Sean, a Mitchell County DSS staff member, reported to the board that there are 26 children in foster care in the county, down from 30 last month, and that 12 children returned home last month.

Those numbers matter because they indicate case progress, the effect of family case plans and how much foster‑care capacity and services the county needs.

Sean said much of the decline comes from reunifications: "We had 12 kids go home, which is just a tremendous thing to to see. Hard work by the parents and hard work by our staff, getting those kids home." He added that four additional children are likely to return home this month and that the department currently has seven children cleared for adoption; two of those cleared last month and are already in adoptive placements and "might be adopted by the end of this month."

Sean described the trial‑home process that precedes formal reunification: a family can move from supervised visits to unsupervised visits and ultimately to trial home placement, but "the worker actually has to go into a home and watch the family interaction in the home on two different occasions, before the judge can then legally, when we recommend trial home for the judge to even be able to do that." He said the case remains open until the court closes it.

Casework volume remained high: Sean reported 25 calls in May, 16 of which were screened in; at the end of the month staff were working 23 cases that were either under investigation or in family assessment. He said six families were receiving in‑home services as a prevention measure. On adult protective services (APS), he said there were seven calls in May with five screened in and that the office had four open assessment cases and one in case‑management planning mobilization; he also said there were "3 in special assistance in home, and 13 is payee, 17, guardianship," reflecting multiple ongoing adult cases.

Sean noted a long‑term performance point: "for the last at least 5 years that I've been here going on 5 and a half, we've had no kids come back into custody." He attributed that outcome to careful pre‑reunification checks and ongoing support for parents.

No formal board vote was taken on these operational numbers; staff described them for oversight and to highlight recruitment and workload pressures.