Leadership Roundtable 3

Leadership Roundtable 3

September 10, 2012

Attending:

Dauphin County:

Peter Vriens, Human Service Director/CYS Administrator

Marissa McClellan, Solicitor

Lehigh County:

Honorable J. Brian Johnson

Pam Buehrle, CYS Administrator

Luzerne County:

Honorable Tina Gartley

Frank Castano, CYS Administrator

Northampton County:

Kevin Dolan, CYS Administrator

Juvenile Court Judges Commission (JCJC):

Stephen Bishop, Director - Center for Juvenile Justice Training and Research

Office of Children Youth and Families (OCYF):

Kim Deibler, Central Region Supervisor

Jacqui Madden, Northeast Regional Director

Office of Children and Families in the Courts (OCFC):

Sandy Moore, Administrator

Stephenie Strayer, Judicial Analyst

Shelby Line, Data Analyst

Elke Moyer, Administrative Associate/Graphic Designer

Co-Chairs, Judge Johnson and Peter Vriens welcomed members and led introductions.

County Initiatives/Successes:

Dauphin County-

• The QSR was completed

• Trying to tie together Needs Based Budget and Plan, PPI and QSR

• 303 Family Group Conference referrals and 100 youth kept out of placement
• Family Engagement

• Potential staff interviewed by families
• Families attend staff meetings
• Youth meet potential foster parents before placement with the goal to improve stability

• Drug and alcohol issues are present in significant number of cases

• Family Love Program is a partnership with CYS, Drug and Alcohol, Hamilton Health Center and Life Esteem Counseling
• Provides assessment and intensive case Management

• Legal triage

• In difficult cases, Parent Attorney, GAL, Solicitor and case worker discuss options and create 1 plan
• Goal is to reduce time to permanency

Lehigh County-

• The local Children’s Roundtable (CRT) has been meeting monthly for the past 5 years

• The CRT is sponsoring a provider forum for in home service providers
• The education sub-committee is hosting a forum for school districts to discuss enrollment
• The CRT is partnering with Cedar Crest College social work department show From Place to Place

• A panel of former foster youth will participate
• The agency will attend classes following the movie to discuss best practices in social work

Luzerne County-

• Hosting a forum bringing all juvenile programs/providers together to coordinate and learn about services
• CASA is now available to CYS and JPO
• The county is transitioning to home rule governing with 11 member counsel and manager
• Juvenile Justice Task Force is addressing the issues of truancy and educational success

• The Task Force is taking meetings to the schools for better involvement

• Judge Gartely shared her concern regarding CPCMS data not being entered by clerk

• Judge Gartley is focusing on solutions – fixing inaccurate data and timely entry

• Frank Castano shared his concern over the county budget deficit

• The agency has been unable to pay providers and providers withholding services
• Thanks to Deputy Secretary Mackereth a quarterly payment process was implemented to elevatedelays

• Application was made to participate in the Quality Service Review process to evaluate and improve practice
• A current countywide hiring freeze is in effect resulting in larger case load sizesload size

• The agency is utilizing a case review process to identify creative solutions to reduce placements and deal with case load size

• Judge Gartley shared her concerns regarding claims of ineffective counsel being raised at TPR hearings

Northampton County-

• Continuing to work on the implementation of PPI
• Training is underway for GAL’s
• CRT is focused on reducing congregate care

• Congregate care placements are down to 13 ( A 50% DECREASE)

• Looking for ideas to use with 18-21 year old youth
• Using Skype for professional witnesses

• This practice is particularly helpful for medical doctors and psychologists testifying in court

Report from the State Roundtable

• CPCMS User Workgroup
• Chaired by Honorable Brian Johnson, Lehigh County
• Data Dasboard
• Need a different web base
• Will be made available on AOPC website
• Expected in the beginning of 2013
• Working on media release and drafted a press release for counties
• Provided counties with AOPC Report 3920
• Counties need to look at the cases identified in the exception buckets
• Counties need to clean up their data in CPCMS
• If need assistance can contact the Help Desk
• Shelby Line suggested that counties run the 3920 and 3943 (demographic report) on an ongoing basis.
• These reports will tell you if your data is clean
• Subsequently, you can run both reports in detail to assist with case specific clean up.
• Judicial Analysts will help counties prepare by identifying top strengths and concerns in the local data
• AOPC is creating a statewide media release and releases for individual counties

