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Citizen review panel shifts toward kinship priorities and multi‑complex services research
Summary
The Citizens Review Panel for Children told the Health and Human Services Committee it is prioritizing research into supports for youth with multi‑complex needs and stepped up focus on resource‑home recruitment and retention after recent state kinship‑care legislation.
The Montgomery County Citizens Review Panel for Children reported that it is refocusing its oversight work to study how the county can identify and better serve youth with multi‑complex needs and how kinship care legislation at the state level should change resource‑home recruitment and retention strategies.
A panel representative told the committee the panel began by educating members about "multi‑complex services" and is conducting outreach to other states and jurisdictions to identify best practices for coordinating services for children with multiple, complex needs. The panel said its early steps include contacting out‑of‑jurisdiction experts and reviewing how other systems identify youth earlier to provide needed services sooner.
The panel also said it returned attention to resource‑home recruitment after new state law prioritizing kinship placements. The panel asked the agency to provide monthly data that separates kinship and traditional foster placements and said it will continue to meet with the agency manager responsible for resource recruitment to examine both recruitment and retention trends.
The committee asked about immigration impacts on foster placements; the panel said the child welfare liaison had not seen a substantial surge in placements attributable to immigration enforcement at the time of testimony but recommended continued monitoring.
The panel’s review process relies on monthly agency data reports and public minutes posted on the county website.
