County: Budget cuts could keep kids in abusive situations

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer
State deficits threaten child protective services | Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:28 PM PST ∞

In an alarming preview of looming state budget cuts this week, San Diego County officials said social workers may not act on all their suspicions of child abuse starting July 1.

Jean Shepard, director of the county's health and human services agency, said her warning was intentionally alarming: County officials hope to rally public opposition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed budget cuts to pressure state lawmakers to quash them before they are adopted for the new budget year that starts July 1.

State officials said they hoped reduced funds wouldn't force county officials to sacrifice child safety. But a legal analyst and child-welfare advocate said counties have the discretion to lower their standards for how they respond to child-abuse complaints.

Meanwhile, a labor union seeking a wage increase from the county accused county officials of using the proposed cuts to child-protective services as a ploy to deflect their demands, a claim vigorously denied by the county.

Fearing state cuts

At Tuesday's San Diego County Board of Supervisors' meeting, Shepard said $10 million in proposed state budget cuts could mean that social workers would no longer order counseling in cases when they suspect abuse but aren't sure, or when children aren't considered in immediate danger.

"We'll be able to respond to hot line (calls)," Shepard said, "but we'll only be able to take action on very high-risk cases. If we go into a home and there's a 2-year-old with bruises on their arm ... we may not be able to serve that family."

Shepard's comments came a month after Schwarzenegger proposed $83.7 million in child welfare cuts in an attempt to shrink a $14.5 billion budget shortfall.

Shepard and Mary Harris, director of the county's child welfare services, said the cutbacks could shrink the county's 762-person pool of social workers, and also cut back on the counseling contracts the county uses to provide parenting classes.

Shepard said that if the state cuts the county's $64.5 million child welfare budget by $10 million, social workers would only take direct action in situations in which abuse or neglect is apparent. She said they would probably not be able to act in cases in which social workers only had suspicions of abuse, or where children were not considered in imminent danger.

County supervisors could take money from other programs, or from reserves, to "backfill" state budget cuts. But supervisors have a long-standing policy of not doing that, saying that spending reserves to bail out long-term state program cuts could put the county in the same financial jeopardy the state faces.

'Unfunded mandate'

State and legal officials said counties, which manage the state's child protective services, have the leeway to make determinations about which cases require official action.

"You're getting into the realm of discretion here," said Bob Fellmeth, a University of San Diego law professor with the Children's Advocacy Institute. "They have a certain amount of discretion under the law."

Fellmeth said even advocates willing to sue to force counties to expand and improve social services empathize when counties are faced with numerous "unfunded state mandates."

"That's when counties look at us and shrug their shoulders and say, 'You tell us what to do,' " Fellmeth said.

Shirley Washington, a spokeswoman for California's department of social services, said the state had given counties the "flexibility" to decide how they'll implement proposed budget cuts -- rather than ordering cuts in specific areas within welfare services. She said the state hoped that flexibility would let counties manage cutbacks and maintain current service levels.

"Child safety is our top priority," Washington said. "We're going to do all we can to protect kids."

Harris said San Diego County social workers handled 69,690 calls to child abuse hot lines in 2006-07, and investigated 50,856 cases. She said 2,258 families attended voluntary counseling each month, and that the county filed 2,114 court petitions to remove children from abusive homes.

Aimed at which audience?

But another group seeking more state funding administered by the county said county officials' comments about looming cuts to child welfare services seemed to have a less noble cause than alerting the public.

Karen Keeslar, a consultant with the United Domestic Workers -- the union that is representing 22,700 San Diego County in-home caregivers in their demands for wage increases -- said it appeared the county was using the child welfare issue as a negotiating tool.

In-home support workers earning up to $9.25 an hour are trying to negotiate a contract that would pay them up to $12.15 an hour.

At the last supervisors' meeting two weeks ago, County Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard said the pot of money the county uses to pay for child protective services -- known as realignment money -- is the same pot the county uses to spend $38 million for the caregivers' program.

Ekard said the county would have to take more money away from child protective services to give the caregivers a raise.

After Shepard's comments at Tuesday's meeting, Ekard said he hoped caregivers' representatives would hear concern about child welfare services.

After the meeting, Keeslar said, "The governor's proposal to cut (child protective services) has nothing to do with in-home support workers."

But county officials said they were just trying to raise public alarm over the protective services cuts.

"That's my highest-risk program," Shepard said.

Harris said county social workers respond to and investigate police and hot line complaints lodged when children are suspected of being abused.

She said if the reports seem credible, social workers go out and conduct safety and risk assessments. The social workers can order counseling that would be monitored by the county to determine if parents or caretakers are going. They can also take parents and caretakers to court to remove children and seniors.

Harris said county social workers try as often as possible to steer parents toward counseling, even in cases in which they don't think they have enough evidence to convince a family court judge to remove the child. She said county officials are worried that the state cuts could eliminate that ability.

"It's disturbing," Harris said. "It's very frustrating to just sit and watch things get worse where a child is involved."

-- Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.