Children & Youth Committee- Senate & Aging, Children & Youth, Legislative & Military Affairs- House

Chair sea at Quorum. Thank you all for being here this morning. First on our agenda, I need a motion. To batch. We have 5 sets of minutes. Have a, have a motion in a second, all in favor say aye. Opposed, no. Motion passes. now need a motion to adopt the 5 packets of minutes. In a second. Thank you. All in favor say aye. Opposed? No. Minutes adopted. Thank you very much. First on our agenda today is Major Jeff Drew. With his reports, if you will just Identify yourself, sir, you may begin. Oh, I'm sorry. Actually, while you're getting settled, We might better have a, a just a moment or two of, um, maybe even a YouTube video from Blake on how to use your mic for any that this might be your first time on the update. So he said he would tell us just for a moment a few, uh, items of information. OK, so members, I know some of y'all had ALC meetings last week, so you've already gotten to drive a little bit. Um, you'll just plug in your PIN number and your name will populate at the nameplate station. The only difference with this system, if you are a member of the committee, you cannot sign in anywhere except your designated seats. If you are a non-committee member, you may sit in a non-designated seat and sign your PIN in, and your name will populate as normal. Um, something new with this system, if you hit the button on your console, it's gonna turn red to put you in the queue, and once it turns green, you are good to speak, so the colors make sense this time. And, um, that's, that's pretty much all we'll have for today. We aren't gonna really use too much of. Thank you very much. Now, if you will introduce yourself, Major Drew, you. Morning chairs and members, um, uh, Major Jeffrey Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Division. I'll be giving you the quarterly report for January through March. If I get to go a little too fast, just slow me down. I tend to talk fast. Alright, on page two, the hotline received. Uh, 15,983 calls, 8,228 of those were accepted. CACD handled 1,403 of those DCF handled 5,033, while 1,792 of those were differential responses. On page 3, it will reflect the allegations and type investigated by CACD uh monthly breakdown, uh, January, February and March. On page 4, there will be a breakdown of the mandated reporters. Phase 5, you'll see the monthly breakdown of the cases open and the case is closed within this quarter. It was 1390 open 1,417 closed. With 434 of those being found true. That gave us a substantiation rate of 31%. In the 2,366 cases that are active and 169 of those are still open over 45 days. Pages 6 and 7, you'll be able to see the county breakdown. What's affected in your area? Pages 9 and 10 will reflect the reported allegation types and the. Alleged victim age group. Pages 11 through 19 shows the relationship between the offend the alleged offenders and the alleged victims, and the age of the uh alleged offenders, age groups. Pages 21 through 28 is a breakdown. The prosecuting attorney, judicial districts, and the cases that were submitted. Broken down by declined filed and pending. And on page 28, you know there were 553 cases submitted. 277 of those were filed. We have 207 that were still pending and 69 were declined. Uh, that will conclude my report. Any questions if you have any? Are there any questions about commit? None. Thank you for your report today. Next on our agenda is Director Wright. We just asked that they would introduce themselves for the record, please. Good morning. Yes, ma'am. Um, I have a series of reports this morning, so I will just go and order based off of the agenda. So the first report that I have, um, is the family preservation report. It looks like this. And just a couple of reminders about this report. Um, if you're curious when I talk about areas of the state, if you look at your other exhibit, which is the quarterly report, it shows that the state is broke down into the DCFS service areas. So that will help you when I'm talking about areas. Um, also, if you're wondering about your specific counties, those are all located in the appendix and if you can look at the specific data related to counties that you may. And be a part of or curious about. The other reminder about this report is that this is based on calendar year. This is not based on state fiscal year. So I'm gonna go ahead and get started, um, and go to page 2 of The, um, report, um, actually, sorry, page 3, which shows the, um, you heard a little bit about the number of maltreatment reports accepted, but for the calendar year, um, of 2023, Arkansas accepted 26,813 maltreatment reports, um, 200,000, approximately 20,000 of those were assigned to DCFS and the remaining 5,933 were assigned to state police. Um, on page 3, it shows our initiation rates, timely initiation. Um, this is something that we're continuing to focus on, as you can see, there has been a slight decline, but again, we're focused on it because it is a priority because it sets the timeframe, um, for the initiation of maltreatment reports. And below that chart on the bottom of page 3, it goes into the specific areas of the state. Um, on page 4, it shows the timeliness of completion, which is actually in has increased through the calendar years. um, this past calendar year, we closed, um, investigations timely at 80%. And then if you move to page 10, I just also wanted to remind y'all that there is strengths and areas for improvements that are listed, um, which summarizes the information that is in the, um, previous pages. On page 11, um, it discusses permanency. And, um, prox and in each of these sections it discusses the placement, um, within the counties and you can see that on the bottom of page 12, um, which counties have children placed that are in foster care in the same or neighboring county? On page 14, it shows our um percentage of children placed with relatives, which is 36% at the end of the calendar year. On page 17, um, figure 29 shows that we remain um under the national standard for entries into foster care after, uh, children had been reunified. Um, currently at the end of the calendar year, we're at 4.4%. And on page 18, um, and figure 31, you will see the number of adoptions finalized for the calendar year, which is 783. Um, on page 19 again are the strengths and weaknesses, something that we're continuing to focus on is timely permanency, as well as continuing to focus on recruitment of foster homes across our state because, um, when we can keep children in their counties and close to their parents, we know that that impacts the reunification rates, um, as well, which is in turn impacts, uh, permanency. As well as they remain connected to their community, which is their family, other family members and friends. Um, I work with every Child Arkansas does continue, um, and we are continuing to collaborate with those organizations that are part of Every Child Arkansas, to ensure that we recruit, um, and retain foster families. Um, on page on well-being section is, um, visiting children and assessing and visiting children and families. Um, again, uh, making sure that we're seeing children in their placements. We are having seen, we've seen slight increases around that but continue to maintain that as a focus for the agency because we know that we can't advocate for children and youth in our system, unless we're visiting them and ensuring that they're safe, but also, um, just showing that we care about them and going above and beyond. To ensure their, um, timeliness to permanency in foster care. And then the appendix stables again break it down by county. And that is all for the family preservation report and you're ready for questions? Director Wright, you're ready for questions? Yes. OK, um, Senator Clark, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. On page. 3 The Uh, child maltreatment investigations, timely investigation, initiation statewide, uh, has dropped over the last two years. What are the main reasons for that? Um, so when you look at the ribbon on the side, it kind of explains the strengths and weaknesses across the state in certain areas. I would say, um, obviously when we're facing turnover in certain areas because if you look at the chart below, areas, um, 3 and 6 are our lowest in the state. Those were areas over the calendar year that we were facing workforce issues. Um, so that is one of the factors and then I just think the workload and timeliness of getting those reports done, um, and, and initiated within the timeframe can sometimes be a barrier depending on all the things that are going on. OK. And Pulaski County has been a continual problem, right? Yes, sir. And then I'm concerned because I look at, uh, other problems and it's Garland, Hot Spring and Slane, 3 of my counties. Uh And I think this is related on. Uh Table A1 Right after page 23, and I'm looking in area 3. And although Garland is at 59.4, that's actually up from two years ago. It's down. What's up from 21 down from 23, but Hot Spring County was at 87 and 85 and dropped to 55. Yes, so they had a significant, so those three counties had significant turnover in the last calendar year. Um, uh, um, and so all three of those counties, um, at one point we were having to utilize staff from other counties and also send in support from across the state to help with initiation of reports and timeliness of closing out reports and so, um, while there's some improvement, there is some that there are the drop down as well and that impacts the whole number as a whole. Turnover problems. So I would say in this specific, um, these specific counties, we had some concerns, um, with leadership that were addressed. We had some turnover what we often see in our county offices is when one person quits, another person quits, and another person quits because the, the workload gets so to be so much, um, so I will say that I'm hopeful because I feel like these three counties are now moving back in another, in a new direction and we're we're able to stabilize with hiring and of employees and so. Um, while this calendar year, um, does not look. Well, at all. I'm hoping that when we start to see the next several months moving forward, that it'll look improved. Director, is that what you're seeing or just what you're hoping? Uh, so right now, I mean, I don't have that in front of me, but I can look and see, but I do know that with the workforce they are hiring and they're getting stable and so that tells me that that makes the workload become more bearable and the ability to see children and families and ensure timely initiations. OK, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm gonna get back in the queue. Senator Love, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Director Wright. Um, and I'm gonna pick up where Senator Clark left off because I'm looking at page 3 and I'm looking at specifically, I think it is Plastic County in zone 6. Where it says the timely investigation initiation by area. Now it says that the initiation 52%, we're at 52%, but then when you