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Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel

MINUTES OF THE

CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT PANEL

June 26, 1998_9:00 a.m. -- Room 405 State Capitol



Members Present:    
    Rep. J. Brent Haymond, House Chair
    Sen. Blaze D. Wharton
    Rep. Nora B. Stephens
    Rep. Steve Barth
        



Members Absent:
    Sen. Lyle W. Hillyard, Senate Chair          
Staff Present:                 Mr. Bryant R. Howe
     Research Analyst
    Mr. R. Chet Loftis
     Associate General Counsel
    Ms. Tracey Fredman
     Legislative Secretary

Note:    A list of others present and a copy of materials distributed in the meeting are on file in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel.

Chair Haymond called the meeting to order at 9:09 a.m.

1.    Panel Business_

    a.    Review of Trends of Children in the Custody of the Division of Child and Family Services--Bryant R. Howe, Research Analyst, distributed to the panel charted documentation regarding the number of children in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services, the number of children by treatment goal and permanency status, the percent of caseload by permanency status, the number of foster homes, and the average length of time in custody. Mr. Howe reported that the caseload continues in a slight upward trend since about last January.

    b.    Mr. Howe distributed SB 168, the last section of HB 239, and a newspaper article from the Deseret News related to the latest actions regarding the settlement agreement.

2.    Implementation of SB 168 "Child Abuse Database Amendments"
    
    a.    Robin Arnold-Williams, Executive Director of the Department of Human Services, presented an update on SB 168 and the public policy issues that have arisen through the implementation process. The areas discussed included the following:

1.    The department is required to send notices offering a due process hearing to individuals with a substantiated report of abuse or neglect between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 1993, by July 1, 1998, before those reports may be entered into the licensing database. Ms. Arnold- Williams detailed the progress being made to accomplish this.


2.    The new Licensing Database will be tested following the July 4th holiday to assure that it is secure.

3.    There was some discussion of substantiation of abuse where the alleged perpetrator is a juvenile. Ms. Arnold-Williams explained that technology did not allow the matching of birthdays with alleged perpetrators during the period of time from January 1, 1988 through December 31, 1993. She raised the issue of whether or not a substantiated report of abuse or neglect committed by a juvenile should be removed when that juvenile reaches adulthood.

4.    Some of the letters being sent out will be returned to the Department of Human Services because of incorrect address information or because they haven't been claimed.. Rep. Barth put in an amendment to SB 168 to cover those individuals who the department has attempted to notify and who later may come to apply for license or adoption through June 30, 1999.
Ms. Arnold-Williams recommended that information regarding the attempt to notify individuals be available in the licensing database beyond June 30, 1999.

5.    Because a number of individual referrals include some offenses which are listed in
SB 168 and some which are not, the Department of Human Services filed Emergency Rules to be in effect when the hearings begin. These rules indicate that when such cases exist they will be handled by the standards established in SB 168.

6.    Scott Clark, a member of the Board of Child and Family Services, recommended that the panel focus on issues of the present rather than those of the past. The issues he felt were important at present included severe or chronic neglect, the reliability of child testimony, the future usage of the licensing database, expungement of old files, and timeliness of due process.

3.    Panel Business_

     MOTION: Rep. Barth moved that the minutes of the May 13, 1998 meeting be approved as printed. The motion passed unanimously.

4.    Update on David C. vs. Leavitt

    a.    Carolyn Nichols, Office of the Attorney General, said that National Center for Youth Law has filed their motion to extend until such time as the Division comes into full compliance with the Settlement Agreement. The State has filed a memorandum in opposition, arguing that the Settlement Agreement should not be extended.

    b.    Pamela Atkinson, Chair of the Settlement Agreement Monitoring Panel, said that

the Monitoring Panel will be filing something in the court on specific statements made in the State's motion which the panel feels are erroneous. She also reported on the progress of the Comprehensive Plan.

5.    Results of Survey of Foster Parents

    a.    Kathryn Cooney, Director of Policy Evaluation and Planning for the Division of Child and Family Services, distributed DCFS Foster Parent Survey Results, dated June, 1997. 899 surveys were mailed to randomly selected foster parents with a 53% response. She said that because of the level of response received, the division feels 95% confident that the statewide responses would come within 3% of what the survey shows. Ms. Cooney concluded that foster parents need to be more fully involved as members of the Child Welfare Team.

6.    Other Business

    a.    Discussion of Agenda Item No. 4 was postponed.

    b.    Next Meeting Date left undetermined.

7.    Adjournment

     MOTION: Sen. Wharton moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:57 a.m. The motion passed unanimously.

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