Children & Youth Committee- Senate & Aging, Children & Youth, & Legislative Affairs- House
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- October 2, 2026
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
3:55
Members, if you want to go ahead and take your seats, we're gonna go ahead and get started, um, so with that I'm gonna call the committee to order. Cher his
quorum. Um, let's go ahead and start with the consideration of the minutes. So members, we're gonna have to do this a little bit differently, exhibit be one of your packet, um, or Senate, um, minutes, committee minutes only, so only the members of the Senate will be able to vote on those. Uh, so with that I will entertain a motion from the
Senate to approve the minutes for exhibit B1. I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion on those? Uh, wait a
second, you're not on the committee, Senator Flippo. Uh, so I have a motion and
I have a second, uh. Yes, so with that, any discussion, Senator Flippo, would you like to have a discussion? OK.
See no discussion, all in favor say aye. All right, nope, not hearing any oppose. Thank you, uh, members
going to exhibit B2. This is the joint committee. Uh, so I can entertain motions from
either side. Uh, I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion on the motion? See none all
in favor say aye. Thank you. And no opposed. All right, exhibit B3, this is for the Senate only, uh, Senator Flippo, I appreciate your effort, but I'll ask you not to make this motion, uh, but exhibit B3 in minutes, um, for the December 4th meeting. I'll
entertain emotion. I have motion, I have a second, any discussion, see none, all in favor say aye. And you pose. All right. Um, and then exhibit B4. This is for the Friday, December 6th meeting. Uh,
Senate only, I'll entertain a motion from the Senate. I have a motion. I have a second. Any discussion on
the motion. See, none all in favor say aye. All right, thank you. I, I would ask the committee to, to wake up on my side a little bit, uh, see
the, the house is here all bright-eyed. So, uh, members with that, we're gonna move to item C,
uh, Department of Human Services Division of Children and Family Services, and this is rules pertaining to safety and risk management and technical revisions, uh, do we have, there she is, if
you would please come to the table, recognize yourself for the record, and you may proceed. Good morning. I'm Amber Sartain.
Speaker 9
6:30
I'm an assistant director with the division of Children and Family Services up today for review this morning, the rule packet that we have reflects current practice in DCFS as it relates to safety and risk management. This will also reflects language changes as a result of Act 364 of the 94th General Assembly, such as replacing the terms protection plan with immediate safety plan. There are also some technical changes throughout the packet as well to know operational changes. With the division, some removal
of internal procedures and some general formatting, um, formatting purposes are also included. There is no fiscal impact. We didn't receive any public comments during the public comment period, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Our members
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
7:16
you've heard a presentation, um, any questions? OK, uh, see no questions,
um. Then I will entertain a motion to review the rule. I have a motion. I have a 2nd.
Any discussion See none all in favor say aye. Can you pose? Thank you the. Rus review. Thank you. All right, let's go down to item D, Department of Human Services Division of Children and Family Services, and this would be, uh, the quarterly performance reports. Let's, let's just hear the most recent report, if
you would, director, thank you, and you would. Recognize yourself for the record, you may proceed.
Speaker 16
8:02
Good morning. I'm Tiffany Wright. I'm the director for the division of Children and Family Services. And, um, so if you'll go to the book that you have that says 3rd quarter, which will be um January 1st through March 31st. That is the book that I'll be um reviewing this morning with you all and then just as a reminder, if we talk about, if you want to know about your specific county or area in the state, the map on the front provides the outline for those um specific
Speaker 17
8:28
counties and areas and how we break them up at DCFS.
Speaker 16
8:35
On page one, during this quarter, um, there were a total of 8,154 child maltreatment reports accepted at the Toabuse hotline, 6,677 of those were accepted and assigned to DCFS, um, 5090 of those were um accepted for investigation in 10587 of those were assigned to differential response. On page 2 at the top of the page 2, you'll see the chart around, um, the percentage of
Speaker 17
9:06
investigations that were found true um during this quarter, and you can also see the 1st and 2nd quarter, which are separate books that you have in front of
Speaker 16
9:17
you today. At the bottom of page 2, you can see um what the number one, or breakdown of the allegation types and what we were finding true for, so 62% of our maltreatment reports were found true for neglect, followed by 24% of physical abuse. If you go to page 4, you will
Speaker 17
9:38
find, um, the chart around the timeliness of initiating investigations as well as the bottom of that page, you'll find, um, the timeliness of closure for both of these, um, graphics, we continue to monitor and watch these, um, these are, um, both initiations and timely closure are important to ensuring safety of children. Um, we've been working with drilling down into specific areas of the state to drill down. and determine exactly what we're
finding related to initiations and um. What we are seeing is while we got better for a little bit on, um, timeliness of initiation. We are still seeing continued turnover as well as, um, when staff are turning over, then reports are, um, Old, old reports are not the priority. The new reports are the priority so that we can ensure safety of kids and so we're continuing to focus on this with our staff across the
state, uh, recently convened our investigations team and um reviewed some of this data with them and had
Speaker 16
10:47
conversations about what they're seeing, um. Across the state. If you go to page 6, at the top of page 6. This is reoccurrence of maltreatment within 6 and 12 months, um, and so right now, um, 6%, uh, we're seeing a reoccurrence of maltreatment within within 6% of our cases, um, but we do remain below the national standard.
At the top of page 7 for in-home cases, you'll see um that we
Speaker 17
11:19
currently are at the end of the quarter had 1,512 in-home cases as a reminder in home cases are those cases where we are serving children and families in the home with
Speaker 16
11:32
their parents and providing services to ensure safety and monitoring, that does involve 3500 children. On page 8, at the bottom you'll see the monthly home visit, so
that's DCFS staff going out and visiting. Um, this is actually the highest in 4th quarters we have been working
Speaker 17
11:52
on this, um, as a team across the state, and so we're continuing to make progress on that. At the top of um page 9, and you will see the, uh, victimization rate amongst children who have received protective and supportive services cases. Again, this is a number that we monitor to ensure and follow that the services we're providing and the families that
were providing support to that, um, we're providing the right services and
Speaker 16
12:21
ensuring that kids are safe and, and really monitoring when we're making decisions. Um, at the top of page 10, moving into foster care, uh, you'll see the continued decline in kids in foster care and the bottom will show you entries and discharges, so we're we're we are, um, have
Speaker 17
12:40
just almost the same amount of kids entering as exiting permanency is important
across the state, um, for kids who enter ensuring timely permanency. um, so we follow that pretty closely. At the top
Speaker 16
12:56
of page 11, you will see the entries, um, into, into foster care and those entry reasons and as a reminder, a child could enter foster care
Speaker 17
13:05
for more than one reason. At the bottom you'll see, um, the discharge reasons for children, um, exiting foster
Speaker 16
13:14
care, 40% this quarter were reunification followed by 25%
adoption, um, and you can see the rest of the chart there. On page 12, uh, you will see that, um, over 78% of the children in foster care or in a family-like setting, so this could be with a relative with a fictive skin and a foster home, um, or in a therapeutic foster home on a child home visitor in a pre-adoptive placement. And um at the
Speaker 17
13:44
bottom, the number one goal for permanency goal for kids in foster remains 48%.