turn the page, we close at or we complete the investigation and 97%. How reconcile that for me. So maltreatment reports have to be initiated on a time frame, so priority one is initiated, has to be initiated within 24 hours and that means seeing the victim child within 24 hours. A priority two means you have to see the victim child within 72 hours. So if you don't meet that time frame, that's what the first chart is. But closing it within 30 days, meets the timeliness of completing the. So we cannot, we, we have. And I'm, I'm assuming these are the same caseworkers and I guess the same limitations either we didn't have enough caseworkers or how is it that we can initiate something on, uh, we can't initiate something on time, but we can close something on time that just doesn't. It doesn't seem to reconcile because if we have the people to actually close the investigations that means we have the people to initiate the investigation, so. That's what I'm saying is not reconciling to me. And so, um, similar to the answer that I gave Senator Clark was, you know, there's a lot of things that go that are going on every day as reports come into the inbox for DCFS to work. And so, if you don't initiate it timely, it, it could be one hour after the report came in and was accepted, that is not initiated timely. So if you miss it by an hour, it's not initiated timely, but you could go out and still work your investigation and ensure that we're, um, closing. timely. OK, now part two of my question is this, is that Is Senator Clark said kind of the hoping or is it, is it, is it factual that we've actually put people in these seats, train them so that they, that we have people that are prepared or is it that um. Is it that, you know, kind of like it's you you are you actually seeing that we have hired people in Plain County. Train them so that we can send them out to work or is this something that we're kind of hoping that we're we're doing. And we haven't seen the actual results. We are hiring people every day at DCFS. Um, but it takes time to get them trained and get them out into, into the workforce to actually be able to do the work, um, and be able to make good decisions for children and families. So we are hiring, um. And it just, we just keep focusing in on that hiring and get and doing the work every day. Could you pull a report to to see how many people we've hired for DCFS in Paulasi County and also in in Area 3. All right, because those are the, the ones that I keep seeing that we're having issues with, so I wanna just make sure. So if we can get the report on it, I mean, I, I guess every other legislator may be concerned with the area, Madam Chair, so, but if we could pull the report on Number one, the people that we're hiring. And then seeing if they're trained after 90 days. So that we can see if we're improving. They won't be trained within 90 days. OK, um, but we can pull a report that shows how many staff are being hired in each of those counties, and I'm not sure exactly what that will look like. I can work with HR to pull the report, but I will share that, um, and I can, uh, see if we can do it for all the counties of everybody's interested in that. Yes, would you do that, please? Yes. All right, thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Director Bryan. You're welcome. Representative Pilkington, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I'm new to this committee and so I, I may have this wrong, but on table 5A page, uh, 8 19% of doctor referrals with timely initiation. Is that what DR stands for doctors for differential response. That's why I asked, OK, but none of my questions make sense. Representative Hater. You're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, on page 83, we're kind of going down. Senator Love and Senator Clark, uh, line of questions and comments in area 8, there's some areas that have dropped 20% is, is, is staffing. would be the case in that and also to, is it within that area, a county may lose somebody, or do you guys send a person like from Clay County to Fulton County to work that if they drop or how does that work? Yeah, so when a when a county office is experiencing turnover, we first figure out, can they absorb it within their area and so can the Craighead County workers go support the Clay County workers, um, until we can get staffed and hired, um, or and sometimes if the, depending on your situation in that county office, we may have to say, are there any volunteers from other parts of the state that would be willing to come over and support this county or this area while they're working to get staff hired and work on. These maltreatment reports or foster care cases or whatever it might be. Follow up, Madam Chair. You recognize what is well we have a county like that, let's just say Fulton County that went from 96 to 76. What is the average time delay then to that case? Is it an additional 30 days, 45 days? What, what is that? Um, so this would be initiation, so that means it could be that they didn't see that child or youth for 5 hours post-initiation. It could be, um, 6 hours, it just depends on the case. I don't, I can't necessarily pull that out of this, it's not, it's just hours. I mean, I would sincerely hope it's not Dave. I would hope so too. It it, and I would add to is if I would like to see a report on Area 82, especially for a 20% decrease, that's a little bit of alarming. In several counties there. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Clark, you recognize? Thank you, Madam Chair. Hadn't turned green yet. The uh. Thank you for those explanations, Director, and I know, uh, all of us that employ people know what hiring people has been like, but the state police have been able to hire people recently and, and so have I. So I assume that y'all are getting back to the place where you can, uh, and I know the state police have because I, I drive 70 over to I-30 to get here and, and they're all over the place, so there's got to be more of them. Um, but if there's any place where we need people. Uh, regardless of how hard it is, it's got to be here, uh, and people would make arguments other places, but there's nothing more important than our children. Well, on page 11, it looks like good news. Yes. Uh, can you tell us about that? Yes, I can't believe I skipped over this page. Um, page 11 is the number of children in foster care, and at the end of the calendar year, it was at approximately 33,600, uh, children in foster care. But from a record of 5234. In 2016, so what do you attribute this to? What, what's going right? Um, providing prevention services, so being able to work with families, um, without doing a removal, um, and getting them services and, and really how we're using safety organized practice on how we engage and approach families and, and all are using in a consistent method of assessing safety across the state. Um, As well as discharges from foster care. So if you, um, look at the quarterly report, which I'll point out our entries and our discharges are staying pretty steadily and we are discharging more children than are coming in, but it is a balance of, I mean, consistently we're staying the same, but it we're discharging as well. So, um, heightened focus on reunification if that's appropriate with a parent or a relative, um, as well as adoption, so just doing all of that work, but really I would contribute this to the ability to provide. services to families prior to removing kids and putting them into foster care. So evidently we are getting some good people in place. We are and um I didn't mention this, but, um, at the end of the state fiscal year for our um turnover, we were, you know, this is not, I'm not saying it's perfect, but we were at approximately 53%, which is drastically, um, decreased, um, since 21, we were at 70 and 80%, and now we are sitting at 53% for frontline family service work. OK, again, this is wonderful news from 5200 to 3600 and I applaud you and, and everybody working on it. Page 17. Uh, preventing foster care re-entering? Uh, also looks like a. Uh Good news It is can you explain what's happening there? I would say, um, and for uh DCFS this is about providing the appropriate services to the families that we're serving and making sure that those services work and that we've done it the right way. Um, and then ensuring stability and I also can, um, attribute some of this to connecting families to the work that's happening in their communities, um, and really making sure that they're plugged into someone besides DCFS when we walk away. Um, and say reunification has occurred. And the, the information we looked at on page 11 on the drastic drop that should Make our foster home availability a lot better now. Um we shouldn't have lost that many foster homes without more coming in, have we, we have not steadily increased foster homes. We have actually decreased in foster homes, um, across the state. Well, unless you decrease by over 40%, you ought to be getting better shape since there's that many less kids. It's, I think it's, um, we're in the middle of what I'm saying a perfect storm with we need to continue to focus on recruitment, um, but also, um, as a number of. Kids decline, you can kind of feel the load is lifting, right? Like it doesn't feel so crisis. So we do need to work on that. Thank you, Director. Uh, those two things are both very good news. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Wooldridge. You're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Director Wright, for being here. I have two questions. Uh, one's a follow up on Representative Painter's question. So, uh, to your point, and I agree with you, if they missed the deadline for initiation by an hour, it still goes on this chart as, uh, drop in percentage, I guess, because they're late. Do you have a report that tracks what that average time frame of a late response is, I know you said hopefully it's hours, not days, but do we know that internally? I don't, but I can make the ask to see if that's Something we can pull out of the system and share that if it, if it is available. Well, I don't know that we needed as much as I just hoped that you had it internally, uh, to make sure that there's no training or something specific that needs to happen because ultimately, it's easy to forget that these are lives of people that are in crisis. So I'm with you. I hope it's our, not days. Um, so I hope that's something that will develop internally. My original question though was, um, on your, on your initial report, you said 78% came To DCFS and the other like 22% went to Arkansas State Police on the calls that were made. What's the determining factor on where those calls are assigned? Is it, is that based on charges being filed or based on the level of maltreatment. OK, so the more seve most severe goes to ASP or to you? ASP OK. I just want to make sure that the severity was lower, not higher. So the most severe is the 22% and that's going to ASP. Does that mean that there's probably Likely charges coming in or that is dependent upon that investigation with that, um, state police investigator in our collaboration with law enforcement. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative Painter, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. What is the average starting salary for, I guess, I don't know what the proper job title is for an intake person, but what is that? Since we're having staff issues, I'm just kind of curiously 36,000. OK, thank you. Big manager. Representative Mayberry, you recognized. Thank you. There was a great article in the newspaper yesterday and the Democrat Gazette talking about the number of, um, children needing, um, to be placed in foster homes and all that. And it did mention, and I'm noticing in your report as well on page 19, um, some of more of the preventive programs, um, I, I, I feel like I, I say this all the time if we can prevent someone from needing foster care, needing to move away from mom and dad. That's the, the best option because then we don't need all these other employees to Follow. Um, Can you tell me, and maybe this is a topic at greater length for more discussion later, but you mentioned safe care, Triple P, and intensive home services. Um, what are those? What's our current funding and with more funding help in those areas to prevent children from being in the foster care system. Definitely a more complicated, bigger conversation, um, but so safe care is a, um, home visiting program, um, and I can, uh, you funding and all of that, so you have that information. Triple P is a parenting program, um, that we offer, uh, to parents, and we've been doing some of that work on the prevention side and you can also get access to that in as a foster care service for parents as well, and then the um intensive in-home is to providers who are providing in-home intensive family services, seeing those families pretty regularly doing therapy, doing, um, Making sure they have resources, doing crisis management, that kind of thing. Um, and that's also blended funding, um, based off of, um, how it's paid for, so I can get all that information in one email to you and share, um, that, but the intensive in-home is one that we have been really using to prevent foster care? Do you find that, um, by providing it in the person's home that you have more success than trying to get that parent to go someplace else or. I mean, a key is being there in the home to witness and experience the situation. That's right, um, many of our parents don't have resources to always get places, and they depend on others. Um, so it's much easier if the service comes to them, um, where they can be connected in their home in a space that they're most comfortable as well, right? So they're comfortable and engaging with the provider, um, versus going to some office somewhere in the state of Arkansas to get a service. OK. And Are all these programs newer or have they been around? Um, they have all been around for a little bit of time. The most newest is the intensive in-home. I believe that started in 21. Um, I mean, it did not go statewide until, um, mid 22, 23. Um, so it's officially statewide service now, but initially had not been. OK. Um, maybe someday a little bit more explanation budget we're talking about budgets and I just, uh, would prefer to prevent problems and spend more money there so that the child isn't hurt in the process. So I agree with you. Representative Furman, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. This is a follow-up to Representative Painter's question. You said the average or the starting salary for an intake worker is $36,000 a year. What are the minimum requirements for that job? It's a family service worker is the job title we use and um it's a bachelor's degree. OK, thank you. Senator Clark, you're recognized. Well, now we know I wouldn't qualify. So, uh, I've got a question here, Madam Chair, from a legislator that couldn't be here, uh, and so excuse me if I don't ask the question exactly right, uh, but wanted to ask about federal requirements to raise salaries of licensed home providers. That is not ringing a bell to me then I'm lost because I was just asked to ask the question, so you can get with Director Wright later and y'all can thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Representative Pilkington, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, This is kind of interesting point. I wasn't planning on talking about today, but it is, I mean, we think about some of these people who are dealing with some of our most vulnerable and our starting salary is $36,000. When we raised teacher pay to 50,000 as a minimum. I mean, did that hurt our ability? I mean, do we see people going to other jobs because they, because we've set the standards so low and then I guess my, my second question would be then too, if we were to raise the starting salary of these workers, do you know what kind of fiscal impact that would be on the budget? So, um, it's hard to say that if a, a family service worker specifically left for something else. Typically I will say they do leave us for more money, um, and, um, we see that problem specifically in Northwest Arkansas, um, where staff are leaving because they can do the same or less and make more, um, and then it, depending on what we would raise the salary to, there would be an impact and um I have done some exploration on that with, um, DHS leadership about what that would look like if we could make a salary increase. Uh, I would be curious to, to see that number as we're trying to. You know, craft the budget during the next session to see if that's something we could afford. OK. Senator Love, you're recognized. Thank you, ma'am. So Director Wright. And following that same line of questioning, do you think, I mean, there's a number of factors that probably impact, you know, um, people coming, people going, people staying. Do you think that pay is the number one factor for why you all are losing people, or is it, or is it something else? Um, I think it is an array of things, but I think pay is a factor, um, this work is hard. It is taxing, it is emotional, so you have to add that in. Um, it is also long hours. You're not at home with your own family, um, so there is, there is a lot of other things that go into it, um, and then when you think about when staff are exiting, that means supervisors are having to pick up workloads and then supervisors can't supervise, so it becomes a uh storm of array of reasons why people leave. OK, so, but do you feel like if we did raise the pay, That you can recruit and retain more? would definitely help. OK. And then the last thing I want to ask is, you, you talked about the other factors, um. What do you all do in regards to the mental health of Of of your workers since they are seeing some pretty traumatic. Uh, things. So one thing we have done is we've been working with um UAMS on what's called Cesar, which is a um is a secondary trauma, um. Training, but they learn how to respond to the trauma to trauma within the moment, but also how do they, uh, manage trauma after the situation. Um, we piloted that with our staff and it were they liked it, they gave feedback about it. They thought it was something that they could use in their daily work. Um, and so we, um, are exploring what that looks like to roll out on a bigger level across the state. Um, also, you know, as a state employee, you have access to EIP and so we promote them utilizing their employee assistance. Program, um, with when they need it. Do, do you see a lot of Do you see a lot of workers? I mean, I know that's probably more about HIPA, but Do you all see a lot of workers that are Uh, utilizing EAP the answer to that. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Representative McClure, you're recognized. So Obviously, the pay scale is an issue. We're part of our turnover. How much of an issue is the case load? For these social workers. So you can see the um in the other report, there's an average caseload report. It is actually decreasing, but that is also part of what is happening with the decrease of kids in foster care, being able to serve, um, children and families outside of that foster care work. I'll be honest, a lot of staff do not want to work foster care cases because they are hard. Um, there's a lot of moving pieces. There's a court part to that, so you see a lot of staff are like, I'll do anything, but I don't want to work foster care case. because they are hard. Um, and we acknowledge that, but I think that um having the workloads decrease has helped us as well because. It's just a different level of, um, work and you don't feel that heavy burden, um, but also when you work the um other cases you get the ability to engage more with families and, you know, be, um, more in their lives and support them and walk alongside them. So, so do you have any type of report that shows maybe the top 2 or 3 reasons why people leave the job. Um, I don't necessarily have a report, but I do get to see, um, if they complete an exit survey. I do get to see those exit surveys and I do read them and, um, determine like, is this a theme in this county office is this uh systems issue. So typically what you'll see is on call. The work is hard. You'll see pay, you'll see any more supervisory support, um, and then occasionally you'll see safety. there's something on that you could provide that would show a trend. There, uh, that help, helps us make quality decisions whether it is pipe workload, those type of things. I think that would be great. All right, thank you. Thank you. Senator Hammer, you're recognized. Thank you, uh, two things. One, following up on, uh, what the representative was talking about as far as training for new hires coming in, what is the training that is given to those that are at the management level and are you able to identify through those exit surveys you mentioned. Any trends that would indicate that some of the responsibility is because of the management that is supervising, uh, the new entries. So we do see on the exit surveys supervisory issues. Um, we dig in to figure out what exactly is the supervisory issue going on, um, what we commonly see is it's because supervisors are doing the work too, and they can't supervise, um, but also we had, you know, there have been issues with poor supervision. Not related to carrying the workload, and we've been addressing those, um, as we need to, how appropriately. And then supervisors do get new supervisor training when they are onboarded as a new supervisor, no matter how long they've been with our agency. And so do you have anything that shows the number of caseloads that a supervisor has to handle that if they weren't having to handle those caseloads they could focus more on managerial aspects of their responsibility. I, I have a team that tracks, um, supervisor caseloads, um, because it's not super easy to pull it all apart out of our system, but, um, it is, I do have a team that tracks that to watch, um, and. I'm happy to share that with y'all if you would like to see that. OK, not a member of the committee, but if the chair would allow, and I'd like to see that. And can I have one more question, Madam Chair. You may. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, going back to the question of Senator Clark asked a while ago. There's a new federal regulation that has come down and these are specific as I understand it, to like Texas County Youth Home, maybe Second Chance ranch, those kind of providers that are providing care in the foster care world, but they're doing it more in a in-home setting, you know, the, the congregate setting. And those new federal requirements, as I understand it, are requiring that, uh, well-trained individuals, which would probably be your more managerial staff for your directors are being, they are being required to pay a minimum salary, which is going to be exponential compared to what it was, which is going to put a financial burden on these institutions. Is that in your wheelhouse? Do you have knowledge of that or were you even made aware of that? Are you talking about the fair wow, fair standards Labor Act. It could be. I'm not sure that it's under what title it's under. I just know I've had some reach out to me about it. So I assume that may be where this conversation is coming from. I'm definitely not an expert in that. I would say as far as what, um, the federal government for me as a child welfare has said, I have not nothing around changes around. um. qualifications or anything has been shared with us. To impact those types of providers is what I'm trying to say. I have not seen that. Um, I have heard that there are some changes coming around the fair wow, I cannot say that. Um, around that specific act, um, but I have not heard providers specifically talking about how it impacts them. OK, but they are under your wheelhouse. They, those like Second Chance Ranch, Texas County Youth Home, Baptist Youth Home, although those are my providers, yes. Would you reach out to them, because when I'm getting is that they are being required to increase their salaries significantly and it's going to put financial hardship and there's a question whether or not their grandfathered in or not, and they, if you don't mind, could you, could we have a conversation with them about that uh. See if there's something we need to do as a state to push back against that. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator English, you recognize. Turned off. Thank you. Um, I guess I was wondering what did what did anybody in this program qualify for the recent merit pay raises. Yes, I had staff that qualified. You, you're talking about the one that the one that happened in July from performance evaluations, um, I did have staff who receive, um, salary increases from their performance. We workers in any of the people who are doing the daily work of taking care of all these young people. There were some of them, yes, can you give me a, can you get me a figure? Sure. Thank you. Seeing no other questions from the committee. You are welcome to move to your next presentation. OK. Um, the next on the agenda is the, um, overturn investigations report. Um, it's exhibit D2. Um, this one is required to be presented, um, underneath Act 1025 from 2017. And this is just, um, The number of overturned investigations report that, um, have occurred within the Uh, last two fiscal years. Are there any questions my committee on this report? Seeing none, you're welcome to move to the next report. OK. And then next you have um quarterly, um, performance report 3rd quarter and 4th quarter. I'm gonna go to 4th quarter, um, the 4th quarter report and not present if that's OK with you. OK. So I'm going to start I'm on page one of That booklet for 4th quarter. Um, and so for this quarter, there were a total of 7,394 maltreatment reports received. Again, you can see, um, that, uh, the 5,933 were assigned. Um, to DCFS and then you can see the breakdown of how many were assigned to differential response, which was 1,321 and 4,612 were assigned for actual investigation. If you go to page 2, you can see that the number, uh, there's a number of, um, percentage of investigations found true on the top of that report and is broken down from DCFS to CACD and then all investigations. Um, at the bottom of page 2 provides, um, the number of investigations that were found through the allegation type. On going to page 4, again, this is the report around timely initiations, um, and so for the 4th quarter with a combined total of 73%. On the page 7, there are the number of in-home cases and the number of children served in those in-home cases. Um, so in this quarter we served 3,837 children in their homes with their families providing services. on page 8, the bottom of page 8, I wanted to highlight that we stayed consistent in the 4th quarter around those home visits to those in-home cases. So again, those are the cases where, um, children are in the home with their parents and DCFS is providing those services, so we remain consistent at 80% in this quarter. And then like, um, on page 10, um, at the end of the 4th quarter, uh, there were 33,553 children in foster care, and then at the bottom of page 10 is where I was talking about the entries and the discharges. So this 4th quarter, um, we had more, uh, discharges and we had injuries, um, boat staying pretty consistent over the last 4 quarters. On page 11, you can see the reasons for entering into foster care and the reasons for discharge and I just want to point out that 73% of children in foster care, um, discharged to parents and or relatives in this quarter. And then on page 13, monthly visits to children in foster care again at the end of the quarter we were at 79%. Up just a little bit, uh, from the 3rd quarter. And then on page 16. Actually, I'm sorry, page 15, just, um, timeliness of achieving permanency within 12 months. Um, so we remain below the national standard went up just a little bit, um, in this quarter from last quarter, um, and just will continue to focus in on timely permanency, um, and what that means for children in foster care. Then to page 16, um, the number of children available for adoption, um, at the end of the quarter, it was 263, but we estimate about 20% of those children will be adopted by a relative, and so when you do, when you subtract the 20%, we get to 211. Um, children are truly available for adoption in our state. And I just want to point out that that's the lowest that number has been, um, historically at DCFS, um, in all of the years. So they going all the way back to, um, to state fiscal year 21, I think we were at 383. So we've, um, continued to decline. And then I just want to point out on page 18, that 22% of the children adopted were ages 10 to 17, which also does show that we're continuing to focus on older children and youth and moving them to permanent E. And then on page 20, just to point out that is the number, that's the average number of caseload at the top, so 18.6. I got. Are there any questions from the committee? Saying none. OK. That is what I have for this report, so I also um asked two guests to join me today. Um, and I'm gonna ask the first guest to join me. One of the things that I'm trying really hard to do as a leader is to not forget to listen to those who are impacted by our system. And so one of the guests this morning is, um, Miss Leah Holland. And I'm gonna let Leah introduce herself and share her story with you all. My name's Leah Holland. Um, I'm a mother of 4, a child of God, and a grateful recovering addict. Um, I came here this morning to share with you a little bit about my journey and how I came to find my forever family through the foster care system here in Little Rock. Um, I'll start with telling you a little bit about myself and where I came from, as well as, uh, how my children and I became a part of the Chancellor family. Um, growing up wasn't very traditional or normal for me. I was an only child in a rather toxic and dysfunctional family. Some of my earliest memories include watching my father severely abuse my mother mentally and physically. I spent a lot of my time running away out of sight where I couldn't hear it. Unfortunately, I was poorly supervised due to my parents' preoccupation, which inevitably caused me to get hurt. Um, I was sexually abused by a neighbor at the age of 5. I remember being scared to tell my father out of fear of what he may do. Weeks later, I finally mustered up the courage to tell my grandmother. She comforted me and clearly sympathized with my situation, yet it was still swept under the rug, never to be spoken of again. My family did not speak of internal traumatic events due to the fear of DHS involvement as well as the judgment of others. Um, we had always been told and firmly believed that DHS consisted of people who wanted to come in your home, charge you with crimes, and take your children away. Um, my family avoided DHS and law enforcement at all costs. Um, they never sought out any therapy for the uh sexual abuse and trauma I had experienced out of fear that a therapist would turn them into DHS or police. So as I grew older, I kept that same mentality that I'd been taught that I couldn't turn to DHS for any kind of help or support. I just needed to figure out things on my own and keep it to myself. Um, because of the lack of therapy, I never learned how to process my deep-seated trauma or emotions that came along with it. So, when I was old enough to experiment with alcohol, it was off to the races for me. Um, alcohol quickly led me to other substances that began a battle I would go on to fight from the age of 15 and the rest of my young adult life. What started out as what I thought to be the answer to my prayers turned into what almost ended my life on numerous occasions. Um, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter McKenzie when I was 18 years old. I gave birth to her with zero knowledge of how to take care of a baby or to be a mother at all. I had no support from my biological family, aside from my sweet little grandma who helped here and there when she could. I had been living on my own for a couple of years at this point. Um, I quickly became so overwhelmed with the responsibility of having an infant, having very little help, and the frustration of not knowing how to be a mom, that I began drinking and using again. This is the only coping mechanism I knew. The relationship I had with McKenzie's father was an abusive one similar to the one my parents had when I was younger. I had a huge misunderstanding of what the word love meant. When I realized I couldn't continue being in this toxic relationship, I contacted McKenzie's paternal grandparents to try and help me take care of her while I went off and made an attempt to go to college. I had a deep desire to make something of myself, not for me, but for Mackenzie. I enrolled in a fast track nursing school program at age 19 with hopes of completing it and starting a new life with my baby girl. Um, I was attending nursing school during the day and taking prerequisite classes through different college at night. This quickly became overwhelming for me, and as always, the minute things started to get stressful, I