Senate Children and Youth and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs

Our committee. And judge might commit law. In the B. two separate votes the first for miss simple. I need of a motion. I have a motion to I have a second. I have a second all in favor. In the she is accepted the nexus for judge Medlock. I need a motion I have a motion to have a second I have a second all in favor. And they're both approved. Folks will exhibit ET. This is a review of the rule. Okay do I have anybody from the staff here if you will please come up. And if you would please identify yourself. No I'm able the rest program manager for at the. Placed in a residential licensing unit with the C. C. E. C. E. and I'm Tonya Williams director of the division of child care and early childhood education mark is delayed so I told him I would be here in his place today and he may join us but just wanted to be here to support my team thank you both for being here thank you. And I'll let you go ahead and present what you what you have. These are rules for the placement in residential programs here in Arkansas these programs are designed to serve children who are generally in foster care or private placements and they are there's two purposes for of the changes that we have today in front of you one is to comply with the federal families first act and we work with our sister division DCFS to make sure that we are in alignment on the rules regarding that mostly affects transitional use and then there were three pieces of legislation that was that were passed during the legislative session and twenty one that were incorporating into the rules and that's the primary reason for the changes today. Do I have any questions. Or any comments. And without objection. The rules approved. Thank you you're welcome thank you for being here. This is. We're on item if. And we and we do have a staff. If you will identify yourself. Good afternoon my name is Kristen Harper an assistant director with the Division of Children and Family Services. Thank you would go ahead resent what you have thank you our first full for today is regarding the development of resource homes and supports resource parents and resource home is an umbrella term that refers to the foster and adoptive homes as a term we use for some time within the Division it's it's it's a term commonly used and other state child welfare agencies and most importantly it drives home the idea that our resources parents our resources not only to the children placed in their homes and they can also serve as resources to the biological parents and for those who are working toward reunification so you'll see a number of technical changes throughout this packets and inserting the terms resource home and resource parents. This rule also updates DCFS specific resource home approval requirements to align with the national model licensing standards they were also issued as part of the federal family first prevention services act and then which is also been incorporated into the forthcoming minimum licensing standards that were just far right fourth fire sister division of child care and redistribute. It has been many years since we updated policies related to our resource homes and the corresponding resource parent handbook so with input from field staff and resources parents with incorporated several current practices processes that began as a pilot burn out fully integrated into our system former executive directives into a written rule and it generally try to provide more guidance resource parents on what to expect when a child is placed in their home. In addition to the notice of public comment place in Arkansas Democrat Gazette we did send out this version of the resource parent handbook along with a summary of changes to all current resource parents and we did not receive any public comments and mixed requesting changes are expressing concerns I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Members to have any questions or any comments. And I have won it seed ninety. Senator Garner Mr chairman is there any major changes like that substitute to the people but from what they did before to what they'll be doing down the resource homes are resource parents no Sir a lot of it was really put it again putting what is current practice into a written rule and most of the national model licensing standards for things the division was already doing and now some of them are not previously in the minimum licensing standards that were previously reviewed and those have been added and a lot of it was just a Leding language but the real intent there are no major there are no major changes the one exception I would add to that are some additional requirements around pools and but and again we did not receive any public comments from current resource parents we send those out I'm in can you elaborate on the pole change just so short. And since specifically requiring an enclosure if they don't have a standardized pool cover requiring an enclosure around the pool that is forty high and in for above ground pools requiring that any step ladders are and any other access to the pool is removed from the polls not in use those are a couple of examples there because unfortunately we have seen drawings of children and so we really felt for the safety of children these are necessary well that affect anybody who's currently. We did a survey at the time of their approximately one hundred and seven resource homes that have pools that's out of seventeen hundred resource from statewide M. the there wasn't an an initial version of this rule and the required the fence height to be five feet high we did get some push back there and so we actually brought this full back changed it to forty that aligns with most insurance carrier requirements as well as local ordinances and again on the reasons set out with these changes and we did not receive any comments at that time thank you. Are there any other questions. If not then without objection one second representative Hudson. Thank you and thank you just real quick because I was going through these can you walk me through a little bit what the difference is or what the reason is for for changing some of the standards for transitional living license facilities sure so and the Federal families and family first prevention services act that I mentioned it allows the state to claim federal forty dollars and four children for use I should say and supervise independent living facilities a big change with this federal and piece of legislation is really trying to move away from congregate care whenever possible and that was when carve out for these youth and supervise