Speaker 16
13:52
At the top of page 13, my monthly visits to children in foster care where um 85% at the
Speaker 17
13:58
end of 3rd quarter. Again, this has been another priority for the division, ensuring that we're seeing kids in foster care and um we're continuing to trend up, and then at the bottom of that chart in the middle of
Speaker 16
14:12
the page, you'll see 93% of those, uh, children were seen by any member of DCFS. On page 14, um, siblings placed
together, 75% of the kids in the state are placed together with their siblings. At the top of page 15 you will see permanency within 12 months because we know permanency has to
Speaker 17
14:35
be a priority for the division, ensuring that as um children are in our care, we can safely and swiftly move them to permanency and so we are starting to trend up on timely permanency as well. Bottom of page 15 would be, um,
is related to preventing reentries in the foster care, so, um, are the kids that were reunifying remaining at home when the decision is made to reunify, um, and currently at the end of 3rd quarter, we were at 5.9%, which remains below the national standard. On page 16 at the top, the
Speaker 16
15:14
number of children available for adoption, um, at the end of the quarter was 197, um, total kids, that also includes children who
may be adopted by their relatives. And then at the top of page 18, um, we finalized 121 adoptions, um, 40% of those were with relatives this quarter, um, and 34% of those children were over the age of 10, which shows that the work that, um, together that we've been doing is working related to moving our older children and youth to permanency, um. And that is all I have on this report.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
15:56
OK, so I have a question before we go to questions from members, um, thank you for
the report. Thank you for being here. Uh, so I, I was looking through all the different reports on page 24 of that where it shows caseload average by county. Um I was just looking through there and so maybe you can help me figure out the rhyme or reason as to the fluctuation we see in some, some of these counties like, for instance, uh, Bradley County in the, uh, March 31,
2025 has, uh, 17, but then you go back and, uh, last year in December 31, there was 22. And then if you go back, um, September 30, 24, there's 0, and that's just one example. I is there any particular reason? why you see that that fluctuation amongst counties. Yeah, so, um, it's all dependent upon
Speaker 27
16:46
turnover that we have within the workforce. So if there are staff, um, in that county, and then if there's not, so we could, we could move
Speaker 17
16:57
counties to, we can move cases to other counties so that they can be worked, um, also, this is all cases. So when, um, like when you have investigations that a lot of investigations have invested more maltreatment reports are coming in, case. go up, if kids are not discharging from foster care caseloads go up and so it just moves, but also as we have workforce struggles, we have to move cases to ensure that they're being worked, so kids are safe and so we do that we do that pretty frequently. So on
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
17:30
the September 3024 report, um, where it says 0, that,
that just means that we did not have, um, a caseworker there, someone who's working that case. That's, that's, that's right, that case was
Speaker 27
17:39
probably moved to a neighboring money, which is why, like, so in the area, it could
Speaker 17
17:43
have went down to Cleveland, it could have went over to, um,
Chair
Unverified
17:47
Dallas. It just depends upon where the staff are real as in relation to what we have going on in those cases. I may have a couple of follow-ups, but I want
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
17:55
to get to members, uh, Representative Wardlaw, you're recognized for a question.
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
18:00
Thank you, Mr. Jared, you kind of hit on most of my questioning, but recently we've had an influence in cases in Bradley County, and
some of them have been really complex, and I know you can't talk about the cases, we're not gonna ask those questions, but what I am going to ask, I UAMS called me. For the last 6 months about a particular case in Bradley County, and they said that in all the schools that they work in. When they see a case, they call in and it's worked ASAP and you guys do a good job, but in
Bradley County for some reason, those cases never get worked. And that's a neglect to the constituency that I serve and the folks of Bradley County and, and I want to know why. And when you look at these case numbers, you look back to the September and it's at 0, and then it goes at 22.75, which I'm guessing is an average because I've never seen a 0.75% of a case. And then it goes to 17. So kind of walk me through how many staff are located there at that DHS office under your direction,
and walk me through why that complaint was made about our particular area in South Arkansas. We understand that y'all forget that we're still in Arkansas, but we are. And we need our people taken care of just as well as anybody else in the state of Arkansas. So I, I don't we don't forget
Speaker 27
19:18
about Bradley County at DCFS. They're important to us to,
Speaker 17
19:21
um, I don't have the number of staff in that county, but I can give you a breakdown of the number of staff today to talk about staff in the counties and you don't have the
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:29
numbers. I don't have it broken down by a worker with,
Speaker 17
19:34
with me, I could probably pull it up on my computer if we, but I don't
Chair
Unverified
19:38
have the number of staff in that county right now today. Before you leave this
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
19:42
building today, we need to sit down. OK. Or
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
19:48
of, I think, um, great minds think alike and that, I, I just saw those numbers and it struck me. All right, Representative McClure, you're recognized for a question. Thank you. And yes, you've answered
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
19:57
most of my questions, but I want to bring your attention to Hot
Spring and Grant County. Which is only the opposite end of the spectrum with extremely
high numbers and I'm assuming you're going to reply that it's staffing and you're in a process of staffing where are we in that and then how far are we going to get behind on? All
Speaker 16
20:20
the services while we're waiting. So I would say we're not necessarily getting behind
Speaker 17
20:25
on services, but we are, we are having to pull staff from multiple counties over, um, to help cover those cases and work the cases, um, as well as we've had staff from other areas of
the state come in and help out in different counties when we, um, are navigating what's happening with the turnover. We are hiring people as quickly as we can, um, get them hired. We HHS did a hiring event, uh, DCFS was able to get 6 people hired. Um, I'm not sure if those were exactly part of that county or not, but I could give that to you, um, and then I, you know, we just keep, we always have to monitor the workloads and what's going on with the turnover,
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
21:10
being around this foster care thing for a long
time. I understand that the case load and, and the workers is a consistent turnover rate. It's always a challenge. When I see 47 versus 21 being maybe a national average. With the people that you're pulling in. Is that getting it back down closer to the 21 on the temporary. Place or is it just? Are those caseworkers that are coming in from different
counties now overloaded on both sides and only these two counties reflect
Speaker 17
21:45
it, so we try when we do bring in staff, we try not to bring them in, um. To overload the uh their county, right? So we have to be very strategic about that, which is why we try not to do that all the time, like that's not a common practice. Um, we have sent staff from our central office program managers to out to help as well, um, but also this is where we rely and the heavily with our community
partners who are out in the community supporting some of the work and working with parents as well because they're seeing families too and can help us navigate referrals for services and that kind of thing. So So I don't know if I really answered the question, um, but we try, we wait until the very last minute before we start pulling staff from other states because we know, um, historically over the years that that doesn't always solve the
Speaker 29
22:35
problem because then you send other counties down, um, into crisis as well. OK, 11 quick
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
22:43
comment and then and have you, as you project out, I don't know that you're aware or you possibly you are. There is a population growth, especially in the northern northeast part of Grant County and in North, I mean Northwest Grant County and northeast, uh, Hot Spring County. So the number of people that you have traditionally served in those two counties are going up, and we anticipate it to go up for the next few years. So just keep that in mind as you plan out,
so we do a workload, we try to do a workload analysis, um, every
Speaker 16
23:13
quarter to balance out. staffing, supervision ratio to make sure that we're, we're looking at
Chair
Unverified
23:20
the right people in the right spot, the number of people in the right county. You're welcome. So, I have a
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
23:29
question and I'll, I'll go to Representative Tosh here in just 1 2nd. The pay plan that was
recently passed, do we anticipate that helping, uh, with the shortage.
