County seeks more third-party support for understaffed Office of Youth and Family Services
Lackawanna County seeks additional third-party providers to support its understaffed child protection agency with case management, family visitation and other services.
Amid ongoing efforts to improve staffing and operations of the Office of Youth and Family Services, county officials recently issued several requests for qualifications seeking the assistance of outside firms. The agency is still operating on a provisional license following a downgrade last year.
The third-party provider of case management services, for example, would hire staff to help manage child placements and other ongoing casework in accordance with service plans developed by OYFS. The county approved a similar contract with Reading-based Service Access and Management Inc. last year; the new vendor would provide additional support.
The family visitation RFQ, meanwhile, seeks a qualified provider to facilitate different types of visitation depending on a family’s needs. Among other duties, the provider’s staff will develop visitation plans, schedule observation visits and participate in conferences, court hearings and mediations. They’ll also “identify and communicate areas of need, risks and safety threats” to parents and caseworkers.
The county also seeks proposals for truancy intervention and submissions from vendors who’d conduct family finding and facilitate family group decision making sessions, crisis response meetings and similar services.
Bringing on more outside support amid OYFS’ staffing challenges will allow current staff to prioritize intake work, abuse and neglect investigations and other core duties, OFYS Deputy Director Kerry Browning said.
“Obviously we need to continue to complete the intake investigations to make sure that the children are safe, and so ... as new staff come into these positions that’s what they’re doing,” she said. “But clearly after those investigations you often need to refer for services.”
The county recently hired three new full-time caseworkers as officials strive to address staff shortages. The county salary board also recently created six part-time caseworker positions to take pressure off full-time staff and transport youth in the system to out-of-county services when necessary, county spokesman Patrick McKenna said.
The embattled agency’s problems came into public view in June with the licensure downgrade and arrest of two caseworkers, a retired caseworker and two casework supervisors on charges of endangering the welfare of children.
County Judge James Gibbons dismissed those criminal charges in January, ruling the workers are immune from prosecution under state law. District Attorney Mark Powell subsequently appealed Gibbons’ ruling in state Superior Court.
Former county Health and Human Services Director William Browning, dismissed in late January by majority commissioners Matt McGloin and Bill Gaughan, blamed many of the agency’s problems on staffing shortages worsened by the criminal investigations.
Commissioners hired earlier this year former state Secretary of Human Services Beverly Mackereth as a consultant to help bolster OYFS staffing and facilitate other agencywide improvements — work that’s ongoing.
“When we took office ... earlier this year we confronted several crises, one of which is the Office of Youth and Family Services, and from the very beginning it has been paramount to turn the agency around and get it out of crisis mode,” Gaughan said. “These steps that we’re taking now are really part of our overall strategy to get the agency where it needs to be in terms of helping our families and our children in our community.”
Responses to the various OFYS RFQ’s are due back to the county May 24.
