. Response: Respondent agrees with finding. State and federal law requires that child welfare information is confidential and may only be accessed if the person is a party to the legal action. To maintain confidentiality only social workers and other authorized personnel have access to these confidential files based on their role with the family.

The court case files were well-organized and easy to follow, in contrast, the CFS files were cumbersome and incomplete. Response: Respondent partially disagrees with finding. The respondent is not able to comment on court files. CFS records require multiple volumes and are on paper and within an electronic database. Due to the nature of the family issues and the number of members in a family the volumes can make it difficult for someone who was not trained or someone who does not have daily contact with the files to track. The respondent is not aware of any incomplete files.

Not all CFS records contain documentation of school attendance. There is no school attendance policy for children under the age of sixteen. • Children 16 years and older must attend school for foster parent payments to ٠ continue. Foster parents are responsible for the child's attendance. Social workers may or may not be notified of truancy. Response: Respondent partially disagrees with finding. The Health and Educational Passport is an electronic document within the statewide data base that was designed to capture the information regarding where a child attends school. The passport is not intended to capture attendance but intended to document the progress that a child has attained educationally. All information regarding the child's progress in school is captured in court reports which are completed every six months for all school aged children. Additionally, the department has a contract with the Office of Education to provide additional tutoring services to youth who are not able to utilize the services through their school. The department also works with the Office of Education to employ Educational Liaisons who are co-located with Child Welfare Social Workers. The liaisons work with the social worker, the youth, the caregiver and the school to ensure the youth's educational needs are met. They also participate in Individualized Educational Plans, disability accommodation meetings and all other processes necessary to ensure the success of the youth.

Frequent changes in home and school placements negatively affect a foster child's academic performance and future success in life. Response: Respondent agrees with finding.

Medical assessments, social assessments, and immunizations are completed within 30 days of the foster child's removal from the home. Social workers do not automatically receive these records. Response: Respondent agrees with finding. Social workers do not automatically receive the reports on the child's health but they are able to find out the information from the child's caregiver and the public health nurse who does automatically receive the reports. The public health nurses are co-located with the social workers and help CFS to ensure children are receiving appropriate medical services.

Due to lack of record sharing, immunizations are sometimes done repeatedly in error. Response: Respondent disagrees with finding. The Respondent is not aware of any children who have had immunizations repeated. Also respondent is not aware of a lack of record sharing when a provider has been identified as having records for a child being served by Children and Family Services Bureau.

Mental health records require court or parental authorization for release to CFS. Response: Respondent agrees with finding. Mental Health records are protected by federal and state regulations. As is required by these laws, CFS is required to have a court order or parental authorization for children's records or parent records. This process ensures that privacy laws are upheld and does not delay CFS in addressing the needs of the children.

Training of mental health service providers in the treatment of childhood trauma is insufficient. Response: Respondent is unable to agree or disagree with finding as the respondent does not train mental health providers.

The staff of Home Finders has been reduced from 8 to 3 workers, leaving each with a caseload of approximately 300 homes, to assess for new and continuing foster care placement. Response: Respondent partially disagrees with finding. The Home finding unit has been reduced to the number of staff authorized by the funding for the program. Based on the allocation Contra Costa County is funded for 2.9 Full Time Equivalent (FTEs) staff including a supervisor. In April 2010 Contra Costa County had 439 licensed foster homes with 164 pending applications. The three licensing staff are each managing 146 existing licensed homes and working with 55 families who are working on completing their licensing tasks for a total of 201 cases per worker on average.

CFS works toward reunification of foster children with their immediate families as a first priority. If not possible, placement for foster children is with a relative or a licensed foster care home. Response: Respondent agrees with finding.