turned to the one thing I knew would help. I ended up getting kicked out of school one month away from graduation for failing a drug test. I attempted my first rehabilitation program shortly thereafter, again, with no support from my family, with a little bit of sobriety under me, I began a relationship with one of my best friends from high school and we had a beautiful baby boy named Jonah. I was able to continue my sobriety during my pregnancy with him, but after Jonah was born, I became addicted to the pain medication I was prescribed for medical issues I had during and after his birth. Around the same time. Jonah was born, his paternal uncle died in a car accident along with his fiancee. Jonah's father left the state of Arkansas unable to deal with the immense amount of grief he was experiencing. I was left here alone to support Jonah. Jonah's paternal grandmother helped me look after him while I worked 3 jobs to try and support us. I quickly found that I was turning to drugs more and more to deal with my fatigue as well as my feelings of abandonment. My my sweet grandmother who really had been the only source of light in my dark childhood, passed away in February of 2014. At this point in my life, I started to experience a deep-seated hopeless depression. My addiction took a dark turn as I started meeting people who were using the types of drugs I promised myself I would never use. They taught me how to use these drugs in ways I said I would never use them, and I spiraled downward into a place where I was living in hotel rooms week by week, surrounded by people who committed crimes and sold drugs to support their habits. Because of the Environment I was in and the type of people I was surrounding myself with. I was sexually assaulted at the end of 2015. After it happened, I did what I was always taught to do, put it out of my mind to try to pretend like it never happened. I found that to be impossible, so again, I was using it and every kind of drug I could to numb that pain. A few months later, I started feeling nauseous 24/7. My body felt different and I was unwilling to even consider that I might be pregnant due to the graphic nature of my circumstances. It began consuming my thoughts, so I finally mustered up the courage to take a pregnancy test. I remember the golf ball size lump I got in the back of my throat when I saw the positive pregnancy test, intense feelings of guilt, disgust, shame, sadness and anger at myself and at God. Constantly cursing the skies, asking why this is happening to me. What I thought was my greatest tragedy would later become my greatest miracle. I just didn't know it yet. I was fairly far into my pregnancy when I found out and I had been using drugs heavily the entire time. I knew for certain that if I were to give birth to this baby, he or she would have serious medical issues if the baby even survived. I called the only treatment facility that I knew of that would take women and children and asked if they had a bed available, because I was so far along and had no prenatal care whatsoever. They told me I was a liability and I wouldn't be able to come there. The last thing I was going to do was reach out to DHS because I believe now more than ever, all of the lies I was told as a child, that they don't want to help, they want to take your kids away, ruin your life. At this point, I'd given up. I continued to hide from everyone disgusted with myself. Some weeks later, my water broke. I drove myself to the hospital while actively going into labor. I remember being wheeled up to the labor and delivery floor and telling the nurse that I had been using throughout my pregnancy and that my baby would be born with drugs in his or her system. Despite the reaction I received from the nurses and doctors, I remember feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders because the secret I'd been hiding all that guilt and shame was finally out, and I didn't have to hide anymore. I was terrified of what would happen when the baby arrives. If you know, the baby would be alive, and if so, what kind of medical problems he or she would have as a result of my decisions. Barely 20 minutes after arriving, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy I named Christopher Blake. They took him away immediately. I didn't get to hold him or bond with him at all. The only comfort I had in that moment in time was the fact that I heard him cry after he was delivered, so I knew at the very least he was alive. One kind nurse came in and informed me that I should be thinking in stars because he was perfectly normal. He would have to go to the NICU for a little while to be monitored, but he was going to be OK. That was the first time in a long time that I said thank you to God. A caseworker for DHS came in and was very abrasive with me. She told me that she knew my type. She knew I didn't want this baby because of the decisions I had made while I was pregnant with him. She said she was going to make sure I never saw him or any of the rest of my children again. So I left the hospital two days later and went back to the place I'd been staying prior. She did what she had promised. Jonah was removed from my mother's home where I had sent him last minute when I started going into labor. I remember crying constantly for 5 days straight, dehydrated from crying all the water out of my body, unable to eat, drink, or move out of the bed. I'd never felt a level of hopelessness like that, and I couldn't bear the pain any longer. The night of my birthday, 7 days after Christopher was born, I tried to end my life. By the grace of God, I was unsuccessful. The next morning I woke up on the bathroom floor to the buzzing of my phone ringing beside my head. It was a man named Phil who DHS apparently had appointed me to or appointed to represent me in court. I explained to him what the caseworker had said to me and that I had no hope or will to live. He then asked me if I wanted to be a mom to my newborn and the rest of my children or if I wanted to give up and let that woman feel like she was right in what she said to me. I told him I was unaware that getting them back was even an option, and that there was nothing in this world I wanted more than to have to be with my children again. He told me he believed in me and that was the first time in my entire life anyone had ever said that to me. I was used to people talking down to me the way the caseworker did in that hospital. But the way Phil spoke to me was something very brand new. I felt, I felt the spark of hope for the first time. This was the 2nd miracle I had experienced in this time and I understood completely what it was. The caseworker from the hospital was relieved of her position at DHS a few weeks later, when her superiors were notified of how she had handled things. This is the first time DHS showed me that maybe, just maybe, they wanted to help me, not hurt me. As my case continued, I tried to focus on the positive things instead of the negative. When I experienced that change of perspective so many positive things started happening. Brittany and Cody Chancellor opened their home and were looking to adopt a newborn baby after years of heartbreak with miscarriage. They were called the Foster Christopher being told in the beginning by that same caseworker that they were going to be able to adopt him. They raised him from 6 weeks old until he was about 1 year old. They spent a good portion of this time under the impression they would be adopting him as their own before finding out that reunification was actually going to be the goal. Even after finding that out, they chose to still continue fostering him. I feel like that was a selfless, selfless act, and it is a small testament to what kind of people they are. While I was in treatment for my addiction, I would receive pictures in the mail of Christopher, so I could see what he looked like. Those pictures gave me motivation to keep going and reminded me while I was there, and what I was working so hard for. When visitations would happen at the DHS office. Brittany and I would sneak each other notes. We would hide them in the bottom of his diaper bag. She would write out what they were experiencing with him, what foods he was trying, what his favorite things were, and what little milestones he was making. At the time we weren't allowed to speak or contact each other in any way, shape, or form, but we did anyway. Brittany and Cody were told that I was a drug addict and it was unknown what type of dangerous people I knew or what they were capable of. So for safety precautions they needed to keep far away with zero contact. I'm grateful that despite that she was willing to write to me. It's just another testament of what kind of people Cody and Brittany are. Those notes meant everything to me. She never failed to tell me that she was praying for me and to keep fighting the good fight. When we went to our court date to discuss reunification and what date that would actually be happening on. Our judge decided that with the immense amount of effort I'd put into completing each task she assigned me, reunification was going to be happening that day. She hit us with the element of surprise. It had come earlier than expected, but I was so grateful nonetheless. Brittany came up to me after the hearing, hugged me, and informed me that her and her family had already planned a party for Christopher's first birthday. Um, thinking that reunification would be happening after. Um, she asked if they could still have it for him and invited me to join them if I felt comfortable. I was so very nervous, but felt like it was a good idea. He had bonded with Brittany and Cody since infancy, and I felt like it would be good for both of us to go. So I told her we would attend. Um, I was fearful to go alone. Um, a mutual friend of ours who I'd met during my open case dro drove us there, um, when I arrived, I expected judgment from her family, given the circumstances of how Christopher came to them to begin with. I'd been met with judgment so many times in my life prior I was just used to it at this point. But what I was met with was quite the opposite. I remember one of the first members of the family to speak to me was our sweet Nana. She grabbed my face and told me she had been praying for me every single day for almost an entire year, and she was so happy to finally meet me. I was so taken back by that. She reminded me so much of my sweet little grandmother. She spoke like her and even had the same perfume. This was yet another one of the many miracles I experienced over the course of a year's time. All of a sudden I realized I was standing in a room full of the kind of family I'd always dreamed of having as a child, a loving mom and dad, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins that all loved each other, like really truly loved each other. I can't explain the feeling I felt when I left that party that day, but I can tell you I'll never stop thanking God for making it happen. Britney invited me to come to their church that Sunday and I've gone every single