Committee approves moving child-welfare and juvenile ombudsman offices to Office of Inspector General

A House committee voted to pass House Bill 1964, a bill that moves the child welfare ombudsman and the juvenile ombudsman into the Arkansas Office of Inspector General and renames the function as a division of ombudsmen.

Representative Keith Brooks (District 78), the bill sponsor, characterized the measure as a technical correction to relocate and co-locate two ombudsman functions to create "independent oversight" and operational efficiencies. He said UAMS and the Office of Inspector General support the measure.

Tiffany Wright, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, told the committee the change "will put the two ombudsmen together under one organization, which will increase efficiency in operating, as well as ensure that we get systems recommendations for children and families that we're serving and how we can altogether as a state continue to improve outcomes for the kids and families that we're serving."

Christy Putnam, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said the inspector general was selected because that office has an audit function and ‘‘their normal course of business is to do internal investigations, and also to be a third party objective, representation in that process.’’ She noted the inspector general already works with Medicaid oversight functions.

Representatives and witnesses pressed for details about job protections, hiring criteria and minimum qualifications. The juvenile ombudsman, Brooke Digby, who testified with Greg Parrish of the Arkansas Public Defender Commission, said she had not been consulted about the proposed move. "I've been in this position almost seven years and no one has even approached me about moving. So I was a little blindsided, to say the least," Digby said. She and Parrish described differences in responsibilities between the juvenile and child-welfare ombudsmen and noted the juvenile ombudsman's role in supporting public defenders in juvenile proceedings.

Secretaries and sponsoring members said there was no intent to eliminate positions and that current employees were expected to transfer to the Office of Inspector General. Committee members asked staff to ensure that the ombudsmen’s education and minimum-qualification language carries over; the committee secretary said those requirements would be added as a Senate amendment.

The committee discussed timing and transition plans: a committee member noted an emergency clause in the bill, and a staff member stated the clause sets an effective date of July 1, 2025. The committee then voted to pass the bill on a voice vote; a roll-call tally did not appear in the transcript.