Speaker 16
23:44
Yeah, I, yes, I hope so, um, I, we, um, looked at our retention, um, I pulled
Speaker 17
23:49
it at the end of April, and we have actually, it's getting better, it's improving again, uh, meaning that we're, we're turning over from 60% to 48%, which is much better. And so I'm hoping that with the pay plan going into effect, we'll be able to recruit people as well as maintain people who may be holding on. OK. Um I know that's not Senator
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
24:14
Hester, but it is, uh, Representative Tosh, Representative Tosh you recognized. Thank you,
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
24:20
Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you. I know I'm not a member of the committee and thank you for allowing me to ask this question. I just want to make sure that I understand who's conducting the investigations. And I was I listening a while ago when you gave your report back on page 2, the number of uh sexual abuse, uh, investigations that's being conducted, I'm assuming, uh, the way you explained that was by
your by the investigators with DHS is the way I took that so what. I'm trying to be sure of, on a sexual abuse case, who's actually the, are y'all conducting those investigations? Are you turning those over to, uh, CACD, uh, crimes against Children's division with the Arkansas State Police. I thought they would, I thought that's the type of cases they investigated, so I was just trying to make sure I understood who's the lead. Agency is when it comes to these types of sexual abuse
Speaker 16
25:16
investigations, how do y'all handle that? So you're more severe maltreatment, which would include, um, some sexual abuse. It does
Speaker 17
25:23
go to crimes against children division, and then if CACD requests DCFS complete a health and safety assessment that point we would become involved with the investigation. So most, I
Speaker 22
25:32
would say most are going to CACD. OK, that's what I wanted to be sure
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
25:38
of. Your agency is not investing those type of serious crimes. You're actually, when you get that call, you're turning those over to CACD is,
is, is that what you just said? They're a
Speaker 16
25:50
signed at the hotline. so when the, when the call comes in from the child abuse hotline. It is assigned either to DCFS or CACD. OK, thank you. Representative Graham, like,
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
26:03
you are. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um. Really just, I mean I've had, I've
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
26:06
had people contact me in the last few days talking about a lot of our foster care workers and stuff like that. My big question is,
Speaker 60
26:13
should we talked a little bit about retention and there's monetary component. Is
there anything else we're doing like specifically that is we're actively trying to increase retention in our people because I know it's a revolving door. If I talk to anyone who's been in in the um in the department for a while, that's the constant issue. So besides us increasing pay, what are other things that you all are doing specifically to
Speaker 17
26:36
increase your tension among these workers, so the course of the last several years we've done other, um, monetary things to support their, to support their work, um, as well as we've been been exploring ways that we support
them through, um, for example, secondary trauma, um, and we, um, implemented and have trained some of our workforce in something called Cert, which is a secondary trauma, um, they have enjoyed that training, the feedback we've gotten is they have enjoyed and learned something from that, so we're discussing ways that we do, um, enhance. and provide that to all staff. Um, we also are um starting to explore, we've heard from our frontline staff about new staff training and what that looks like and how that, if it was
different, it may be able to help them more so that they can build longevity and so we're exploring ways that new staff training is more appropriate for them, um, right now it is a long training, um, and the feedback we're getting. I they would like something different and um that sets them up for more success. And so that and then just being, um, and as well as when I say new staff, I'm also talking about the supervisors as well, because supervisors are critical to the work that those frontline staff
are doing. And so how do we support supervisors and give them the skills that they need, um, to support the frontline workforce. So we're, we're talking about training, we're talking about the mental health components, um, then the monetary is coming and then just being present and remembering what the work is like, so we visit county offices, my team visits, um, to see what's going on, how can we support them, um, here systems barriers they might be having things that we can change.
Speaker 63
28:21
All right, uh, Vice Chair Bentley, you're recognized. Thank
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
28:24
you, Chairman. Representative Gram like asked pretty much what I was wanting to ask, but do we know what other states are as far as retention goes, if they're where we are at 48 to 60%. Do
Speaker 65
28:36
you know that? Um, not off the top of my
Speaker 17
28:39
head. I know there are some states that have, um, are doing, um, much better than we are 25, 30%, and there are states who are experiencing the same things that we are related to high amount of turnover. Um, it is
Chair
Unverified
28:51
different, it is different depending on where. you're
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
28:55
at, so those states that are doing well at 25%, do we know what they're
Speaker 27
29:00
doing that we're not doing that we might be able to implement at all. Some of them have very small caseloads,
Speaker 17
29:07
um, they're able to retain staff, um, the things that we've been doing um related to permanency and prevention and and those different um efforts in, within the whole um scope of the work, not just focused on, um, the workloads, but like
changing the value of the work, those things. So, It's kind of a mix, it's kind of all the things that we've been doing, it's just we need to keep doing these, the things that we've been working on in our state and keep moving forward. Um, I think you see more turnover with your foster care staff cause those cases are harder, um, it's a much more to navigate, um, and so. You see more turnover with them. And so like how do
Speaker 16
29:45
we keep that effort moving forward and wrapping around them and giving them the support that they need.
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
29:53
OK, thank you. I think we continue to pursue
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
29:57
that. Thank you. All right, uh. Georgie Leader Beatty, you're
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
30:03
recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I guess my question is, do you, you conduct exit interviews with all your employees when they leave. Um,
Speaker 74
30:11
DHS does exit surveys with them, yes. OK. Um, and I
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
30:15
heard you talk about the staff telling you that the training you have currently. They're not happy with. That's right, but I, I heard you also
say we're talking about it. Can you provide this committee because it's gonna be asked later in another committee, more definitive information on what you're doing other than talking about
Speaker 27
30:38
it and what steps you're taking. Yes. So we are working with our partnership, um, at the you of
Speaker 17
30:44
um A, and we've started some work groups with staff, um, to talk, we've started work groups to explore what is working well, what's not working well. Well, um, we're listening, we're putting workers on those work groups, and we, we started that, um.
The beginning of April and so the work groups are working, um, we've been exploring curriculum in other states, um, what they use, so Utah uses, um, some virtual trainings, um, they use some like on the ground where they go to certain locations and see what it's like when they're going to be
Speaker 62
31:13
responding. So we have been exploring what's been going on around, around in other states to enhance our training. Well, I just think it's important that
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
31:21
the staff you have, you have a turnover issue and, and retention of employees. And if they're telling you not happy
Then you, you probably need to tune in and listen to exactly what they're saying and take some steps, and I think this problem would just the attention and knowing that, that you're actually listening, uh, should help in that area. But I, I'm gonna want to see more definitive information on what you're doing, um, so word to the wise. Thank you.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
31:51
Thank you. All right, Representative Henley, you're recognized. Thank you,
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
31:56
Mr. Chair. Do you have, um, a chart or percentages
on the increase in juvenile crime, particularly in Southwest Arkansas, uh, based on the case load that's not being worked. I don't. I don't think that would be something good to look into?
Speaker 27
32:14
Um, probably in partnership with the um division of Youth Services, so my peer, um, we do work several, we have some cases
Speaker 17
32:22
that cross over, um, and, and So we, we could look at that. I'm sorry, I can't see. I can't
Speaker 27
32:31
see you, um, but yeah, I don't have that data. OK. Thank you.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
32:40
Yeah, I do, I think that would be interesting data to look at the correlation between the two for sure. Um, I don't, I don't
know, I don't know how that would be tracked now if it is, but you, there's probably a way to, to look at that. So if you would look at that, that'd be, uh, that'd
be great, great question, Representative. Our members, any other questions? I, I see no one else in the queue. Um, Director
Uh, thank you for being here. Thanks for
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
33:09
more report, I think. Oh, you're right. I'm sorry. Uh, completely overlooked the biannual report. Thank
Speaker 27
33:17
you for being on Point today. So the um the other document you have is called Overturned Investigations Report. It's from
Speaker 16
33:25
December, um, it says submitted December 1st, 2024. And this report um came from,
uh, Act 1025 in 2017, and I'm just gonna walk you just through what this is, but this is basically the number of reports we found true on and how, what the percentages of those being overturned, um. So I'll just take Benton County, um, and go through each, but 5,349 reports received by the hotline, 2,124 of them were accepted for investigation, 312 were found true, that's 14%, um,
29 investigations were appealed, um, percentage of true investigations appealed would be 9.3, 2 of those, uh, were overturned, which was about 6%, um, 6.9% and then that over percentage of overall investigations overturned in that county was 0.1. Um, and it's broken down like that for each county
Speaker 62
34:26
in the state, and there will actually be another one of these coming for 2025 next month. All right.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
34:39
Any questions, see none. I was. Bit premature earlier when I was uh thanking you. So I think we're done at this point, so no other questions. Thank you. And I, I'm staying up for
Speaker 27
34:49
the next presenter, um, so I'll just I'm not trying to run you off just for the record.
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
34:53
I just was trying to give you a break, um, so with that, let's move to item E. Uh, Paul Chapman with Restore Hope. Oh, and I'm sorry, I forgot one other important thing. Now I'm
Speaker 17
35:10
interrupting, um, next Saturday, June 7th, um, is Project Zero's Disney extravaganza, um, Project Zero hosts events for waiting kids in foster care to potentially meet their forever family, but also it's just a day of building hope in those waiting kids. If you're interested in coming and seeing what that is like, I would, um, invite you to be there and
Speaker 62
35:30
if you want to let me know, I'll be there as well, so. Would you mind sending something
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
35:36
to staff to disseminate? Yes, yes, I will. Mhm.
Uh, Representer Beatty, did you have a question for that? OK, yep.
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
35:48
Just one quick question. Consistency looking through the, the reports, Clay County, um, and they're, their average caseload and, and issues there. Can, can you provide some information on Clay County and you can do that offline and not at the table, but I'd like to know how many case workers and staff that you have in Clay County cause it, it seems that they're consistent throughout all three of these reports as
being a, uh, a higher area. Uh, some of these counties changed, but it looks like Clay's consistent so I just. I like to know what's
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
36:24
going on in Clay County. Yes, sir, I can do that. All right. Thank you, Representative. All
right, um, Mr. Chapman, if you would introduce yourself for the record and then y'all may
Speaker 89
36:33
proceed. Thank you. I'm Paul Chapman. I'm the executive director of a nonprofit that was founded here in Arkansas about 9 years ago. It's called Restore Hope, and restore hope as a software and services company that partners with the state agencies and local communities
to bring a tool set, uh, that allows, um, all the different, uh uh professional providers in the community to get better outcomes. And become more efficient and in um in the past 12 months, there are 19 counties in Arkansas that are using this tool set. Uh, and they served, um, these almost 1400 professional providers in Arkansas collaborated to serve just over
3500 Arkansans and the goal in this service is to get them from crisis to career. So, uh, many of the individuals are in multiple areas of crisis. They could be homeless, they could be fleeing domestic violence. They could be involved in in courts, whether that be misdemeanor or felony, uh, they could have. child welfare cases and often do. Uh, and the goal is to put, uh, the service providers that are already existing in communities and a collaborative on a collaborative team in the
software to allow that individual not only to get out of trouble, but to make it ultimately to where they're in a situation that would drastically reduce the odds of them falling back or recidivating into any of that trouble that we found them in. Um, I'd like to, um, tell you a little bit about how this occurred because it was Arkansas grown. Um, we had, uh, I I was working for Fellowship Bible Church making grants and doing direct
service, um, and, uh, over that time we're heavily involved in re-entry, uh, after school programs and foster care in partnership with both the Department of Corrections and with uh DCFS and other agencies, um, but we had a kind of a catalytic event 2012, a man got out of prison. Arkans and got out of prison again, killed 19 year old young boy that was uh one of a string of pretty gruesome. murders at the time and so we started some reform, uh, which led to, um, to a drastic
increase in incarceration, these charts, the one on the left here, uh, came from a report in 2015, I think, by the Council of State governments to submit it to the committee meeting that showed the rise in the projected if we didn't do something projected rise and prison population. Uh, what, uh, what that had this rise in incarceration was an impact on number of children entering foster care. Uh, which we really hadn't planned for, so that, uh, what that told us at the time was that we have a set of complex
issues that uh if we don't, if we are unable to start to coordinate our responses both at a local level and a state level, then we're not going to see the outcomes that we want. Um, and so what we ended up doing was going first to um Fort Smith, Arkansas. Which was hardest hit both in a percent of population incarcerated and the number of children in foster care, 1 in 34 kids in Sebastian County, uh, back in 2017, we're in foster
care. I was about 28 per 1000 national average is 5. It's kind of a story of globalization. A lot of jobs moved out, um, there was a lot of desperation and a lot of people committing crimes, uh, against others and children, and so, um, it was a community. really in distress and so we uh started to work there, uh, with many of the community leaders to put together this collective impact idea is how do we actually put a coalition together that can execute.
Not just think about what the um what the future could look like. And so in 2018, we were able to acquire a software program. Um, that we call Hopeub that is available to all of you now. There are some dashboards on it if you create account that you'll have access to, that you can see down to your, um, to your county level, you can see the impact of what's going on for your constituents, um, who are receiving this collaborative care.
And um and it's uh drastically increasing, um, it's drastically increasing outcomes, for instance, if we take a child into foster care with the goal of reunification. That reunification usually does not occur. Given the set of complex situations that that parent is in. 43% of the time when we successfully able to reunify the child with the parent that they were taken from when reunification school. But over the last 12 months, uh,
for any parent that chose to work with, um, the, um, 100 families is what the initiative is called in these communities. Any parent that chose to have a team, uh, put around them, then it's over a 70% chance of reunification. So we're seeing 25% swings in reunification rates. Most of the families that are um that are receiving this help, uh, Actually your prevention. So something's going on. They've
become homeless, um, they are, uh, they've got substance abuse issues, um, over half of the clients that we met over 3500 clients in the past year when we met them, had no source of income. Um, about 40% didn't have a GED or high school diploma, and so what, um, what essentially this does, and I'll show you the software program. For kind of concrete representation. This is a software program that exists as
a part of the model in these 19 counties so far in Arkansas that allows every one of these circles would be a professional that's in the county that's going to serve on Miss Suzie Te's case. And Miss test has said, yes, I consent to you sharing my information with these people which could be behavioral health or the church that runs closed closet down the street, um, it could be the child welfare office. It could be the community college that's going to help them get into truck driving schools so that they go
on and and have a full-time job and earn a living wage. Uh, and so Miss Susie has consented to build this care team of professionals in that community. Uh, there is an assessment, a common assessment, no matter who is on boarding. The participant, there is a common assessment very thorough, um, assessment that's done. Uh, collecting. All manner of, of, uh, information including their 13 areas in which, um, there are uh
very strong definitions of the situation that the client is currently in from 1 to 5. That assessment is updated monthly. So what that gives you is the ability to track, um, one, it gives you the ability to kind of triage, what are we gonna do first? You're unemployed, but you're also homeless and can't pass a drug test, so we're not going to go down to the workforce center office now. What we're gonna do is try to uh get you sheltered, you and your kids sheltered. We're gonna try to get you into treatment, uh, so that you can, uh, become
sober. So that then we can continue on with you, uh, and figuring out what type of work, um, is suitable and that you want to do and then try to navigate the, the helps that already exist in every one of our communities right now. Um, so I, I wanted to flip through a few of these dashboards and then I'd be more than happy to take, uh, any questions. Uh, this is a a dashboard again if you create a account and uh if you go to hopub.io.
You can create an account, uh, just make it a stakeholder account and you'll have access to all of these dashboards, many of which are now live. So they're updated every 15 minutes and you can see exactly what's occurring, but this, this dashboard is from 2024. It shows a summary of, of, uh, who did what to whom, where, and what happened? Uh, 706. Of the, uh, just over 3400, um, Arkansans or 30, just over 3300 Arkansans served in that year,
706 of them had completed their journey from crisis to career. That's full-time work and out of crisis, uh, the number of care team members or professionals on average on someone's account was 9. And you can see every one of these bubbles is an organization in a community, and you can actually drill down to the local community or even the provider level to find out exactly what occurred, um, and how many clients that, uh, they were on care team members for.
Uh, and then it shows also, um, in those 13 areas that we, uh, that we have 1 to 5 scales 4 that's updated every month, then you can actually see in aggregate right now across the state, you can see it recovery, um. Exactly what happened at intake and as of the last assessment, the snapshot, most recent snapshot. What's occurring here, so left is bad, right is good. Leftist crisis for housing, that means that you're homeless.
A number 2 here means that you're, um, you're at great risk. You've received an eviction notice. You know that you're, you're going to be homeless, unless something occurs here. And then you can see housing stability move here. At an individual level for a provider that's on the system. You actually have a set of dashboards that actually show you, um, when someone is in crisis, so that it helped you with workflow. We need to address this now. Uh, collaborative action plans are, are kept inside the system.
And help, um, Help the we call them a family advocate or a navigator, that's a particular role that, um, that funds both grant funds and private funds are going to um pay for in each individual community running this model, uh, it helps them understand uh what they need to address now and help them connect to, um, the appropriate service provider that exists in their community.
There's also dashboards here on foster care and PS. Cass, uh, over time in each community, um, and the number of beds this helps uh organizations like Every Child to Arkansas who are trying to close this gap between beds available and kids that are are in care and need those beds. And then here's some real time dashboards here that give you, um, information on child welfare, um, it's preservation. Um
Speaker 92
47:43
Uh, prevention and reunification data kind of broken down. So with that, I'll, I'll stop and. See if
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
47:49
there are any questions. Thank you for the presentation. If you, if you don't mind,
would you? Formulate this in an email, send it to staff so that members have it, we can disseminate, that would be helpful. I think it's a great tool, uh, Senator Johnson, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, And,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
48:06
uh, Missy and Mr. Chapman, thank you for this work on this. I did not know, Paul, that y'all
were as integrated into the agency as you are, of course, as you know, I'm a big supporter of your program, but I did not see that where how you were working with Miss Ryde and her staff that encourages me very much, uh, when I look at the map though and you have, you have your areas where you're, you're able to get, uh, uh. Your 100 families program targeted, and then you have the rest of state and I'm wondering,
is this a capacity limitation or is this, uh, uh, a lack of I'm gonna say. Partnering Opportunities within those and if so, how can we? Help you Meet whatever challenge I mean I look at those counties and, and I'm not saying that they don't need help. I'm just saying I see a lot of them around them that aren't, uh, colored in and uh they obviously are not immune from this
Speaker 97
49:11
problem. Could you elaborate on that? Yes, sir, um,
Speaker 89
49:16
it, it is a, it's a funding problem, so what needs to exist in every community, um, is to be able to put together what we call an alliance, it's a coalition of those professionals. And so, uh, to be able to manage that alliance. this collective impact uh approach is you need a coordinator, and that coordinator needs to work for the right organization, like in Hot Springs, it's Wat Tahavioral Health. The community selected them as the backbone organization. And so we were able to, uh, partner with DHS
and get a TANF grant, and then we pass that grant along to Wachita Behavioral Health. They hire a coordinator and, and this, and a family advocate. And they start to put that alliance together, where they're working out how do, how do we actually work together as if we all were in the same organization. So, um, I'm answering long, but shortly it's, it's money. It always comes down to money. How do we pay for these people that don't exist currently, uh, and, and have very unique roles, so it's
not like someone who's currently in the business could also do the coordinator role or the family advocate role. And so, uh, We seek uh grants and private funding to be able to pass along to the right agencies in those communities. Our strategic goal has been to get, uh, first to the 25 most populated counties because 75% of Arkansans live there and our approach this collective impact approach is really one of being able to coordinate the help that already
exists in those communities in um as you can see on the map, there are some communities like Woodrow. which is uh one of the least populated communities, but there was a private funder who grew up there. Who said, I, I'm going to pay for it to come to my hometown, uh, but Woodruff has 3 4000 people in the county, but you can see, I, uh, you can see what they've done. They have 26, uh, currently as of 15 minutes ago, there are 26 families in Woodruff County that are being,
their care is being coordinated, uh, by that community, uh, which is just amazing. So, um. I, I guess the, the shortest answer is it's money. You know, how, how do we get more money to pass along to these communities so that they could hire as many advocates as demand presents, and we've got to have
Speaker 99
51:40
a coordinator, uh, to keep that, uh, alliance together. And
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
51:44
at this moment, I, I'm presuming that TANF is your primary source of this funding in Arkansas,
Speaker 99
51:51
yes, sir. Yeah, Caniff has been the primary sources,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
51:54
and that's good, but it also is, is limited and I, uh I, I. Pledged Mister Chapman and this right to work with y'all on future opportunities here, Mr. Chairman, I would be amiss if I didn't say that your work on, uh, uh, the Department of Correction side of things would be a lot easier if these folks are, uh, successful in what they're trying to do because the uh these, these things are not isolated problems they're all
facets of the same problem, so thank you very much for your answers and, and thank you,
Speaker 92
52:27
Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Senator on Department of. about 25% of all the clients in the last 12 months, um,
Speaker 101
52:32
uh, had a felony, uh, about 30% had child welfare case and sometimes that was overlap. They had child welfare case in, they had felony. So you're right, it's not, we, we, uh, think about these things in silos or situations, but, um, but the people come to us and, and old people. Yeah, and that
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
52:49
sort of speaks to, uh, Representative Henley's question from earlier, but I
appreciate that. Uh, thank you, Senator, um, let's go back to, uh, Representative Bentley, you're recognized. Thank you, Chairman. Thank
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
52:59
you, you're right here in the center.
So, um, look at the, at your
map. Can you give us the definitions of what the differences are between pre-launch discovery and a targeted community
Speaker 89
53:10
there. Yes, um, and so there, there's a, there is a discovery as we're talking with the community trying to help that community decide who the backbone organization would be. If we can figure out how to uh
pay for the coordinator and and a case manager. And so it's, it's these, um, communities here in the gray are part of those 25 most populated counties where 75% of our Kinans live, um, the pre-launch is, is that that organization has been found. And they're starting, we have a 100 and some odd page playbook on how to put the alliance together, and they have to hit certain gates before they can fully launch. And so there is activity like in Woodruff County
right now is in pre-launch and they're serving 26 clients. One of the, uh, hurdles that they have to pass before they can fully launches. They have, uh, they are serving 20 clients actively, because that allows you to figure out exactly who the organizations are. and what they need to be able to work together in this new way. So let's say that Ms. Wright worked for the behavioral health organization and, um, and I was going to refer a client to her that needed both substance abuse
and mental health treatment, but she, um, she would only accept, uh, a couple of, uh, insurances. And so now we have to work out exactly what would we do if she didn't accept an insurance that that that participant currently had. And so, uh, that, that's what you're doing in pre-launch is you're kind of shaking down exactly how that collaboration needs to work, uh, contextualized
Speaker 104
54:45
to that particular community. So follow up chairman, if that's OK. Uh, so,
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
54:56
Or the um advocates are they as a similar background to each one, or they may be different in the counties that you're working with right now, is it a particular person we're looking for, they're all being funded the same way as the differences in the
Speaker 89
55:09
counties that you were that are actively operating right now. That's a great question. Um, so the background of the advocate, uh, you're looking for someone who can personally relate to, um, someone who's in, uh, who may be having the worst day of their life, uh, but they've got kind of that social worker instinct where they been formally trained or not as
a social worker, uh, and so we, we end up having a bachelor's in social work. We have individuals who have worked in other social service agencies, and we have folks who once were participants and have a year or two of, uh, sobriety and stability. Um, those individuals who have that lived experience, um, they're actually very, very good at, uh, meeting a client where they. For instance, if a client doesn't have transportation and
they're currently living in a hotel. They'll actually drive to a fast food restaurant close to the hotel, have their meeting there and not think that they'll go above and beyond, um, in fact, while they're in this happened just last week. While they're, uh, there, they're meeting with the client. The client says, I don't, I, I really need a job. I don't have a job. I'm like, Well, I bought you a taco, and we're gonna go up there and talk to the manager about getting you a job and they submit the application right while we're right there. Let's take care of that right now. And so that,
that's something that uh individuals with lived experience that, um. Um I'd say that they they're going really above
Speaker 92
56:37
and beyond, um, for the individual clients who were once who are currently where they once were. So for, um, looking at this and when they enter all that information
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
56:45
into this dashboard and they have, is that transferable to DHS so they can get, what do they get? are they gonna have to again enter all the information they need to snap or whatever or workforce or one of those things
is that transferable at this point for them to be able to get the
Speaker 89
57:00
assistance they need. It it is we, uh, we share a lot of, uh, information. In fact, the Hopeubb system is hooked up to the DHS system for eligibility determination on things like that. It's very difficult, um, on some. Some money like TANF is very difficult to to prove. You've got to prove that the individual is eligible. And so what that makes it very difficult for us if, um, if, if we're paying for in Arkansas, we're paying for an organization, we give them a grant for TANF to provide services to 10 if eligible
individuals. The individual that comes to you is maybe this mother fleeing domestic violence, living in her car. Uh, she didn't think to grab her file folder, um, when she left the house, but she comes to you for help because she's desperate and um and we send her on kind of the scavenger hunt to find her birth certificates for kids and and all all the documentations, you need to know that you are who you say you are and that you're eligible for the funds because we're that we're gonna use, uh, what we've been able to do now, uh, for several years, uh, through our
partnership with DHS is um, is we can, um, we can determine. Um That eligibility within 1
Speaker 101
58:08
week for 90% of everyone, uh, on boarded into Hope Hub, and that's available to all our, our Kansans. And so
Speaker 89
58:15
if you do have a 10 of grant, you're a service provider with the town of Grant, you can use this system and and it immediately will reduce, um, a saving a a lot of that 10 of dollar, you know, if you're burning up 2025 cents of the of the dollar in kind of
administrative task now that that reduces that greatly. So yes, we're, we've even gone so far as to. Y'all are making changes, I think in, in the CRIS system, uh, so that we're sinking more and more data up. Uh, and then on And this dashboard we've even gone to, um, let's see if I can find it here. Here it is right here. So, So we know that outcomes are better for families if they can get this team of on average 9 different providers around them.
So out comes that go from 43% to, you know, over 70% reunification rates. And so now what we're doing in partnership with um with DCFS is county by county, uh, and this took, this took a lot of work on the back end to be able to true up, um, the, the clients here, but now we're a, we have some tools in place. That we can push down to the county level to see what percentage of removals actually
have a 100 families team around them, knowing that that improves outcomes for everyone. It's more efficient for the agents, for the individual organizations and it's better for the person. And so now we're working, uh, logistically, like, how do we get in front of ultimately it would be, how do we get in front of a 100% of the families. Now they can say, no, I don't want your help, and that's fine. But that's what we're working to now. Putting, using data to be able to
Speaker 101
1:00:01
help, uh, operationalize, um. You know, these improved efficiencies and better outcomes.
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:00:06
Well, thank you. I know I have heard nothing but positive about, but all that you're doing, so we'll see what we
Chair
Unverified
1:00:15
can do to make improve it across the whole state, so thank you. Thank you,
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
1:00:20
Representative Representative Duffield, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. What metrics are used to assess the success of the 100 families initiative and how are these metrics
Speaker 89
1:00:29
tracked and reported. Uh, these dashboards, that's a great question. Uh, these dashboards are available, um, and, and, um, and for those that
don't have an account, uh, you could go to our website and we will. Every month we, uh, we send out a. Um An email with. The statistics in them along with stories, uh, here are the statistics, so here's the email from the last month. Uh, that we put out said total active parents currently at the time that we sent the email was 1726. We're in this collaborative care across
Arkansas. A number of kids in those families, number of parents, uh, um, uh, in, in the month, new clients this month, uh, parents served in the past year and then ultimately what our goal is, is how do we actually get someone not only just out of crisis we success is not closing the case. It's part of it. Success is how do we actually get the person to a situation. Assuming that they want that, that, um, they don't need the
assistance any longer, that they're self-sufficient. That, that's ultimately the goal, and we have all kinds of markers along the way and report that through these dashboards. Here's where the individual was at intake. Here's where they are currently. Is that better or worse, uh, and if it's worse, you know, how do we, um, how do we shore up for that, like transportation is a, is a problem in most. Of our counties, uh, and so, uh, we take action within that,
that, uh, alliance to be able to address those
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
1:02:13
issues. You're recognized for a follow up. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So,
What measurable outcomes. Do you guys have, is it on the side as far as reduced foster care rates are reduced in incarnations. I mean, is that on the side or incarceration rates that they dropped? Do you guys have this data on the site or available for us to see. We, we've got
Speaker 89
1:02:34
all the dashboards on the site. We don't have any recidivism, uh, data. We haven't
done a, a recidivism study yet for participants, but all the foster care data is there as well as the prevention data and We've just recently been selected DCFS and restore hope by the um. Um The lab for Economic Opportunity at Notre Dame for a particular study on, uh, what's the return on investment. In these situations, so that was really an honor to be selected
by them, um, at really no cost, uh, and so we're in that process now of working through with their economics department on
Speaker 101
1:03:18
getting that study done. We, we estimate that to be probably be about a $400,000 study that they're given to us in the state of Arkansas. Representative, if you're recognized for follow up,
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:03:31
you can keep your mic on if you'd like. I guess one more,
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
1:03:36
could you just give the committee an example of
just some hard data where 100 families has made a difference, a tangible difference. Can you tell us in the committee, you could just pick a county in Arkansas, whatever it is, but show us where you guys have made a real, real impact and a real result, um, in reducing the the the kids in that
need the foster care or or something of that nature. Yes, sir, uh, Sebastian County, where we first started, uh, we, actually, this model was created
Speaker 89
1:04:13
in Foster County by leaders and I'm sorry, Sebastian County. Um, by the leaders of Sebastian County, and there were 800 children in foster care at the time that this model started and there were, last time I looked last week, there were 359 children in foster care in Sebastian County. So we went from 28 per 1000 to 12 per 1000. Um, the, uh, the crime is down in Sebastian County, uh, adult crime has been down 5 or 6 years in a row and incarceration in their local jail, uh, for local
Speaker 101
1:04:43
participants was down by about 20%. Um I'm sorry,
Speaker 89
1:04:49
that was 30% incarceration, 20% and crime there. Um, I think if you would talk to any of the leaders, law enforcement and the judges, uh, what this approach has allowed them to do is it's provided an environment. In which, uh, instead of being fearful of bad data or feeling overwhelmed that you don't have the tools to address some of
these complex problems but maybe being held responsible for the results of them, as many of our law enforcement officers do feel, um, instead, they feel like they have a community that if we can bring them good data that they will work on it together and that that's exactly what occurred when we first went, in fact, Director Wright and I were on the first. trip with Department of Corrections, uh, they, they, um. We took a Department of Corrections van on a trip to Fort Smith, Arkansas, uh, back
in 2016. Um, to start this launching this process back then. And that community was so embattled by all their various issues that, um, everyone was stressed out and, um, and many you couldn't keep staff. And, and largely the leaders had lost hope that effort was going to result in any difference because they had been in it for so long. And now if you go and talk to in their own words, they will tell you it's night and day
difference. they don't like it when, when they're uh looking at increased juvenile crime, which has occurred in in Sebastian County and many other places, but their first reaction, uh, then a year and a half ago was for the police chief to call the community meeting. And a detail to that community exactly what the statistics were, believing. That that that community was going to rally to come up with some new solutions. That's exactly what they're doing is
they've launched a new program in partnership with law enforcement called Child our Youth. So I don't, I don't know, there's, there's kind of the science part of it with the data, 50% less, over 50% less foster care and specialsh County, um. You have, uh, you have dropping uh foster care rates in other counties that uh are in year two of implementing this model, and then you've got the leaders, the judges, and the law enforcement, uh, and the other community providers who will tell you that it's a, it's a new way of
Speaker 101
1:07:17
dealing with very complex, hard situations. All right, Representative Eaton,
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:07:24
you're working on us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um And you're talking
Representative James Eaton
Unverified
1:07:30
about this, you touched on it some. Can you tell us what role and specifically how do you recruit them, the local, uh, Your local nonprofits, your educational institutions, your, uh, and your government, how does, how do you recruit them and what role do they play? Right, that's a great question. The, they, they're absolutely
Speaker 89
1:07:50
essential. And so if we were to go into a new community, uh, we start talking to, um, standard community providers we'll talk with. At DCFS we'll talk to a probation parole. We'll look for, are there any current coalitions that are meeting to deal with parts of these problems in Per Gould, um, the backbone organization is a substance abuse coalition that had been meeting for years. And they were the right backbone for Greene County. Uh, and so we, we just start looking for the organization and
then we start asking that community organizations that will, will have a juvenile judge or um or a law enforcement officer, um, invite people into these community meetings and we'll start talking about this collective impact approach or the 100 families approach. And then we ultimately, we want that community to select the backbone organization. We want them to
Speaker 101
1:08:42
say, you know what, yes, it's gonna be. Harding University in White County, and they will, um, they'll host you.
Speaker 16
1:08:53
And then there's these, the alliance meetings are happening every month, and so you keep inviting new people from the community to join
Speaker 120
1:08:59
the alliance meetings and then as time goes on, more and more people want to be involved with what's happening and plugging in. So the alliance meetings are kind of used as a time to, um, collaborate and communicate about what's going on, but also get education, right? So you might invite somebody from the community who says, I have this resource, but I don't know how to plug in and so it's like, oh, we'll come and talk to a whole bunch of people
who would love to use your resource that you might have, and then you start plugging in and eventually the alliance keeps growing and the members in the community want to plug in, um, so you'll have your core, but then you have all the additional people who want to volunteer do, um, the other work alongside this initiative. OK. Thank you for that seeing other questions. Director, you're
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:09:47
welcome to stay at the table, but I'll let you, uh, I'll let you leave this time. Um, but we have Paul didn't tell
Speaker 48
1:09:55
you all, but there's a road show coming and on in August, and
Speaker 120
1:09:58
where you can actually see this work in motion. And so if you, I mean, it's your, it's, it's yours, um, but if you want to tell everyone how we can email out an invite to everyone if that's OK. Um, if you want to join in to see this work in motion. Please, please send that information to us. Thank
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:10:16
you, Mr. Chapman, thank you for being here. Thanks for your work, um, I look forward to the follow-up emails, uh, about all of this. Thank you.
OK, um, Let's move on to item
F. And and and we're gonna hear the annual report from 2024. Mr. Rogers, if you would. Please introduce yourself when you uh get
seated, and you may proceed. If you would hit your, there we go. Thank you. Good
Speaker 124
1:10:53
morning, chair and members. Um, my name
is Kalika Rogers. I am the investigations administrator for the state police crimes against Children Division, and today we're going to be going over the 2024 annual report. On page 2, it will show the comparisons for the previous 5 years, uh, 2020 through 2024, um, the Child abuse hotline received 64,00956 contacts in 2024, which is a decrease of
2,684 calls from the previous year. There were a total of 34,402 contacts accepted for investigation for CACD. for DCFS, which was a decrease of 1,352 reports. On page 4, it compares 2023 and 2024, the breakdown by month, um, for contacts received,
accepted, and those that were, um, sent in by fax or on our MRP. Page 5 has an additional breakdown of those contact numbers. On page 6, it will break down the documented and the miscellaneous categories, um, for, uh, those types on page 5. On page 7, it is the hotline referral statistics by the priority level.
And then on page 8. It covers the priority one and the priority 2 allegations by month and the allegation type with the totals for each category that is listed. Page 10 reflects the quarterly breakdown for CACD investigations, um, our investigations unit was assigned 6,179 investigations. We closed 5,974 with 1,755 of those being
found true, which gave us a 29% substantiation rate for the year. That's the end
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:13:12
of our report. Do you have any questions? Thank you for the report. Uh, so on, I guess that would be page 2 of that report where it shows the 2020 through 24 breakdown there, um, So I see we're, it, it, there's a significant increase from 2020 to 21. Um, any thoughts as to why we saw that jump. I understand, uh,
man, I see that's COVID years, so I don't know if that was
Speaker 124
1:13:43
part of the COVID everything, but I do not know. I know over the past several years, um, since COVID, we have tried to get mandated reporter education out, um, for people to report, um, so that could be an a reason for the increase, I'm not sure for the specific number though. And then, of course,
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
1:13:59
in 23 to 24, there was a decrease in the ideas. That also I do not know. OK.
Members, any other questions? See none? Thank you. Thank you. So members, the
last item is item G, consideration of special expenses, I will entertain a motion to authorize the chairs
to approve special expenses incurred by the committee. So with that, do I have a motion? I have motion. I have a 2nd. Uh, any discussion on that? See none, all in favor say aye.
And he opposed. Thank you, I have it. OK. Remember seeing no other business, we are adjourned. Thank you so much for your time and being here.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Consideration to Approve Meeting Minutes [Exhibits B1-B4]
C. Department of Human Services (DHS) – Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Rules Pertaining to Safety and Risk Management and Technical Revisions [Exhibit C]
D. Department of Human Services, Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) – Tiffany Wright, Director, DCFS [Exhibits D1-D4]
E. Presentation of Restore Hope: 100 Families – Paul Chapman, Director, Restore Hope [Exhibit E]
F. Arkansas State Police, Crimes Against Children Division (CACD) – Kalika Rogers, Investigations Administrator, CACD [Exhibits F1-F3]
G. Consideration of a Motion to Authorize Chairs to Approve Special Expenses Incurred by the Committee
H. Other Business
I. Adjournment
Documents
Speakers
Senator Ben Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 9
Speaker 16
Speaker 17
Speaker 27
Chair
Unverified
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Representative Rick McClure
Unverified
Speaker 29
Representative Dwight Tosh
Unverified
Speaker 22
Representative Zack Gramlich
Unverified
Speaker 60
Speaker 63
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Speaker 65
Representative Howard M. Beaty, Jr.
Unverified
Speaker 74
Speaker 62
Representative Dolly Henley
Unverified
Speaker 35
Speaker 89
Speaker 92
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 97
Speaker 99
Speaker 101
Speaker 104
Representative Matt Duffield
Unverified
Representative James Eaton
Unverified
Speaker 120
Speaker 48
Speaker 124