Sunday since then, 7, almost 8 years strong now. I can honestly say that I found God because of this beautiful family. They've adopted me and all of my children into their family as if we're blood relatives. They've shown me a compassion and a love I never experienced before and today I can say I'm not an only child anymore. I have a brother, a sister, a mom, a dad, an entire family that loves and supports me endlessly. The way I see it is Christopher has 2 moms and a dad. The unfortunate circumstances that brought Christopher into this world are the same circumstances that led us to our forever family and cultivated so much beauty. Something that started out so ugly, so hopeless, and so very tragic has turned into the most beautiful thing. I never would have pondered that things would turn out the way they have. Only God can do that. He has blessed my children and I tremendously with more than I deserve. We do everything as a family, birthdays, vacations, holidays. We've been together for all the struggles and all the triumphs. My forever family supports me in everything that I do. Britney sat in the room with me when I gave birth to my youngest daughter, Lily. She has shown up to every milestone in my recovery and celebrates it with me. She and Cody attend to celebrate recovery at our local church every time I go. I had a relapse a few years ago when COVID began and my addiction support groups were forced to stop for a while because of their love, compassion and support, I was able to be transparent with them about my struggles and seek treatment immediately as opposed to the worst happening and my children potentially having to go back into the system. They never judged me, never stopped believing in me. They even kept my children for me while I went to treatment. As beautiful as our life is, it's not always perfect. We face struggles just like any other family, but no matter what we keep God right in the center of everything we do. What we've cultivated isn't something you see every day. Early on, we even faced some pushback from some of our friends and coworkers at times because they had a hard time understanding how and why we were doing things the way that we were. Those same people no longer question us. They've been able to witness how God is working in our lives on a daily basis. God gets all the glory here. Again, only he can create what we have. Because of the unwavering love and support we have had from the Chancellors and extended family, Christopher is driving, healthy, at the top of his class at school, and the happiest boy in the whole world. One thing is for sure, he knows how to love others without judgment because he's seen that in action his entire life. He loves Jesus with his whole heart, and he isn't afraid to tell you about it. He's such a blessing to all of us and has a very special place in this world. Um, God has a huge plan for our boy's life and did well before he was ever born and we're so excited and blessed to be able to see where his life takes him. He's truly a miracle and I can't imagine my life without him and my other three precious children. All different kinds of emotions come when I talk about our story, what the enemy used to torment me. God used to transform me. The chancellors, my team at DCFS and all the support groups in my community are all such a huge part of my success, and most importantly, the success of my children. There is no doubt in my mind that God put them right where they needed to be at the perfect time, because of their support over the years, I found the love of my life to whom I'm now engaged in the job of my dreams. I actually work at the same facility I found recovery at back when my case was open. I have the blessing of working with other recovering addicts like me, and most importantly, other parents who are fighting the same battle I did all those years ago. Being able to help them learn, learn how to love themselves and heal so they can successfully reunite with their families is priceless to me. I've been working side by side with DHS and the Children's Trust Fund Alliance on a parent advisory council dedicated to bridging the gap between families in need and the staff at DHS. Nothing in the world is more rewarding than to be able to look in the faces of the lost and tell them they are worthy, instilling a new hope in the hopeless. I believe firmly that our past is not define us. I am living proof that people can not only change but turn their struggles into a testimony, paving the way for others to do the exact same thing. Being a member of the Parents Advisory Council allows me opportunities to let families know that DHS is not the enemy. Foster parents are not the enemy, and together we can cultivate kindness and pave the road for success. The ultimate goal is to create a better future for our children and the people we love the most. I can proudly say I'm a loving mother, fiancee, and a contributing member of society, the way God has worked in my life to make things come full circle still blows my mind to call it a blessing and seriously an understatement. I share all of this with you in hopes that in your future endeavors you may share the same kind of compassion that the Chancellor stood with me. I encourage people to keep an open mind and explore different avenues that may not have been otherwise considered. I firmly believe that if more people could open their heart and just be willing to hang around and be that support for people who've never had a support system in their entire life. It could not only reduce recidivism within our system that cultivate love. I think we all know the world lacks love now more than ever, so the goal is to create more. Where I used to have a twisted perception of what love is, my forever family has taught me otherwise. I'm so grateful to know what real authentic love is. And for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. None of this would be possible without him. Thank you so much for allowing me to share with you guys. Thank you very much for your personal. Um, story and for sharing that with us today. Are you OK? With a few questions. Sure. Representative Maberry you recognize. That was so beautifully written. I encourage you to expand it more, turn it into a book, and then make a movie out of it. It was really good. You're, your, your life story just really is gonna, you know, mean a lot to a lot of people and provide a lot of hope. Um, my question though is, if you had a magic wand and you could have prevented. All of that. What, what would that be? What, what would that wish be that could have Perhaps prevented you With a lifetime of those struggles and events. So, um, really just the. Like, uh, to change the way my family felt about DHS, um, I feel like if, you know, there was a better understanding of what DCFS is all about and how it's, it's really about helping families and trying to prevent, you know, bad things from happening on the front end. I think there was a serious misinterpretation there. And, you know, just, um, maybe, um. Being able to get some therapy for, you know, some of the things that I experienced, I think um just knowing how to process, you know, all that happened. Thank you again for sharing your story and being bold enough to share the bad and the, the good. Thank you. Senator Hammer, you recognized? Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, thank you for your testimony, very powerful and two things stood out to me. Number 1 is your faith and I'd like you to at least be able to give your church a shout out. So which church do you attend? Grace Church of the Nazarene in North Little Rock. Very good. Want to give him a shout out, um, the second thing is, um. You're and and this is gonna be as much to you, uh, madam director, as, as it is, uh, to the young lady. Faith is a constant theme that was mentioned through her testimony and as big of a contributor to the success as the practical things that were given to her outside of maybe the, the faith realm. And I know the governor has a big emphasis on, uh, faith component, you know, in, in what we're doing. So can you tell us what are the limitations that you are experiencing as the director as far as the gates being opened up to greater access to faith based, um, organizations that can help families like hers. I don't feel like I have any limitations at DCFS. I feel like one thing we've done really well is engage with our faith base, um, partners across the state, um, and just keeping those relationships and continuing to walk alongside each other. Um, it is a, it's a big deal and that that we all come together, um, church and state to work, work through whatever we need to do to support families and I think we see that time and time again happening across our state between recruitment of foster. Your parents, um, supporting, um, celebrate recovery in the churches, that kind of thing. So I don't feel like I necessarily have any limitations to doing that work and my team, my team, um, across the state do just the same. They get in and we'd work together because we see it work time and time again. OK. And the second thing is maybe not, uh, you, you were very blessed in that you had a family that was very supportive of I understood your testimony right, they were in the, they were in the pathway to adopt your child, but then at the last minute, the judge, uh, intervened and allowed you to keep your child. Is that, was that my correct understanding of your testimony. Yes, so, um, in the beginning, um. I guess there was, I, I, I really wouldn't call it misunderstanding, but in the beginning they were told that they were going to be able to adopt him. They were told that I wanted to put him up for adoption and that I had no interest in being, um, in reunification and so, like I was. Saying whenever I was talking about it like. I didn't really, the caseworker I spoke to in the beginning, um, didn't really tell me that getting them back was an option. So there was a disconnect there. So I think that kind of maybe is what had them feeling like they were going to be able to adopt now like a few months in, I think that the communication was kind of resolved and there was an understanding that I did want to get my children back, but in the beginning it wasn't, you know, it was just, it was just chaos in the beginning, yes. And, and that would be my point and director write, I really don't think this falls under your watch as maybe, uh, previous and not a criticism. It's just, uh, an observation that the communication alliance because we had a really bad experience too, actually, uh, in, in Sling County where parents were given the expectations that they were going to be able to adopt only to find out at the last minute that that was not the case. So, um, and, and you're blessed, Miss Holland, that you had an understanding family and your test. speaks to what the power of God is able to do. Ms. Wright, what are we doing to make, uh, Director Wright, what are we doing to make sure that wrong messages are not being sent out because that is crushing to families who expect