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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.
Butte County Grand Jury
• 2010-2011
Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control District
⚠️ 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 6 findings
F1
Page 32
Close contact with supervisors is an essential feature of social work during the initial phase of decision-making. Although social workers will always hear back from a supervisor, sometimes the response takes time, which leads to frustration and distraction for the social worker.
F2
Page 32
In an urgent situation, a delay in response time for a social worker potentially places a child at further risk.
F3
Page 32
The Structured Decision-Making tool is a useful guide to screeners in their information- gathering and decision-making as they process an incoming report. Investigators are less clear about how SDM benefits their work.
F4
Page 32
Decisions made by social workers are driven by the information they have access to about a particular case. In the rare case of a child with no background or history available through routinely consulted resources, social workers must base their decisions on their own experienced judgment, the SDM framework and other evidence-based tools, and consultations with peers and Supervisors.
F5
Page 32
Social workers responding to urgent situations in rural and/or rough-terrain areas of the County need reliable means of contacting their supervisors and the Children‟s Services offices.
F6
Page 32
Social workers responding to urgent situations in rural and/or rough-terrain areas of the County need reliable means of transportation for themselves and any children they may need to transport.
Recommendations 5
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R1Page 32Assess the timeliness of supervisor contact with social workers, to ensure that delays in supervisor response do not compromise the social workers‟ ability to perform their work 8 with appropriate urgency. If it is determined that there are unacceptable and avoidable delays in supervisor responses, develop a plan to resolve the problem.
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R2Page 33Evaluate how SDM is used by all social workers within Children‟s Services, and the ways that this protocol benefits their work. Data and conclusions should be shared with all personnel.
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R3Page 33Provide social workers with reliable means of contact with supervisors and Children‟s Services offices, especially in rural or rough-terrain areas of the County.
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R4Page 33Provide access to reliable and sufficient means of transportation that are suitable for Children‟s Services‟ work in the entire County, including rural or rough-terrain areas.
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R20-25Page 31minutes for information to be transmitted from Oroville Intake to an IR worker in Chico, and the situation is in Magalia, more than a half-hour‟s drive away, it could be an hour before the social worker arrives. In addition, in rural locations social workers may still need to consult with their supervisors to determine the best plan for a child, so it is imperative that they have a reliable method of contacting the Oroville and Chico offices. Children‟s Services furnishes cell phones to all social workers. Those cell phones have speaker phone capability, but no blue tooth, head phone set, or other hands-free equipment are currently provided. Finally, rural areas may present challenges to a social worker who is using a county vehicle. Some social workers may not own four-wheel drive vehicles of their own, especially ones that are capable of safely transporting multiple children if needed. Children‟s Services currently has only one four-wheel drive vehicle that social workers can use. The program is working with the County to secure funding to purchase new vehicles, but the standard vehicle allowance may not suffice since the program needs vehicles with four-wheel drive and with the capacity to transport several children at a time. 7