AG 1992 11 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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In recent months, we have reallocated social worker positions from the JOBS and CAP Programs to child welfare services to help in handling this increasing caseload. However, by early October, caseloads for our seven investigative workers and three treatment workers averaged 32. Caseloads of the investigative staff averaged 40. State caseloads standards cali for not more than 18 cases for investigative staff and 20 cases for treatment staff. We determined at~ that point that it was not possible for our staff to be effective in protecting children with the existing caseloads. AVAILABLE RESOURCES Cabarrus County has been allocated $31,400 more in State Child Protective Services funding than was anticipated at the time the current budget was prepared. (The State's original estimate did not include the additional $1 million appropriated by the Legislature last summer for Child Protective Services. ) Cabarrus County has also been designated as one of three pilot counties for a new Medicaid-funded case management program for children and disabled adults at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation. Under this program, beginning October 1, Medicaid can be billed for case management activities of social workers for Medicaid-eligible children and disabled adults who are at risk of abuse and neglect. This will, in effect, permit us to begin to bill Medicaid for many services we are required to provide and have been providing at County expense as there has not previously been sufficient Federal/State funding available. It also provides resources for the provision of increases services in the future. We have estimated that on an annual basis the Department should be able to claim some $136,000 in Medicaid revenues (after the County's share of additional Medicaid costs has been paid from gross program revenues). With implementation and phase up beginning this month, net revenues of $68,000 to $78,000 for the current year should be a realistic expectation. We did not budget this revenue. We identified one vacant position at the Department which could be reallocated and reassigned to Child Protective Services. This was a Community Social Services Assistant which was assigned to the JOBS Program (Position No. 01-01-56-10-134). With your approval of the reallocation of this position to Social Worker III, we reassigned it to Child Protective Services. At this point, this position is in recruitment. REQUEST To help in meeting the serious overload in Child Protective Services we are proposing to use the additional State Child Protective Services funding and a portion of the Medicaid Case Management funding described above to add two additional Social Workers III to the Department's Protective Services staff effective 12/1/92. These two positions together with the position just reallocated and reassigned from JOBS would lower the average caseload to 24 cases. This would provide for caseloads far closer to State standards.