MONTICELLO – The Health and Human Services Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature heard an extensive review of the county’s child welfare policies and procedures from the Bonadio Group on Thursday, October 17. 

This review was done, at the request of County Manager Joshua Potosek, as a follow-up to investigations that were conducted by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and a Sullivan County Grand Jury report looking into the death of 16-month-old Akasha Luvert at Knight’s Inn Motel in Liberty last year. 

The full review is 60 pages long and details areas of strength and needs for improvement throughout Sullivan’s child welfare program, including Child Protective Services (CPS), Preventive Services, Foster Care and the program’s legal support. 

Tim Ball, Service Line Leader of Bonadio Group’s Advisory and Consulting, led the presentation of the comprehensive review along with Courtney Handy and Josh Bills, who did a bulk of the work on the project, joining via Zoom. 

The procedures performed leading up to the report being completed were The Bonadio Group engaging with the Sullivan County Manager’s Office for a six-month period beginning in March, quality control and testing of 50 cases from CPS (30), Preventive Services (10) and Foster Care (10) and interviewing both child welfare staff and approximately 50 members of DSS. 

All the while, they also met with the Commissioner and Director of Services, County Manager and Assistant County Manager throughout the process and performed process walkthroughs, analyzed operational workflows and related documentation. 

For each case review, the auditor categorized their results as areas of strength - 80 percent of above - or areas needing improvement, 79 percent and below. 

The areas of strength for the CPS case review for investigations (20 cases) were case review history, immediate responses to the State’s Central Register (SCR), timely 24-hour safety assessments and quality supervision throughout the case. Areas needing improvement for CPS investigations were lack of timeliness of progress notes within 30 days of event date and gaps in casework. 

There were 10 Family Assessment Response (FAR) cases selected, an alternative program to investigations of CPS for families reported to the SCR with low safety risks. 

The areas of strength for the FAR cases included meeting FAR eligibility criteria at intake, quality review of SCR history, 24-hour and seven day safety assessments and providing support and services when necessary. The areas needing improvement included obtaining sufficient information from a source, closing a case within 60 to 90 days and supervision throughout the case as well as timeliness of progress notes. 

For the 10 Preventive Services cases reviewed, the areas of strength noted were the quarterly review with contracted agencies, timely referrals submitted to provided, 30 day progress notes and correspondence with collateral contacts and service providers. There was one area of improvement, that they only had 12 casework contacts within a six-month period. 

For the Foster Care case review, the Bonadio Group split the results into two selections: Child Safety, Permanency and Internal Operating Procedures, and Fiscal Operations, while reviewing cases based on OCFS regulations and best practices. 

The areas of strength for the former selection included frequency and location of face-to-face contact with a child, stability of child placement, efforts to place children with relatives and timeliness of establishing permanency goals. Evidence of supervisory feedback throughout the case and providing progress notes input within 30 days were the two areas of improvement. 

For the latter selection, areas of strength included accurate Title IV-E Foster Care determinations and internal factors not affecting eligibility, while an area of improvement was reassessment of children’s Level of Care (LOC) and Therapeutic programs. 

Health and Human Services Commissioner John Liddle noted that the review was very beneficial to the county as it provided them with fresh ideas for making the most of the limited time and resources. 

“These lessons will help us enhance safety for children in our community while also helping us to preserve families,” Liddle said. 

The report also stated there were improvements made in the relationship between the Department of Social Services and County Attorney’s Office and endorsed the county’s plan to address the ongoing coordination challenges that short staffing only worsens. 

Please see Part Two of this story in our next edition.