independent living and the right the these are actually and I and I invite my colleagues up here because this is technically and under the heirs and but and essentially the previous rags. The youth would have had to been and with that particular provider prior to the age of eighteen in order to go into their supervise independent living program and the change with that read it is that with this new placement type that we're providing for you then extended care and they can go straight into that even if they had not previously been with that provider. Are there any other questions. If not without objection the rule has been reviewed. Thank you thank you. Members are next item is item G.. Division of Children and Family Services. Yes I'm used to here okay yes. And this next role for review pertains to updates to child maltreatment investigations the book of these changes are pursuant to acts passed during the twenty twenty one legislative session and specifically ACT five fifty six and to make updates to the list of mandated reporters and to include any full time or part time employee of a public or private school Act two seventy which allows the department to make an active determination if unable to locate or identify the alleged offender or alleged victim and the report cannot be determined true or and substantiated without interviewing the alleged offender or alleged victim and finally eight ACT eight ninety six which ensures that adult offenders will remain permanently on the child maltreatment central registry if that'll offender is convicted of a criminal offense for an act or omission that constitute child maltreatment that conviction has not been reversed or vacated. And they are placed in the registry for severe maltreatment and other changes have been made in this packet so once again reflect current practice and a written rule such as guidance as it relates to legal representation for a child in foster care he was named as an alleged offender and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Members do you have any questions. C. none without objection rule has been reviewed. And go ahead out of state thank you. This next rules regarding providing information to you and gathering information information from resource parents pursuant acts three seventeen and eight fourteen of the ninety third General Assembly at three seventeen assist the Division and better supporting a resource parents by allowing certain information to be released to them regarding children who were previously placed in their home such as information meeting for needed for tax filing purposes. And in in when they have a legitimate a legitimate need for that information as determined by DCFS at eight fourteen requires. The resource parents be called as a witness when providing information to the court of vinyl tile placed in their home this helps to ensure consistency and what evidence is considered admissible and this will also makes clear that resource parents can transport children in foster care for an overnight stay or more outside the State of Arkansas with prior DHS approval at the DCFS without pay for vacation expenses and I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Members okay senator garner. He was chairman that traveled changes that was kind of the process before this and after was there any kind of may I know you explain again to details of how it works for practice versus host role sure and the primary change here is actually and that there was a sexual policy tucked away that tech that technically required court approval before a foster parent could travel with the child placed in their home and which is you know we charge these parents with serving at least the resource parents with serving as and the person standing in place of the parent so they do have to request approval from DHS so that we know where the child is at all times and the big change here is not requiring court approval for the foster parents to take them you know you can make it easier for them to take yes Sir okay that's correct thank you. Members are there any other questions. See none without objection the rule has been reviewed. Thank you. And we're on to. J.. Our final rule today for teens to youth aging out of foster care these rules also aligned Division policy with Act three sixteen in seven ninety one asked during the twenty twenty one and legislative session is revisions include streamlining the process for young adults to re enter foster care by not requiring a petition to be filed on their behalf in order to access services from DCFS that option to file for the item to file the petition still remains and this also makes the six month review hearing optional for you to participated and you participate in excess of foster care and again those are youth ages eighteen to twenty one let to stand up program in clarifying the participation in extended care does not impede or otherwise alter any right afforded to the use by virtue of their age of majority we've also updated the rule to come to reflect current practice as it relates to sponsors for youth in the state's extended foster care program sponsors are people preferably with whom the user already has a connection to provide support to the youth and assist the youth and budgeting therefore pay their monthly board payment that they receive from the Department and the policy requires background checks and more clearly outlines expectations of sponsors and again this is actually been the practice for many years but we wanted to formalize this guidance and to written role not be happy to take any questions okay members I never be passed over item hi was that the usual brief is on J.. And. You refer them out of my okay. Members we will that all of my. Yes we we we reviewed and I item I was information parents for tax filing purposes. Members you have any questions. Then without objection this rule has been refused. Now we'll go to item J. all right. And so I don't J. is our quarterly performance report and for the second quarter which covers the period of October one through December thirty first of last year and director Martin since her apology she is out of state on business today and so I I will not read the entire report to you and that I will hit a few highlights and as we go through the report. On page one of the quarterly performance report. This is the total number of reports of maltreatment received during the quarter at eight thousand two hundred fifty seven those reports to the hotline of those nineteen percent were assigned to see ACT an eighty one percent assigned to DCFS of the ones assigned to DCFS eighty two percent Arkansas were