HomeMy WebLinkAboutFamily Services Advisory Committee - Minutes - 12/13/2011
BAYFIELD COUNTY FAMILY SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Courthouse Conference Room A
Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Committee Members Present: Ann Green, Lona Schmidt, Jim Crandall, John Blahnik, Susan
Davis, Nancy and Dale Johnson
Staff Present: Anita Haukaas, Tom Moran and Nina Bucher
Call to order: Lona called the meeting to order at 4:35pm.
Adoption of 9/20/11 minutes: John made a motion to adopt the minutes, Lona seconded,
motion passed.
Custody Study presentation: Bayfield County Social Worker Tom Moran has been with the
County for 18.5 years and says the number of custody studies he performs is a lot lower than in the
past. He said the studies are ordered by the judge when attorneys in divorce situations, involving
children, cannot reach an agreement. Tom feels that having Ron Stauski serving as a mediator for
the County, has contributed to the lower number of studies each year. Ron works with the parents
to try to reach a custody agreement. Although many studies take 40-50 hours to complete, $300 is
the maximum the County can charge to complete a study and the fee must be paid in advance. The
case worker requests 60 days to complete the study from the court.
Parents must complete autobiography forms. Then scheduled and non-scheduled visits are made to
the parent’s homes to observe interactions with the children and home conditions, and school visits
are conducted. Tom says he keeps the communication open between all parties so there are no
surprises when he provides the judge with his recommendations. Children under 18 do not have a
choice where they live, although the case worker performing the study may ask them questions.
Sometimes, a guardian ad litem is appointed by the judge to represent the child to ensure that their
rights are not violated. The guardian ad litem conducts a similar investigation and presents a report
and recommendation to the judge also.
Tom said that Social Worker Rebecca Kruit is also trained in to conduct the studies also. Tom
completed three studies in 2010.
Child Protective Services: Anita distributed 2011 ewisacwis reports. Ewisacwis is the State child
welfare information system. The reports included Bayfield County statistics the number of Child
Protective Service reports (106 total, 46 screened out for various reasons, and 60 screened in) and
BAYFIELD COUNTY
Department of Human Services
117 East Fifth Street
P.O. Box 100
Washburn, Wisconsin 54891-0100
(715) 373-6144 Voice/TDD
(715) 373-6130 Fax
baycodhs@bayfieldcounty.org
/www.bayfieldcounty.org
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the number of Juvenile Justice Service reports referred by law enforcement (130 total, 63 screened
out, and 67 screened in). The reports included data from 2010 & 2009 as well.
Juvenile Justice and Out of Home Placement update: Family Services has 3 primary juvenile
justice workers, Crystal Clark, Rebecca Kruit, and Stacy Schmidt. Crystal develops deferred
prosecution agreements and conducts juvenile intake. She currently has 26 cases. Rebecca has 9
delinquency cases, Tom Moran has 6 and Stacy has 15. Anita was excited to report that staff was
successful at meeting the State benchmark on face to face client contact for the period of 10/1/10-
9/30/11.
Juvenile Community Services Program: Anita reported that she is in the process of developing
a community service policy.
Youth Offender Grant Program update: Anita reported that there are 16 mentors and 18 youth
currently participating in the program and it is going well. The grant ends on 9/30/12 but Anita said
they are reviewing the potential for sustaining the program with alternative funding.
Juvenile Justice Referrals: There were 104 juvenile law enforcement referrals from Jan 1-Nov 30,
2011.
Mental Health & AODA: Anita distributed a report comparing Emergency Detention (ED) data for
2010/2011. Both AODA and mental health detentions increased last year. There was some question
as to how many children were detained and Anita said she would provide the information at the next
meeting.
Red Cliff Indian Child Welfare (ICW) update: Anita informed the Committee that Lorna Gamble
was hired (amended to appointed) as The Director of Red Cliff ICW and that Gwen Topping was
hired as the Red Cliff ICW case worker. Lorna provided information for the meeting. Red Cliff’s
Harley Davidson clothing promotion raised $3,000 (amended to in kind, not cash). The ICW caseload
is comprised of: 10 formal cases, 17 informal cases, 20 cases in other location/states. They are
serving 25 families and 47 children. Anita said Family Services and RCICW are working well together
and she hopes to arrange a regular monthly staffing meeting in the near future to discuss cases.
Other: The 161 agreement that the County has with Red Cliff is still in draft form for 2011. Red
Cliff currently is making State recommended changes. Once we receive the final agreement, it will be
signed and the 2012 agreement will be developed with similar language.
Future Meeting: Quarterly meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 4:30pm. 2012
dates are March 20th, June 19th, September 18th, and December 18th.
Adjournment: Lona adjourned the meeting at 5:40 pm.
Minutes submitted by,
Nina Bucher, Clerk III