November 30, 2004
Tuesday

Anchorage, Alaska - Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Joel Gilbertson announced Monday a package of fiscal year 2006 budget proposals to expand protections to Alaska's children who enter state custody.

In addition, Gilbertson announced that legislation regarding child protection confidentiality statutes will be proposed to the state Legislature in January. DHSS will be working with interested legislators to complete the draft of the proposed legislation.

"Our kids are the future of Alaska," said Gilbertson. "I am taking the opportunity during National Adoption Awareness Month to discuss proposals that address key areas of opportunity to ensure Alaska's children are safe - to get children the services they need for a healthy and productive future."

Governor Frank H. Murkowski will include these proposals in the FY06 budget on December 15. The $7.5 million package includes $6.0 million for child protection for the Office of Children's Services (OCS) and $1.5 million for the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ).

The Governor will propose 34 additional positions for the Office of Children's Services to enable frontline workers to focus on increasing child protection, preventing abuse and neglect, and achieving more permanent homes for children.

Sixty positions will have been added since the administration began a children's services overhaul in 2003. In FY05, OCS added 26 positions to help lower caseloads. The increase in the OCS workforce is a result of recommendations from the federal 2002 Child and Family Services Review, and the subsequent implementation of the OCS Program Improvement Plan in September 2003.

The proposed budget package provides for unified home studies of foster and adoptive homes; additional post-adoption services to ensure that adoptive families have the support they need to continue caring for special-needs children they have adopted from OCS; increases funding for social worker training; and provides support for new technology.

"We know the steps for improvement we need to take, and the budget enhancements will allow us to take those steps," said DHSS Office of Children's Services Deputy Commissioner Marci Kennai. "Additional staff will help OCS better manage workloads so that Alaska's children are safe, healthy and in permanent homes."

The Division of Juvenile Justice proposal includes additional positions for juvenile probation to provide timely and essential responses to juvenile crime at the front end of the system, which will help prevent youths from further penetrating into the formal justice system.

The proposed Juvenile Justice increased funding also gives the agency the flexibility to provide a variety of services as needed, determined based on hard data and the direct knowledge of the needs of clients. The proposal will allow the use of less-restrictive and community-based interventions for youth offenders, including support for youth courts, non-secure shelters, and support or skill development for offenders and families.

The package also includes increases for the Nome Youth Facility, which is undergoing an expansion from its rated capacity of six to a full service detention unit of 14 beds. 

Confidentiality legislation to be proposed to the state Legislature in January will allow DHSS and the Office of Children's Services to provide more information to the public about department actions surrounding child abuse and neglect cases. Current confidentiality statutes limit disclosure of information to the public, including providing any information about department actions in cases of child abuse and neglect. The proposed legislation will protect the child's privacy while providing for  disclosure of some state agency records.

The child protection budget package will be a part of Governor Murkowski's FY06 budget and will be delivered to the Legislature by December 15th.

Issues

• The Alaska Child Protection Program Improvement Plan (PIP), effective September 2003, established a two-year roadmap for improvement for the Office of Children's Services. The PIP set benchmarks to measure progress of OCS ensuring the safety of children, finding children permanent homes and making sure their health, education and mental health needs are met.
• A shortage of juvenile probation resources throughout the state continues to challenge the ability to provide essential and timely responses to juvenile crime. Additionally, the juvenile justice system requires additional resources so it can use less-restrictive and community-based approaches to intervene in juvenile delinquency at the front end of the system. Due to competing priorities, the needs of juvenile crime victims have remained insufficiently addressed.
• The Nome Youth Facility (NYF) has been averaging above capacity for the past year two years, with utilization at 150 percent of capacity in FY '03 and 137 percent of capacity in FY '04. NYF is in the process of completing a facility expansion, which will increase its rated capacity from 6 to 14 beds. This expansion, coupled with the level of referrals in the Nome region and the seriousness of the type of youth requiring secure detention necessitates additional staffing in order to adhere to required staffing ratios and ensure basic safety, security and order within the detention facility.

Office of Children's Services

Thirty-four additional positions for the Office of Children's Services will enable frontline workers to focus on increasing child protection, preventing abuse and neglect, and achieving more permanent homes for children. Added positions will perform home studies of foster and adoptive homes, recruit and retain more foster families, frontline social work, provide support for new technology.

• Provides additional post-adoption services to ensure that adoptive families have the support they need to continue caring for the special-needs children they have adopted from OCS:
• Provides for unified home studies of foster and adoptive homes.
• Provides funding for recruitment of foster and adoptive families.
• Funds grantees that provide family preservation services in rural areas.
• Increases funding for social worker training.
• To help recruit licensed social workers, provides funding for social worker licensing fees.
• Provides support funding for the new ORCA management information system.

Division of Juvenile Justice

• Eleven additional positions for Juvenile Justice probation services will ensure a proactive response to juvenile crime, including rural Alaska. These positions will enable juvenile probation officers to provide more timely and appropriate responses to juvenile delinquency, which will improve community safety and ensure that juvenile offenders are held accountable while also receiving sufficient services to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Added positions will provide community-based probation services and emphasize work with victims of juvenile crime.
• The package also includes funds for a range of community-based interventions for youth, including but not limited to support for youth courts, non-secure shelters, support or skill development for offenders and families.
• Additional 5.5 positions for the Nome Youth Facility to ensure sufficient staffing for the facility expansion project, scheduled to be completed in spring 2005.
  • The addition of three line juvenile justice officers, one supervisory juvenile justice officer, one administrative clerk and a half time nurse will enable the Division of Juvenile Justice to ensure that increased needs are appropriately met.

Child Protection Legislative proposal

Governor Murkowski will submit a proposal to the legislature in January concerning child protection confidentiality issues. This confidentiality legislation will allow DHSS and the Office of Children's Services to provide more information to the public about department actions surrounding child abuse and neglect cases. Current confidentiality statutes limit disclosure of information to the public, including providing any information about department actions in cases of child abuse and neglect. The proposed legislation will protect the child's privacy while providing for some disclosure of some state agency records.
DHSS will be working with interested legislators to draft the proposed legislation.

Major long-term goals of child protection package

• Office of Children's Services: Reduce child protection workloads enabling frontline workers to focus on increasing child protection, preventing child abuse and neglect, and achieving more permanent homes for children.
• Division of Juvenile Justice: Provide services needed to hold juvenile offenders accountable, provide them with skills to return them to society and reduce the likelihood of re-offense.
  

Related Information Provided by the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services:

Summary of Accomplishments of the Office of Children's services

Summary of Accomplishments of the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ)

Source of News:

Office of the Governor
Web Site

 

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