to be able to adopt only to find out in the last minute that they are not. So what is, what is the department doing to make sure, uh, that that is not occurring today. We're continuing to have those conversations about reunification and how reunification is the goal, um, in having good open, clear transparent communication about what's happening and talk about it pretty frequently, um, on a state level, but across the state with my teams about, um, the goal is reunification. We need to be ensuring we're communicating openly to families and, um, being honest about where these cases are in the process, um, but also remembering that we as DCFS can't promise kids to People, um, our job is reunification and that the only person that gets to change a case playing goal would be the courts, and, and so just continuing that conversation and reminding our staff about the permanency. And they're communicating that to parents who are perspective, uh, uh. Hopefully being able to adopt that's being communicated early on if they are foster parent taking a child into their care. They, they're finding that out right at the beginning. Don't get your hopes up. It may happen, it may not. How do you, how do you specifically communicate that to those parents so that expectation doesn't need to become a consideration, understanding that sometimes people hear what they want to hear or see what they want to see, no matter what you or your staff say, but is that like on the very beginning of the journey when they Receive a baby or what like the Hampshire is the conversation that is happening. I'm sorry, I interrupted early. Um, it is always the conversation that is happening, but also that's why we use stories like Leah's to share that the power of a foster family supporting reunification and really the impact they can have if we're all aligned on the same goal. So, How communication is happening early, um, early on. In the recruitment process. OK. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Love, you're recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair. So director write, I think you know what I'm about to say. Because I've been in this position before. As a person that wanted to adopt and so I'm gonna ask a series of questions that make it uncomfortable. But I want I wanted to be on the record. So Number one is Ma'am, what is your name? Lea Lea. When you gave birth. Was I correct in hearing that you had drugs in your. OK. Tiffany What is the law as it stands in regards to this. And in DHS as far as childbirth. In drugs in a person's system. As far as reporting, reporting. And then, and then. As far as the child is in DHS is involved. So a hospital, if a child's born with drugs in their system, the hospital can make a report to the child abuse hotline, um, typically those are accepted as Garrett's law. OK. Is it not The state law that. The child would be immediately removed in criminal rights terminated. It is not. No, sir. OK. So I think I know we reunification and I'm all for reunification. And in almost every case, but I do wanna make certain that number one. Because I think I understand the law to be different, but number 2, I also want to be sure that we are telling families because there are families like mine who enter into a process with DHS for long-term adoption. I mean, for adoption but long term foster. And I want your workers to be clear that they are telling people that there may be I know that you, you, you are behind and pushing reunification and that is great. Um, but there are families on the other side of these issues that could be destroyed when reunification happens. And so. Well, we, we are a state of. Mostly closed adoptions. Please make that aware and I know that this is uncomfortable. But I've been in a situation where my family was utterly destroyed. When a family member stepped back in after being told that there was no chance that they're reunification was on the table. And my family was utterly destroyed. When we went back and you know we adopted our child through DHS. My son spent 6 months. Avoiding the child because he was afraid that the child was going to be taken out of our home like it was uh the the previous child and I'm very serious about this. I do love this story. But I'm telling you. The families are destroyed also on the other end of this store, and I want to make sure that DHS Is upholding that line that they are letting they are transparent with families. If they know reunification and I know reunification is the point, but they need you workers need to be very transparent. At this point in time because when you do bring kids into your home and you think that they're that's their forever home. And when it doesn't work out like that, there are pieces of people that you have to pick back up. And I had to pick my son back up and I had to pick my wife back up because their life was utterly destroyed. So while I love this story. Please make sure that your workers are being fully transparent with family. Please. With it, Madam Chair, I'm, I'm done. Uh, Senator Clark, you recognized? Thank you. Madam Chair, uh, director, I know you're familiar with these stories. I appreciate Senator Love sharing. Uh A little bit Uh, of what they went through. And I know that you know this. But The Let me start with foster parents. Good foster parents. Is an incredible ministry, incredible calling. And foster parents are to be all about. Reunification. Until it doesn't. Ha And so we've got to be sure. Uh, you know, uh, uh. Attorney, uh, Katherine Hudson, who passed away during COVID, used to call it backdoor baby shopping. Um, And we can never tell anyone. That this. They're not going to be reunified and you can start considering this child because it's very difficult to bring a child in your home. Love them, do all those things. We all know that we don't all know it maybe, but those who do it especially know it. But it's got to be with the thought. That we're going to help this family get back together. It can't be with it's gonna be and when people are misled. Or even when they're people think it's gonna be the truth. And then we get into those cases. Where it is family and they're not perfect, but, but they're doing everything they can and should to get their kids back. And we got this couple over here that's a family that's just wonderful. But that can't stand in the way of reunification and they should have never been told that. That's heartbreaking, uh, and so I hope. I would hope that all your staff across the states watching, uh, and that you can continually drill that in, uh, and also to our wonderful foster care ministries. That because people sign up to adopt. And we know that happens often. But it can't be the reason you do it. So, uh, I know you already know this, but wouldn't you agree? I agree with you. Thank you. Senator Hammer. You're recognized. Thank you. Just a quick question, um, do you have, do you have legal, uh, do you have paperwork where foster parents and everybody signs it. So that there is a paper trail referencing back that they understand that that adoption. May not end up happening, or is it all verbal? We talk about it in training. Um, we talk about it during the process of them opening. I don't know that we necessarily have them signing some lien that shows. Now, they do, they should be participating in the case planning process as foster parents where we do talk about the goal being reunification, um, with the appropriate parent or relative. and so there is that conversation that happens during that time as well. So, but I don't necessarily think we have them sign anything that I can recall. That specifically says the goal of the case is reunification, and that is the goal, um, so. I'm thinking If I'm just trying to think about all the forms. You think that might be one you would want to add because it might keep. Uh, I'm just saying from your perspective, I'd want to see something where they signed it in case you have a caseworker, uh, that, that maybe goes rogue on you or just poor communication or said a while ago, somebody hears what they think they want to hear because they want a baby so bad and they just tune that part of the conversation out. I, I just offer you a friendly recommendation. It might be good if you had something in the file that you could hold up later to say my caseworker did their job, the parents understood, uh, the mom understood. uh, I mean, because it could clear up, I think, uh, at least. Some accountability that, that, that has been communicated because in one case that we dealt with parents thought they heard the caseworker say something and, and caseworkers have sensitive heart. They want everybody to win, but not everybody can win. Uh, so I would just offer that as a friendly suggestion. Last thing is. Uh, and, and Ms. Holland, thank you for your testimony again today. We're encouraged to come, um. Our parents made aware, Director Wright, that a baby, uh, has the potential for having medical issues because of what happened during the pregnancy or um, that may come about later that may not be identified on the front end, educate us as far as when parents know if they adopt a baby, that this might be a baby that has drugs in their system or something else. Please. Thank you. So if they're the foster parent and we're making the placement at removal, we would communicate all medical information we had at that time, um, that we were able to gather from whether that is a hospital, the parent, um, and provide that to the foster parent when we do an adoption disclosure when we selected the family to adopt. They do get access to, um, the medical records of that child. And so we disclose it again there as well. Uh, thank you for your testimony. You mentioned that when you went back in at the NF if I remember it correctly, uh, you went back in, uh, to the doctor when you had your 1st or 2nd child and you got addicted to prescription drugs at that time. Do you remember what year that was? I mean, trying to think back, I mean. 2011 so it was about, yeah, 2001 through your Time that you went through this and the role you have, how many, uh, addiction started with going to the doctor, somebody get prescription drugs. Of course, I remember, you know, I was back in the mid 2000s when all this was starting to pop up and then so how how much people that's been addicted went through. That you've been around or either in the job you're doing started their addiction, what really kicked it off and sent it down a bad road was the doctor prescriptions. I would say, well, along the lines of like 70% of people that I come into contact with clients at work, um, you know, people that I've known in the past and myself, it is a, it's a huge somebody breaks an arm and gets prescribed hydrocodone and then it becomes a problem, um. All, all kinds of ailments and things that have been treated with that. I do feel like, um, more like. As time has gone on here more recently, they're they're trying to be better about that, um, because it is such a problem in this country, just from my understanding, we've seen it