assigned to investigate a pathway in eighteen percent and a signed toward differential response pathway and as a reminder differential response is just that it's a different way of responding to child maltreatment reports that typically involve your lower risk maltreatment types and and the margin on the right in the blue you have a list there of the different qualifiers for and the differential response and an acceptance. On page two and at the top you have our percentage of investigations found true for both DCFS NC ACT you will see in the second quarter we did have a drop here we honestly do not currently have a conjecture as to why that might be and that is something that we will continue to monitor in forthcoming quarters. At the bottom of page two M. percentage of children interrelations of maltreatment. as it's been the case the case for quite awhile and the glass was the most common reported allegation and and therefore neglect the most common maltreatment type in those reports found true during the quarter. At the top of page three you have findings of our multiple reports involving fatalities or near fatalities so during this quarter there were two that were found true and twelve that are pending and as a reminder these are not necessarily families that had previous or current current involvement with the agency and that those would be included here also and that the law requires any child who died suddenly and unexpectedly it was not under the care of a physician at to be reported to the hotline. The chart just below that are R. D. R. and reports and we had about a twenty percent increase in reports assigned to the art during the second quarter and this may be in part due to you and school being in session for all three months during the quarter and though and the on that and no no official hypotheses as to why that increase happened once again something will continue to monitor. Moving on to page four. At the top timely initiation. we've essentially held steady here on is initiation rates for both priority one and priority two investigations party wonder typically are more severe maltreatment the required twenty four hour response ready to hear lesser and your lower risk allegations require a seventy two hour response and certainly not where we want to be but something that we continue to work on improving. Moving on and to page six. Which is the recurrence of maltreatment within six and twelve months and so once again really holding steady here in terms of those children who previously had a report to the hotline who within this quarter either six or twelve months Alex had another report to the hotline and I would point out that we are exceeding the national standard here. I'm moving into the next section which covers our in home services and starts on page seven. At the top there number of cases open at the end of the quarter so and for in home protective services cases again these are cases where and there has been a true finding of maltreatment in the home and that those and and it was not found to rise to the level of risk that warranted removal of the child from the home so we're working with the family with the children in the home and so at the end of the quarter on December thirty first there were two thousand seven hundred and forty two protective services cases in the state and that involves almost sixty four hundred children right. and so once again when you add those number along with their supporters Services case and the children we work with and differential response cases were actually working with more children in the home with their families than we are with children in foster care. And. Moving on to page eight monthly visits to our in home cases and unfortunately we continue to see a downward decline here and in and second quarter sixty three percent of those visits were made which is far below our goal of ninety five percent and in here we just really have to recognize the ongoing staffing issues we've had as a state and essentially since may of twenty twenty we have seen a downward and trend in terms of the positions and and right now statewide the Division has approximately two hundred and ten vacancies and throughout the state and and so and while we want to continue to improve and you see the impact of the staffing issues in these numbers here. And on the following page Page nine rate of entry into care. And this children and receiving support of a protective services case who then entered care within within a year that initiation of once again holding steady here and I'm showing that our in home services and prevent the vast majority of children from being re victimized or from entering foster care and then the following year. Page ten AM here we entrance the foster care section of the report and for a number of children in care at the end of the second quarter and we had four thousand six hundred sixty one and so really since the onset of the pandemic we have seen eight a a steady climb of Jordan and the number of children in foster care and the for the first time here we're starting to see that decrease a bit. And we are hopeful that Senate parts that is because we have seen and the somewhat slowing of the resignations of your receding and that that the big change here I think it will show at the chart of the bottom of page ten which compares the number of admissions with the numbers of discharges so and throughout the pandemic I am when you look at the data over the past two years we really have not been taking more children in the care than we previously had the challenge has been with some of the staffing issues we've already discussed and is that we have not been discharging children at the same rate that we had in previous years and this quarter is the first time in many quarters we actually see that returning to some sense of normalcy in that we had more discharges during this quarter than we had in missions and so that that is going to contribute to that overall decline in the number of children in care at the top of the and the chart the top of the page on page ten. And on page eleven reasons for entry into foster care and once again the glass is the most common reason that has held true for many many years and now child may have more than one reason for entry and so often times and the allegation of neglect allegation of substance abuse are very closely tied together. And subsidies in the second most common reason children into care. On the backends and in terms of children. Reasons children discharged from foster care at the bottom of page eleven and you know most of the time when a child enters foster care our goal is going to be