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New Office of Health and Social Services Ombudsman outlines role, staffing and priorities
Summary
Trevor Sparrow, newly appointed ombudsman, and LSO analysts described the office’s mandate to receive complaints about foster care and other residential services, its initial staffing of three FTP positions and a request for higher personnel funding to attract qualified hires.
Trevor Sparrow, the newly appointed ombudsman for the Office of Health and Social Services Ombudsman, introduced the office’s mission to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Jan. 15 and described how the agency will accept complaints, investigate them and make recommendations to state agencies that provide health and social services for children.
Sparrow said the office primarily will focus on the foster care system but, as the enabling statute allows, can investigate situations involving children housed in residential facilities, including juvenile corrections. “We investigate those things, make sure that the agency is handling those cases appropriately and ethically, as we move forward and then we can make recommendations,” Sparrow said.
Alex Williamson, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, reviewed the new office’s FY2025 appropriation of $470,000 from the general fund, which included three FTP positions and a $20,000 one-time capital outlay amount to establish the office. Williamson said approximately $395,000 of the ongoing $450,000 was allocated for personnel costs; the Department of Human Resources recommended higher personnel dollars to recruit and retain qualified staff, including a recommendation to hire at above 80% of policy to fill specialized roles.
Sparrow told the committee he has begun meeting with Health and Welfare leaders and citizen review panels; he identified opportunities to use volunteer citizen panels for reviewing systemic issues and for research to support legislative recommendations. He said the office will adopt United States Ombudsman Association standards and aims to assemble a multidisciplinary team that could include legal, nursing and social work expertise.
Committee members asked about the office’s jurisdiction (foster care and residential placements) and its current status on congregate care placements; Sparrow said, based on meetings with agency leaders, that children previously placed in congregate care have been moved out of those settings and short-term placement contracts had ended. No formal vote or motion was taken during the introductory hearing.