decline just a little bit, um, but areas I mean from somebody like I said, the mid 2000s when all this was starting in the back 90s and so when Purdue Pharma was the one that started, if anybody can watch the miniseries on, uh, uh, Hulu called Dope Sick and And Beth Macy's book, it's like a great illustration of what happened and how that started, but, uh, you know, that's interesting because like, I mean, I've had plenty of surgeries. I quote Mickey Mantle said, if I knew I'd lived this long, I took better care of myself, but, uh, yeah, so you go through that in the doctors. I mean, I call it oxy, uh, you know, they call it OxyContin, it's oxyheroin basically and uh so they get people addicted and they don't, uh, and then that's what's really started off a lot of this stuff that's caused us, it's crashed. Our budget and now the Supreme Court, if you want to know, has ruled that Purdue Pharma may not be responsible for being able to be bankrupt from the lawsuits and stuff, so, uh, it is a very complicated issue. I mean, the doctor in pharmaceutical industry has just basically addicted a lot of people to heroin. And now, you know, now you're hearing stories of like, You know, doctors getting shut off, well, then they go to the next doctor and he gets shut off of it and they're watching him. And the next one just prescribes the same thing. So this is basically, even though it's some like you appreciate your testimonies basically just keeping going in some way, form or fashion. It's been diminished a little bit, but not to the level it should be, right? Yeah. All right, well, thank you very much, and I, like I said, have you ever watched the series on Hulu Dope Sick, and it just so. And, and in slots even in the aging, I mean, my parents, you know, in, in that, a lot of my age talked about the parents go in and the next thing you know, they're getting, you know, people that had never been, went to the doctor, everything else. I mean, we think it's like well you're just going to the doctor to get high or get a thrill. And it's not always the case and even like in older people now today, when I talk to friends of mine, it's like they go in the doctor and they say, hey, my parents are changing, what's going on? They found out and they try and get them off of it and they just keep doping them up even more. It's I, I work at Oasis Renewal Center here in Little Rock. So, um, we have a lot of clients come in that are good people that don't have any kind of legal trouble ever in their entire life have worked hard, been an upstanding member of society had a surgery and then, you know, it started their addiction. It's really, really sad to see, um, when it's just, you know, a, a normal person, you know, that just had to have surgery, and then it turns into that so your guess is just, I mean, just a guess. It's around 70% of the people that started with the doctor in pharmaceutical hair, absolutely. All right, thank you. I see no further questions from committee. So again, thank you for your personal honest and inspiring testimony and Director Wright, do you have anything in closing? I have one more guest. Oh, that's right. OK. Well, that will be the closing. Um, I like, Miss Christy Irwin to join me. If you'll introduce yourself and who you're with, please. I am Christy Irwin. I'm the founder and executive director of Project Zero. So I asked, uh, Ms. Errin to join us today. Um, first to talk a little bit about just the work that Project Zero has been doing across our state, um, earlier this morning, you heard me say 210 waiting children available for adoption. DCFS did not do that alone. We did that in partnership with Project Zero, who has been gives grace and is a phenomenal person to walk on alongside on this journey, but who gives so much to our kids, um, but also I also wanted to remind everyone that they do this for free. For the state of Arkansas and for our children. And so that extra commitment there to just go above and beyond is huge. Well, thank you so much, Director Wright, and thank you for allowing me to be here today. I, um, I'm just so grateful for the opportunity to talk about our waiting kids for a minute and to talk about Project Zero. Project Zero is a nonprofit. We'll turn 13 this year, um, and we have one goal. When we started out, we had one goal, and today we have one goal and that's to have 0 kids in foster care waiting to be adopted. Um, we believe that if We're doing what we should be doing. There should not be in this great country of ours, children waiting in foster care to be adopted. Um, we, um, we work to reach our goals several ways. The first way is to raise awareness. Oftentimes, um, people are aware of kids overseas who need families and rightly so, they need to be aware of that. Um, but less aware that there are over 100,000 children in foster care in the United States today, whose parental rights have been terminated and who are for lack of a better word, that we don't use this word because Uh, we just, we just don't, but our, our legal orphans and who are waiting on someone to say yes. So we want to raise awareness about that and we do that through our art gallery, which are professional photographs of waiting kids. We have the only online exhibit in the state and then we have 3 exhibits that travel around the state to churches and businesses and, uh, events and that kind of thing. Uh, and then about 10 years ago we really that when you say a number, it moves you when you see a face, it compels you, but what if you were to hear from the kids themselves. What we've learned after shooting almost 800 short films featuring waiting kids, uh, in partnership with filmmaker Nathan Willis from New Orleans, uh, that when you hear a child share their story in their own words and in their own way. It does more than move you or compel you. It sets you on a mission to get them home to the right forever family. And so we're actually shooting short films today while, uh, while I'm here, uh, to give kids a voice and to allow them to share their own truths and their own words and in their own way. The second thing we do is build hope and waiting kids. We believe that our kids are not foster kids. There's, to me, there's no such thing. They shouldn't be defined by that label. There are kids in foster care through no fault of their own and they deserve to be valued and loved and respected and be number one in someone's life. So we're doing all kinds of crazy things to build hope, like hosting Project Prom where we take a big group of girls to Dillard's and we have volunteer fairy godmothers who step in as moms to buy prom dresses and shoes and accessories and spanks and all the things you need when you go to prom. Uh, things like that, uh, to build hope. And the third thing. Is work incredibly closely with DCFS. Uh, every single adoption specialist and supervisor in the state, every single area. Uh, to ensure that we help connect waiting kids with the right forever families. We try to do things kind of outside the box. We pushed the line a little bit because we believe that our waiting kids deserve for us to do things with excellence because when we do, we show a watching world how precious they are. My husband and I fostered for 19 years, uh, before Project Zero was born and we, we left that piece of our lives behind. The, the youngest two of our 6 children came to our family through adoption from foster care. And throughout the foster care process, one thing that became abundantly clear to me. Is that when kids linger and languish in foster care. They completely lose hope. And that's not OK. Because our waiting kids deserve to be seen and heard. They deserve to be valued. They deserve to know that they matter, and they deserve the opportunity to have a second chance at a beautiful life. And you know there's urgency in the work we do. Um, we are continuing, all of us with DCFS and and Project Zero, our team. To hopefully inspire people about that urgency because a day that a child spends in foster care waiting to be adopted is a day too long. We have seen miracles, absolute miracles, and I wish we had all afternoon for me just to share a story after story. Incredible examples of what happens. When there's no ulterior motives and a private nonprofit and DCFS come together. And form a strong partnership and are firmly planted with a common goal, and in our case that's to get kids home. Project Zero has had the honor to be a part of bringing almost 1500 kids together with their forever families. We don't take that on lightly, but there is much, much work left to be done. Last week we hosted a birthday party for 3 of our teens who were turning 17. Two of the teens had invited a couple of friends to come along, but the third one had not. And right at the beginning of the party, Jackson came up to me in a volunteer that was standing with me. And ask one question, question that would reverberate in my mind, even until now, he said, is anybody coming for me? And the volunteer and I were quick to jump in and let him know that we were all there for him celebrating his big day. Um, he was getting his Nike shoes he'd he'd requested and some other things. But as I left there that day. I begin to think that that's the question all of our waiting kids are asking every day. Does anybody see me? Does anybody hear me? Does anybody care? And is anybody coming for me? We believe the answer is yes to that, and we want to dream big, we want to pray boldly. We want to stand firm and we want to press on until every single waiting child is grafted into a family where they can heal and grow and thrive. And honestly, we would love for you to join us on the road to 0. We would love for you to share posts and stories and short films to volunteer, to pray. Or to join us for our very first. 5K called Chasing Zero. We'll be hosting it on November 2nd to kick off national adoption Month, and we would love for you and your constituents. You don't have to be a runner, you can walk, you can do the virtual thing where you don't have to move off your couch, uh, to be a part of supporting that. And so, um, I just want to leave you with the fact that, um, I would love for you to get on our website, theproject.org. And I would love for you to look at the faces of the children. Who are waiting to be adopted and your state and my state. These are our kids, and they deserve nothing less than our very best to get them home. And we are just, like I said, honored to be in this fight for them. Thank you for the work that you do for the information and for the invitation. Absolutely, to the 5. Thank you. Thank you for all of that. I see no questions from committee. So now Director Wright, do you have any words you'd like to say in closing? I just want to say thank you all, um, for your support, um, and just being here today and also listening to my guest speakers. I just felt it was important to share, um, what is happening across the state more than just numbers and reports. So thank you all again today, um, for your time. but also your support. Thank you. And with no further business, we are adjourned.