reunification with the biological parents or the person from whom the child has been removed and and so we're happy to see that that that discharge reasons shows achieving this goal I'm reunification is the most common reason and the children are just charging from foster care and adoption being the second most common reason and I would mention here and to keep in mind that sometimes those are relatives adopting their own relatives children. In the third most common reason unfortunately our youth were aging out at age eighteen at eleven percent. Moving on to page twelve placement of children in foster care during this quarter and recommended the quarter rather and relative placement thirty eight percent of children were with relatives or fictive kin and fictive kin meeting someone with whom and the child has a positive relationship but they're not actually related by blood or marriage and this we just need to give kudos to our staff here and over the past five years and the percentage of children placed with relatives has has really increased exponentially and this is at the end of the quarter and as of February twenty eighth were actually at forty one percent of children placed with relatives statewide which is huge because the data shows that children who are placed with relatives that really lessens the amount of trauma they experience coming into care so very proud of our staff for going out in the middle of the night to assess these relative run the background checks and do a walk through of the home. And following that twenty seven percent of children placed in what we call our traditional resource homes and and so you know by and large when you add the relative placements and with our traditional foster homes trial home visits and are therapeutic foster care providers and in the vast majority of our children are placed on in a family like setting which is good because the data shows that kids placed with families placed in the family like setting have better outcomes than those placed in congregate care. And living on to page thirteen and here you have our monthly face to face visits by case workers to children in foster care and we are happy to see that we've improved here since the last quarter at seventy seven percent once again or we want to be honorable is ninety five percent and but this is also and so that staffing challenges and that I already mentioned impacting that rate. On page fourteen. M. are siblings in here who are placed together at the end of the second quarter seventy six percent of our children are placed with at least one sibling and fifty four percent replaced with all of their siblings and to something really strive for that sibling relationship is for most of us the longest relationship we'll have with anyone and the amount of comfort and support in place for the sibling can provide and to our kids and care is huge says something that we continue to work toward. Rate the top the chart at the bottom of page fourteen right of placement moves per one thousand days so this is our placement stability and we actually saw an improvement here right we we don't want a lot of placement needs and we're still not exceeding the national standard and that we are happy to see that and we're going down there in terms of the number of placement moves for and our youth in care. And on page fifteen. The permanency within twelve months of entering care. Unfortunately we have seen a decline here and we are below the national standard and once again this is going to be the impact of code and some of those corresponding staffing challenges in terms of the cases not being potentially work as quickly as they should and reaching that permits eagle letter that's reunification adoption guardianship et cetera. And at the bottom of page fifteen re entries in the care and this is something and you know a big jump here and relatively speaking and unfortunately not exceeding the national standard and I would mention this is not just when we have a unified with the families and those kids coming back and care this also includes valid options and and while certainly the field options that make up the bulk of this increase I would mention that within the last six months and we've had and thirty four failed adoptions and so told returning back to the state this could be rescinded options that could be adoptions that occurred many years ago and so as an agency we continue to focus on ways that we can provide support and imposed adopted stage. I can work on this. On page sixteen and some good news and number of children available for adoption this is decree this decreased in the second quarter and there are three hundred and seventy three children available for adoption and and really when you look at this number and there are some children in that three hundred and seventy three actually currently in their pre adoptive placements so they had essentially found their forever homes we just haven't gotten to that adoption hearing. And. At the bottom of page seventeen and length of time from TPR from termination of parental rights to the finalization of the adoption. And we've seen a decline here which is good and we're exceeding the national standard and some of you may have heard of our initiative called every day counts and that is if you goals of the Division set out for itself and that include schools for reunification as well as adoption really focusing on particularly for those children who are being adopted by their resource parents are being adopted by relatives really moving with a sense of urgency after that TPRs to get to that finalization hearing and so it's a good thing that we're seeing a shorter time there. And at the top of page eighteen and we had two hundred twenty nine adoptions finalized during the second quarter and which is in a big increase over the last quarter no part of this is because and national adoption month which falls on November falls during this quarter and we did have a hyper focus on finalizing this adoptions and with a lot of support from our incredible partners at project zero. At the bottom of page nineteen this is just a nice overall summary for the types of cases that we had during the quarter throughout the entire quarter and broken out by investigations differential response foster care et cetera so just gives you and a good overview of at the great work that our staff is doing overall with the number of kids and families with you and working. And second is it just highlights and I'll be happy to you attempt to answer any questions you may have. The members we have to serve on the queue we're going straight out with representive cloud. Thank you Mr chair