• Psychotropic Medication Workgroup
• Chaired by Honorable Kathryn Hens-Greco, Allegheny County
• Working with Dr. Rubin to develop 5 questions that should be asked in court
• Encourage counties to involve the medical community at their Children’s Roundtable
• Judge Johnson believes the increased use of medications is to control behaviors without use of force.
• He suggested that judges, attorneys, case workers ALL ask the questions developed by the workgroup:
• How is it monitored? What long will it be used? What will the medication do? What treatment is being used with the medication?What are the side effects?
• Psychotropic medication should never be prescribed without treatment

• Visitation Workgroup
• Co-chaired by Honorable Jolene Kopriva, Blair County and Dayna Revay, CYS Administrator for Beaver County.
• The workgroup’s overarching theme is “Visitation is a right, not a privilege.”
• A parent handbook on visitation has been completed. Making final changes following recommendations from the State Roundtable.
• Drafted a benchcard
• Last page of report provides a recommended number of visits to be held based on age of child
• Recommends that first visit be held within 72 hours
• Will be exploring sibling visits
• Workgroup has not been able to get a consensus on when visits should be supervised or not supervised.

• Dauphin County relies on the recommendation of the therapist to determine supervision
• Lehigh depends on therapeutic recommendations but also considers safety concerns
• Luzerne relies on case worker recommendations - safety is the deciding factor
• All counties support the use of relatives to supervise visits
• Northampton noted that visits in relative homes is increasing due to FGDM
• Counties agreed that most visits begin as supervised unless challenged by parent attorneys
• Supervised visits are more common due to frequency of drug and alcohol use
• Supervision in drug cases is determined by the number of clean screens
• Judge Gartley noted an increase in the use of bath salts that are undetectable with screens

• Case workers must be trained to know
• user sweat profusely
• There was discussion regarding the accuracy of drug and alcohol data

• Use/addiction is not always noted as the reason for dependency at intake and may not be noted later -therefore not accurately reflecting prevalence

• In Northampton, Mental Health issues are the primary reason for supervised
• Neglect cases are rarely supervised

• Incarcerated Parents Workgroup
• Chaired by Honorable Kim Berkeley-Clark, Allegheny County.
• Sandy Moore mentioned panel presentation at State Roundtable that in involved a former foster-care child who wanted visits with his incarcerated brother, a mother who came close to losing her children due to her incarceration and the Secretary for the Department of Corrections.
• Judge Clark believes that children should have visits despite incarceration.
• Though did create a list of scenarios where visits may not be appropriate.
• Developed a “Know your Rights” brochure.
• Allegheny sends this brochure to incarcerated parents with their notice of hearings.

• Judge Johnson supports the child’s right to see an incarcerated parent.
• It’s good for the child and good for the parent.

• Visitation reduces recidivism

• Hearing Officer Education Workgroup
• Co-chaired by Honorable Carol Van Horn, Franklin and Fulton Counties and Honorable Albert Masland, Cumberland County.
• Hearing Officer Training occurred on November 9, 2011. Topics covered included Hearing Officers role in the dependency system, importance of role, the role of self-awareness and emotions in decision making, best practice concepts and practice tips for each hearing type.
• There were 56 participants with 29 Counties being represented.
• Next training will be provided in September 2013

• Legal Representation Workgroup
• Co-chaired by Honorable Wendy Demchick-Alloy, Montgomery County and Honorable Kelly Streib, Butler County.
• Core 1 trained ~600 attorneys.
• Stressed the role of the Guardians ad Litem in that they need to see the children, visit placement sites and talk to the children.
• Core 2 training
• Registration is open
• Offered in 3 locations in November 2012
• Is open to CYS Solicitors
• Topics on trauma, termination of parental rights and the appeal process.

• In discussion regarding the combination of goal change and TPR:

• Combining goal change and TPR is considered best practice in the Bench Book
• Judge Gartley and Marisa McClellan prefer to see separatehearings in order to give the goal change significance.
• It was suggested that they write to the rules committee

• Counties agreed that attorneys need to better understand TPR
• Particularly private attorneys
• Frank Castano would like to see a better definition of compelling reasons
• Judge Johnson believes the definition was meant to remain broad allowing for human though and to consider each case individually

• Bench Book Committee
• Chaired by the Honorable Chester Harhut, Lackawanna County.
• The benchbook is being updated with a target release date of July 2013. Any suggestions or comments are encouraged.
• A webinar series for judicial education has been developed for Judges and Hearing Officers.
• There will be a 1 hour webinar offered the 3rd Thursday of each month at 12:05pm. First webinar will be on 9/20.
• These webinars will be available via the OCFC website following the live webinar.
• First series is on trauma

• Transitional Youth Workgroup
• Co-chaired by Honorable Charles Saylor, Northumberland County and Vanessa Garret-Harley, Deputy Commissioner of Philadelphia County DHS.
• Need to gather data regarding older foster care youth and youth who transition out of the dependency system.
• Examining national and state best practices.
• Will be updating the chapter in the Dependency Benchbook and preparing a benchcard.
• Spent a significant amount of time working on trial discharge which has become obsolete with the passage of Act 91.
• Currently the Workgroup is working on Re-entry/Resumption of Jurisdiction.

