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County agencies grapple for funding

Washington County Job and Family Services and the Children Services Board are seeking a memorandum of understanding for the use of federal funding.

The funds, classified as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, may aid in preventing more intensive and longer-term foster placement, according to JFS Director Flite Freimann, who presented his proposal to the Children Services Board, staff and 10 members of the public Wednesday.

The meeting was held at the request of Children Services, after Freimann had approached county commissioners at a meeting last week about the possible merger of the two agencies in order to obtain more funding for Children Services.

JFS has access to the funds currently, but CSB does not.

“The ultimate goal is to use TANF to fully fund a prevention specialist on Children Services staff,” said Freimann.

But before the agencies can reach that, he explained, they need the infrastructure and programming in place to prove best use of federal funds.

Attorney Tim Loughry, president of the Children Services Board, said moving forward the board is willing to put that infrastructure in place and work collaboratively with JFS.

First, the MOU would need to be signed by Jamie Vuksic, executive director of Children Services, Freimann, and the Washington County Board of Commissioners and sent to the state by Sept. 1.

Then, the state would need to digitally release additional codes within an internal system to allow billing for TANF-eligible activities.

Finally, JFS and CSB would outline an application document to connect families working with Children Services to applicable programs within JFS.

Freimann last week proposed one option to the Washington County Board of Commissioners that Children Services be usurped under the umbrella of JFS as a means of solving funding constraints CSB faces monthly to pay for expensive residential and therapeutic foster placement needed for some children of Washington County.

“But everything I could do if we were combined and the board were disbanded I can do with (CSB) as two standalone agencies,” clarified Freimann after Wednesday’s meeting. “It just takes certain legal steps to do so, like the MOU.”

The board did not directly discuss a merger, though Freimann said it is still an option on the table.

Ultimately the decision to combine the two agencies though rests with the ones who authorize the transfers of funds and the payments of bills–the Washington County Board of Commissioners.

Meanwhile, CSB currently faces July’s out-of-county placement bill of $146,067.38 but can’t cover $57,533.88 of that bill for the 41 children in 12 placement settings.

The cost per child for these placements ranges between $1,200 and $9,500 per month, covering children and teenagers with varying needs including treatment for self-harming behavior, substance abuse, developmental disorders, sexual perpetrators, violence, habitual runaways and numerous medical appointments and needs.

But the cost of placement in the one-to-one residential facilities or more therapeutic care is a consistent concern.

That concern has been covered in the past with at least two month’s worth of bill coverage available to the board as a cash balance, $650,000.

But in recent years the cash balance has shrunk as the county budget has tightened.

Freimann explained Wednesday that one piece of a solution could be to use federal dollars available to his department.

One set of funds Freimann, the Children Services Board and the commissioners expect to tap into is through the Title XX federal allocations. Title XX Transfer funds are for programming benefiting children and families living below the federal poverty line. This will be completed through a $200,000 transfer between the two departments and the commissioners.

A second set of funds falls under Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

But in order to access those funds, Freimann explained, more back-end infrastructure needs to be in place so that “the money follows the family.”

TANF can cover hard services- for example rent, utility bills, car repairs– and soft services like parenting classes, child care during therapy/counseling sessions, job counseling and training, as a preventative measure to aid families near crisis before their children are removed and placed in foster care.

What gets technical and more difficult to predict though with TANF funding, is the behind-the-scenes coding that goes into the state and federal funding matrices.

Billable hours, as in other industries, are divided by how a caseworker from CSB or JFS spends their time.

The system in place through the state, called the webRMS, or Random Moment Samplings of observation, was instituted to hold agencies accountable for where they’re spending their time and what funds they request to pay for that time. However, it is random, so numbers aren’t always an accurate reflection.

“Will using the TANF codes be better? Absolutely,” said Alice Stewart, assistant director of Children Services, noting that if TANF can be utilized under the random moments the state checks on caseworkers, it could reimburse up to 100 percent of the cost of that moment of work. “Right now investigations of abuse or neglect aren’t eligible for other funding sources under our codes so this would be super helpful there, in the assessment unit as we work with families before we have to take the kids out of the home.”

The catch is the exact moment of sampling, which Freimann said the average employee would see three times in a week. It has a 50/50 shot of being eligible for any particular code.

Stewart said 47.5 percent of those cases are covered under a custody case, 15.5 percent come under the voluntary family cases (not court-ordered to work with Children Services.)

“It can’t hurt us in any way,” noted Vuksic as he explained the reimbursement rate from other codes is less than what could be available through TANF. “We are completely open to receiving any money you can give to us.”

But Mary Barnas, member of the board, said Wednesday that Freimann’s initial proposal last week damaged the perception of Children Services to the public and insulted the work that the staff performs.

“My understanding is that this (TANF option) first came up in your July 23 or 24 meeting,” she began. “Your presentation last week was very damaging to the staff of Children Services in the way you suggested poor leadership and that they’re dragging their feet.”

Freimann apologized for how he approached the proposal options Wednesday and further clarified that his goal moving forward is to help Children Services achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively and encourage the maintenance of families.

“We know that Children Services is doing a good job taking care of the kids,” he said after the Wednesday meeting.

“Let’s see if we can improve the reimbursement of what they are already doing.”

At a glance:

¯ The Washington County Job and Family Services and Children Services Board intend to sign a memorandum of understanding to utilize federal funding.

¯ Still an option on the table is for the Washington County Board of Commissioners to merge the two departments under one roof and disband the Children Services Board.

Source: Times research.

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