and thank you miss Harper I'm over here. On Page three at the top just a question about. Where it says true child the talent these two and then pending twelve is this tied in any way with the external death review committee because I know that there's a whole lot more than two kids unfortunately that have succumbed. Yes Sir so for any help us how do we do have them review committee that looks at those and as a way to figure out you know what we have done better and what can we do systemically and to prevent child deaths. Okay so that specifically that number twelve of those are some that are so to speak in the queue of the external death review committee so this is the pending there is is that there's not been a determination oftentimes of the Taliban's maybe waiting on things such as medical records which may take a little bit of time or in this report may have come in at the tail end of December and so we just haven't reached that that completion time frame for the investigation to the pending is referring and to the finding for that particular report and but that yes are and review committee or death review committee does take a look at all child poverty related and that holidays and and your calories thank you. In center Hammer you're recognized mixer. Thank you Mr afternoon on page ten eleven I just need a little help understanding the bounce of the numbers. On the top page ten the number of children in foster care shows the decline over the four quarters. Your two page eleven it shows reasons for children entering in foster care and then the reasons for children discharged from foster care how do those and and then I read a note down to bomb on the tops is may one or more reason I'm having trouble balancing the numbers as far as the ones in the ones out against the decline that's represented on top Page ten shore so that overall decline and that can be that a child who was in care for any amount of time who is just charge during this task during that second quarter between October and December and your reasons for entry over here and those are children who just entered between between October and December which so there's not necessarily a one to one correlation between children entering in that quarter and the overall number of children in foster care. What makes sense thanks social on top Page ten is that the I mean is that the true number we need to be looking at as far as claim the victory that were seen the number of children. In foster care drop yes Sir yes Sir that's the total number of children in foster care and so that's an overall drop statewide in the number of kids in care. Okay and then on top Page eleven. Where it says one more reason do we do we know what what the duplication rate is. I don't have that in front of me and and I and to be perfectly honest I would have to talk with our data folks to see how you know if we could pull that to show fifty percent for example are built in a wet and substance abuse that be happy to follow up on that for you okay would because when I had L. let up that's eleven hundred sixty five and collect no it's true number is is sure if the if you know if it's only three hundred but it's split out over I'd like to get that if you don't mind absolutely thank you. In center Leding you're recognized. I'm sorry. Thank you Mr chair the look much better than Senator Leding. First of all let me say I'm I want to apply DHS for a the finalized adoptions I mean I know I've been through the process I think everybody here knows I've been through the process and I always like to apply DHS for finalizing any adoptions because I mean that's just just. That's good work and so But I do want to go back to something you said in regards to failed adoptions NO I think you covered on page fifty I think is fourteen fifteen I feel that the options Act. After the adoption is bill what is your process into going back through. going back over the case or or going back through I mean just reviewing because I'm I have a failed adoption in so I was really just kind of very passionate about our DHS dropped the ball you know in a couple of cases so what is the kind of the general review of of of the fella dashi cases sure well first I would say that we really try to do a lot of messaging before that adoption of a finalist how important it is for the adoptive parents to reach out when they do need that support whether that's respite letter it's counseling and because we do have resources that we can connect them so that we can prevent a failed adoption the first place and insert so that that is the first thing I would mention in the event that the adoptive here it really feels like that exhausted all resources and and that this that that option is just cannot continue in the child needs to return to care and you know we are adoption manager and other staff and you know. Typically people before we get to that point we have stacked it with the families that we really good at this sense of what's going on and and so that we can learn from those mistakes and and it's not necessarily mistakes right but just generally ways to do things better and so and because it's M. as in about something that we want and for children or for families for that matter to the top of the children and so we do try to take a close look at that are continually trying to find ways and for other services or supports that we could to prevent and the ballot options at all possible okay so we are reviewing each case on me either a supervisor or director whatever yes Sir I mean typically when we have a failed adoption and you know the local staff will be there and the typically those are gonna be raised up to the central office and so we'll have for example and not not will depend depending on certain certain circumstances with the case but it is not uncommon for artists assistant director over mental health treatment services to be involved our system director over placements to be involved in some of their team members and city figure out what if anything we can do and to prevent a failed adoption and if that's not possible again seeing how we can learn from that and and possibly seek out other services and to prevent those in the future okay and then the last thing is you mentioned staffing issues thank you mention on page A. one one of the you say you had over two hundred positions that were on field. What are what are some of the reasons why we're having those positions going to notice the pay isn't I mean I months. Tell us in his I mean it this position is important as far as the care of our kids yes Sir. And so talk to us about them sure I think it's a number of things and I will mention