• Counties questioned the process for resuming jurisdiction.
• Counties questioned where a child would file.

• Father Engagement Workgroup
• Chaired by Honorable Maria Musti-Cook, York County.
• Developing a curriculum to train court and CYS personnel on the value of fathers and skills to engage fathers.
• A training curriculum is being developed in partnership with the Child Welfare Resource Center.
• Developing a follow-up survey to determine what differences have occurred since the creation of the workgroup.

• Truancy / Educational Success Workgroup
• The Workgroup is co-chaired by Honorable John Kuhn, Adams County and Cindy Stoltz, Esquire, Allegheny County; and by Honorable Mary Ann Ullman, Berks County.
• The workgroup are identifying legislative changes needed to clearly define truancy; drop compulsory age from 8 to 6; and that a truancy elimination plan will be required before a referral to CYS or MDJ.
• Moving forward the group will focus on educational success for children in care
• Roundtable members agreed that a common definition of truancy is needed across the state.

• Co-Chairs of Leadership Roundtables
• At the State Roundtable it was decided to mirror the Procedural Rules Committee in that members of the State Roundtable can run two terms, with a term being three years. It was requested by the Leadership Roundtables that both co-chair persons will not be rotated at the same time and that OCFC is to select the new co-chairpersons.
• Peter Vriens and Judge Johnson requested time until the next LRT to discuss the transition plan for the roundtable.

• Summit Workgroup
• Summit will be held April 29, 2013 through May 1, 2013
• Will be held at Seven Springs
• Spring Leadership meetings will be held from 8:00am to 12:00pm on April 29, 2013
• Topics will include: safety, trauma, data dashboard, youth /family panel to discuss the impact of new practices, children of incarcerated parents, court well-being measures.
• Co-chairs are Judge Feliciani and Rose Weir (Snyder County CYS Administrator).

Discussion Topics:

• Resumption of Jurisdiction
• Act 91 passed which includes Resumption of Jurisdiction
• Court orders and finding have been drafted. DPW just approved the language. These court orders and findings will be made available on the AOPC website. They can’t be included in CPCMS until Resumption of Jurisdiction becomes part of the Juvenile Procedural Rules.
• This topic led to many questions and comments:
• Where do you place these youth?
• How do you budget?
• Which county resumes jurisdiction if the youth has moved to another county or crossed state lines?
• How do we give notice to the youth?
• Is there a requirement to continue to contact the parents?
• Can you seek child support?
• What are the approved placement options?
• What is the process for the youth to get back in court? What begins the process?
• Does the youth get a GAL?
• Peter Vriens noted that Dauphin had 1 trial discharge last year that helped prepare them for creating policy around the resumption issue
• Northampton has had 1 request
• Kevin Dolan is concerned that it could be a huge budget issue in Northampton due to the number of colleges in the county.
• Luzerne has had no requests thus far. But the only placement they have available currently is congregate care.
• If we focus on permanency and connections for 14 year olds today, this may not be a concern in the future.
• Judge Johnson stated that as the parent, we are responsible for education of dependent youth – similar to our responsibility to our own children.
• Dauphin has 1 case thus far with an incarcerated youth
• IL department is very concerned regarding the services and resources that will be necessary

• 14-17 Year Old Issues
• Jacqui Maddonshared that counties are verbalizing concerns to OCYF that this population is the primary driver of services and costs
• Often requiring congregate care and multi- system services particularly for behavioral issues.
• Peter Vriens noted that counties have decreased congregate care placements.
• However, youth remaining in care have high needs and there are low resources

• Once these youth are removed from home, it is difficult to get them home again.