at the outset that we have done several things around workforce recruitment retention to try to help retain staff and that has included offering AT and. Differential pay for when staff are on standby and that has been hard for staff especially our staff with families of their own when they have to be on call right and we have an implemented a career service ladder so for a family service workers a case workers who have been with the agency for three years or more and they can now request consideration and to become and a family service worker specialist which is one grade higher and so ten percent increase their if granted and there is an application process to that to that is not a given it does require at least one letter of support from community partners whether that's an ad lite M. Acosta a judge of biological parents and and and we've also and and. Excuse me and so those are just a couple of examples of things he tried to retain workforce and in terms of why people are Leding and I do think the pandemic and has been just like it has everyone and how it has affected that and in terms of the situations that our workers have to go into and and and then our our staff and I have so much respect for them and they go into some incredibly traumatic situations and I think even though we try to talk to them about secondary trauma and and try to support them the best we can for some people after time that takes a toll and now that said we've had some some people with agency for well over twenty years but and the circumstances in which our staff to go into you and you know sometimes you know that they have to step away from that and so that certainly and some of the job stressors and again being on call for a certain period of time that is something that we've seen has impacted turnover. And ends and even though we have done things to help with the pay issue you know often times you know they may have other job opportunities that they offer or pay and not require them to be on call and not a party to go into some of these very difficult situations it's it's an X. factor but there's a number of factors that impacted and it COVID has not helped in terms of the stress that's provided. Thank you thank you Mr. Representative Springer you're recognized. Thank you Mr good afternoon good afternoon my ears open up when I heard to say that there were two hundred and ten vacancies within your division and I think director Martin and mention that the last time she was here that they're worse a number I don't know if it was two hundred dollars is it more now than it is about the same probably the last time she was here is when we did the report and that is responsive at five seventy four and I think that the number within that report was a hundred ninety eight and so as to a slight increase but it continues to be a challenge certainly folk we filled some of those but as with all those other people leave rate and so so slight upticks and she was last year would be my best cast for basing it off the number it was in the at five seventy will report but overall still a challenge for sure so what what kind of plan do you have in place to address that can tell us about that sure sure and so one thing that we've done differently is having hiring events particularly in those counties are we have a really high level of turnover or and a significant amount of vacancies and is hiring eleven are and you know within one day and we have assistance from our human resources department and with those interviews and processing the paperwork and so that you're able to do multiple interviews in one day and we're very excited next week actually will be the first time we do hiring events where we are also reporting to you on that same day be able to offer the position contingent upon a drug screen and so one thing that we've also seen is sometimes in the amount of time it takes to do some of the paperwork and processes they've accepted another job somewhere else and so again next week will be our first time trying that offer on the same day intention of the drug screen so we're hopeful that that will help to a certain extent with with the hiring process yes thank you and I'll be looking forward to hearing the successes as a result of it thank you yes ma'am this is low. Sure you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair I've got just a few questions I'm going to start with the dumbest question hopefully move up from there. This is all referring to the second quarter of but it's of the fiscal year so that we're talking about October November December of twenty twenty one that's correct okay. In the report there's several places where it references a national standard as opposed to the national average and I was just wondering if you could explain that and I'll be honest M. J. would at one point in my life I would've been able to give that to you before an official definition I wanted to speak and so that would be happy to get that definition to you later this okay that's that's fine I'm I'm making at a gas that an average is just an average of all the states in a standard of some other criteria or or measure that some group of experts has. Again I hesitate to speak on their or their internationally we send that data to the children's bureau I'm what is call after hours in the foster care side and enhanced data which is and at the front end of the system I believe or those are coming from that from that data that again I will give you an official definition later this week thank you and like many of my colleagues I was concerned when you talk about the number of agencies in the division of and. It manifested itself at least and my hearing of what you said in the required monthly visits and home cases. Is that where the impact his greatest or or or where else does that have a an impact when we're talking about. I mean I I don't think you can tied to one specific points and so certainly that is its R. one piece and that's for in home in foster care although we did see a slight increase in the rate of monthly visits to kids in care and but you also saw it in terms of the and time in which is seeking to achieve permanency right and so and it's and it's mostly tied to staff early in the pandemic we also have an issue with services and some service providers and that's why we were in achieving that read a permanency that we wanted and I think at this point in terms of services much of that has been resolved and it is largely tied to staffing and staffing and staff just having the capacity to get out there and in many cases because of the concedes you have staff and one county they're actually carrying cases from several other counties because there is no staff there and so it's not just seeing kids that traveling pretty extensive distances and some of your role counties and being able to make those that is the unfortunately. Okay thank you for that I would be curious just for my own. Education and for a benchmark of sorts you know just using this one as an example or any other measures we think there's been the biggest impact like for example the required monthly visits income cases what the percentages were pre pandemic sure we can get that for you know just out of curiosity and and so that my last. What kind of come in which is really more of a comment and a question so I served on on the this committee when I was in the house which I enjoyed and so I've been reviewing you know these reports often on for about seven years and of all the reports that legislators received this one is as well put together Is any that we review and I'm I'm very it's it's put together in a way that we can digest and there's a lot of information here and so I really appreciate that maybe one thing I would. But at least I would be interested in. Is that not every measure in here but there are a few in here that I would be interested to see the progress not just on a quarter to quarter basis but on a year to year basis like for example the number of children in foster care so we have we have the last four quarters in here but I would be curious to see that number on an annual basis going back five or seven or eight years you know there's probably a few others in here that I think would be helpful to us we could see that that data tracked over a period of years rather than just each quarter of the last year absolutely we do have our annual report cards which and take all four quarters right and give it an over that year long period and so the happy to get those going back a few years for you all right thank you so much. Bills will said senator. Join very Sir you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman and thank you miss Harper for being here just an incredible briefing a lot of talking and I'm sure you're getting a little thirsty just for the record I noticed that the deputy director showed up after you got all the work done but I will say Mr white the she's just an incredible job thanks for all the support information my question relates to appendix B. back on page twenty four. And. And I think I know the answer for you know you look at Bradley County and they have fifty five of the case load is fifty five point five you have about eight counties surrounding or close to that that have it is that due to the number of case workers we may not have case workers over the shake County or Calhoun County yes Sir that that's exactly the issue and so basically and I've heard this average and workload considers where the workers housed and so with the example of Bradley County and there's currently one worker there and in the amount of children in here and around the county is pretty low and the issue is that because of other sappy agencies that worker is also has children assigned to her from Lincoln Jefferson independence and three counties some of those are what we call secondary assignments and meeting and she's not taking lead on for example the court reports and or if the keys clean but because of her locations use relatively close into doing a lot of that leg work doing some of those monthly visits or talking about and into the impact there is and where you see some of these outliers and red is for the most part and that's because there's maybe want one or two workers and are also assisting with other counties so I guess what was concerning to me is that you have a tendency there just like an probation parole the caseload is extremely high and so these children especially may not be getting all the attention because there's only so much time at that one worker has an and Bradley County but you mentioned earlier about recruiting drives so you're recruiting these are licensed social workers that correct no Sir it's not actually and in fact the bulk of our and frontline staff or not social workers and but in terms of degree okay so what is the credentials. And this is actually another example of something that we've done and to help with our recruitment pre and as of and and I apologize for not to remember the exact date but it's been coming up on a year I believe and there were some very specific degree types that were outlined and however we open that up and just because while on one hand we do you want those folks with a social work background some of our best at that we have and you know don't come from that background and so we didn't want to open up based on I mean didn't want to and deny anyone employment based on every alone and so that has been one thing that we've done and to you and increase the pool of applicants that we have and so that that is one example there okay thank you and thank you Mr chairman. In center Hammer sure you're recognized. Thank you Mr a couple quick ones the at and maybe it was hit in accordance with listen well enough but the forty positions that we you know allowed for place you can give us a quick update on where we are in that what time so so I did not include that number in our own number of vacancies just because it's a little bit of a different animal rights causes are new positions to the to DCFS and it's so it's it's it's been a struggle and so most of those and have been assigned to Pulaski because as you know Pulaski has had the most challenges the starts with staff turnover it's it's accident over a hundred percent in the last couple of years in Pulaski and and so some of those higher eleven that I mention it have occurred to date is and then some of those new positions but sometimes finding the right person for the job and has been a challenge we are working toward filling this okay so let me ask you I can't remember that legislation or that you know we gave you permission did we limit that to place the county because I'm looking at the map on page twenty four you got real hot spots in a few the counties do we limit you to question county or could you would that help any if you and I know it's a model I know it's a prototype but would there be any rationale and maybe there's something Mr Martin each come back in address if you were to given that latitude to those for hot spot counties and it's definitely something that we can look at and the legislation did not specify at last the county and that has been our major cause of concern and but and that I'm sure director Martin would love to come back and discuss that that piece okay and then one other thing on page twenty. Page twenty six at the bottom. Regarding foster homes that are being being lost Where where is it in the report as far as the number that we're gaining against the number foster homes were losing sure just a moment. And it's so that is going to be on page twenty at the bottom of page twenty. You have their number foster homes open and closed during the quarter and so during the second quarter and we did have a net gain and a seventy two okay and then back on page twenty six the the foster family decisions broken down in three choices provider request. And then provider services no longer needed the the provider request that's that's just they didn't give a reason they just said Hey we're done we're out here or is that kind of a I mean in terms of what's documents in the system and it's just provider request means certainly he went into an individual case review and there there would be more information there but as far as what's caption or system it's it's just that provider request and and how is it that we no longer need provider services that they that we would close because those two together to make the biggest grouping of the numbers of the homes the close what's what's the explanation for services no longer needed sure and to be honest I'll have to and I'll have to get back to you on that on that piece okay if you just purchased it off line can get it for me please yes Sir thank you Mr. This opportunity to really good job today thank you appreciate it appreciate your time in I see no further questions for me by some of your dismissed thank you. This is. Major Sir. And so if you will identify yourself. You will commit to include the quarterly and with the and. Okay so you're only one or C. I'm sorry major Jeffrey Arkansas state police crimes against children division the only one then the annual as opposed to the quarterly. The B. finds. Are you in your inner annual report. You look on page two of the show the comparison for the previous five years of twenty seventeen eighteen to twenty twenty one. You see we had sixty three thousand and eighty five calls in twenty one which was an increase of five thousand five hundred and nineteen from the previous year there were a total of thirty five thousand twenty seventeen because except for investigation per CACD in DCFS an increase of three thousand six from the previous year. On page four we just reflect reflect the totals and on page five it there will be a a breakdown by month in category of those calls received. Page six will be a comparison of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one. And pages seven through ten. That will be a break down of the document missed miscellaneous categories listed on page five. Page eleven skews me allow for statistics by priority levels. On page twelve and thirteen co is a priority one allegations by month. An allegation type tolls these categories that were listed on page eleven and you have the same thing on page fourteen and fifteen for priority to allegations as listed on page eleven. And on page eighteen. In nineteen reflects the quarterly breakdown of CACD investigations SEC close six thousand one hundred seventy seven which two thousand twenty six were found true would substantiation rate of thirty three percent. As as the annual report. Members are there any questions. Any comments okay. You're very sure you're recognized. Thank you Mr chairman and major so your are you still having issues in recruiting and retention and not your case workers. The case work is a pretty good the problem we have and now is the hotline we present allocated thirty five positions there of operators right now will have nineteen of those fields. And the what do you attribute that to isn't the I know it's a low grade pay scale. But is that primarily the reason. For the most part yes Sir that in the hours it's twenty four seven operation and bring somebody into the at the GS four position at the pay rate and then it it's also of the owner pretty good training feel as far as maltreatment as for the US recruiting for infection investigators as well as the CFS research in one final question has the the secretary public safety addressed any of those issues Barger staffing problems that you're having yes Sir will present a revaluation trying to see what we can do to make that position more appealing yes Sir thanks for service and thank you Mr chan. In center Hammer sure you're recognized. Like this year and maybe had not what will do for the back if if the can answer questions all the true finding the numbers represented in true findings. Which is two thousand twenty six right and I quote the right number. Or what you yes okay we're all those taken into foster care. I'm not sure which ones are taken in the foster care that wouldn't be something that we we would keep count of a bill a number that you have seeking DCFS. Mr correct. Three eight Christian backup table I'd like to know how many of those true finding their way back from the way in the foster care if she knows or mark knows. Yes Sir we will. You're not thanks not on. And I don't have that data with me today and the terms of the number true and reports and that that CACD had and the corresponding number of removals that were done with that and I think I can get with our data folks to see what we can pull for you in that regard okay here's a look at the allegations. That resulted in true findings are those the ones listed on page eighteen of of the report. Major. This sort of the breakdown is listed below. Okay I can like if you don't mind if we I'd like to see the crossroads the cross reference between the number of true findings done by The crimes against children division and how many of those ended up taking in foster care because I mean I don't there's a few on there that much slide but a lot of those are pretty severe once on this year's for their account for please. Absolutely we can get that information and the one thing I would mention is just to keep in mind and that some of those reports are going to be on your out of home with Anders and so there's a true finding and because the center was out of home but if that Senator no longer has access to the child or other things have been put in place that would be just one example and the why there would be a true determination even on a CACD investigation that we did not remove the discount offered as a point of information are thank you thank you Sir. Members are there any other questions. We do thank you for being here today Sir good report your dismissed thank you Sir. Members do you have any comments or any questions that's our last the. Person to to brief us. Seeing none we are just.