• Families are not equipped or prepared to at discharge

• Peter Vriens referenced Adams County’s use of 30 day custody agreements and in-home family preservation services
• 90% of youth went home in 30 days
• Pam views High Fidelity Wrap around as a viable option to keep youth at home.
• youth in congregate care are more troubled than High Fidelity can address
• Often dangerous behaviors ie. fire setting
• Can’t find foster families willing to work with these youth
• She is requesting professional foster care in Needs Based Budget and Plan to increase payments to foster families to deal with intense issues
• There are 2 groups – youth already in care and those entering
• Peter Vriens believes that congregate care needs to be a priority
• Not just for 13-17
• There are young children in congregate care
• Need for strong cross system collaboration and communication
• Frank Castano hopes the block grant process will support improved cross system cooperation
• In Luzerne Family Finding has been helpful at creating connections, but not placement resources
• Mental health services are unavailable or waiting lists
• Kevin Dolan noted that numbers are down, however, what does one do with a blind autistic sex offender and fire starter?

• Congregate Care
• This was a topic of discussion at the State Roundtable. It was decided that each existing workgroup would explore this issue specific to their workgroup and have recommendations for the next State Roundtable.
• The data is alarming for the number of children placed in congregate care, including children under the age of 12.
• There was a Peer to Peer meeting where they looked at the Tennessee Model and Baltimore City Model as there is a need to decrease congregate care. We need for children to remain safely at home, reduce the number of placements in general, and increase after-care services.
• There will be a meeting on December 18, 2012 regarding congregate care and expect an email soon.

Substance Abuse

• Noting the prevalence of substance abuse issues leading to placements, LRT members questioned “What services could safely allow youth to remain at home?
• Stephen Bishop stated that the response to this issue depends on tolerance in the county
• Understanding that relapse is part of recovery results in a shift from punishment to treatment and recovery models

• Family Finding and Family Group Decision Making can benefit families by identifying supports to keep youth safe in case of relapse
• Kevin Dolan indicated that 85% of TRP’s involve drugs, alcohol and mental health
• Counties agreed that almost all cases involve drugs and alcohol
• Pam Buehle stated that safety planning involving kin can provide options to placement

• Shared Case Responsibility
• A survey was done by AOPC & JCJC to assess the level of implementation across the state.
• This was to be implemented a year ago
• Counties commented on implementation:
• Lehigh reported CYS and JPO are working well together.
• Other counties agreed
• Jacqui Madden noted that in many counties the same Judge hears both cases but not at the same time.
• Depending on where the case was initiated, determines which agency takes the lead role.

• Needs Based Plan & Budget
• They have received the narratives.
• Asked counties to identify their benchmarks.
• Permanency (timeliness)
• Least Restrictive
• Safety
• Beginning this year they are reviewing what had caused or created counties to go over state allocations.
• About 30 counties applied for block grants.
• ACF has accepted applications for the I V-E Waiver.
• Philadelphia, Venango, Lackawanna, Dauphin and Allegheny Counties are involved
• Wrote applications to open up to additional counties

• Legislative Update
• House Bill 2499 (Family Finding) and House Bill 2500 (Family Group Decision Making)
• Testimony will be given on both on September 13, 2012
• It was noted that PCYA would prefer the use of Private Family Time to remain an option.

• Task Force on Child Protection
• Final Report due to Governor on 11/30
• Who are mandated reporters?
• Definition of child abuse will be changing
• Serious physical injury
• Definition of perpetrator will be changing
• Reporting abuse from the school system will be changing
• The Task Force just distributed a survey

• Juvenile Justice System Enhancement Strategy (JJSES)
• Achieving Balanced and Restorative Justice Mission
• Six hour training
• Four phases of counties have been trained
• Takes up to a year to be up and running
• Motivational interviewing has grown
• 20 of 29 counties will begin with training
• Grants up to $50,000
• The JCJC conference will be November 7-9 at the Harrisburg Hilton.
• A highlight will be judicial training on the sexual offender registry

• Training / Educational Updates
• Supervisory Training will soon be offered on the Dependency Benchbook and Resource Companion.
• OCFC will be part of the training
• A Juvenile Judge will be present at each training

• Permanency Practice Initiative
• 2012 Statewide Statistics
• Provided map of all PPI counties
• The new Phase IV PPI counties were announced: Columbia, Montour, Monroe and Westmoreland
• Provided timeline of what has happened in OCFC over the past couple of years
• Court Observation From
• Judicial Program Analyst will use when observing court.
• To review for quality court proceedings and quality representation.
• In creating the form we used the Dependency Bencbhook, Juvenile Rules and State Roundtable Workgroups to pull out themes.
• The Benchbook Committee reviewed the final draft
• The Judicial Program Analyst understands that we are only seeing a small part of the case history
• The Judicial Program Analyst will provide feedback to the Judge or Master.

Proposed Rules: