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Panel approves bill to create child-welfare ombudsman housed at UAMS commission
Summary
SB662 creates a child-welfare ombudsman position housed at the Commission for Child Abuse Prevention and Domestic Violence (UAMS), with DHS support and statutory access to foster-care and protective-services records; the sponsor said the ombudsman will investigate cases to correct systemic and individual problems.
Senator Clark presented SB662 to create a child-welfare ombudsman for the child-welfare division, modeled on an existing ombudsman for the Division of Youth Services. Michelle Martin (Division of Children and Family Services) and Gerald Cherrim (senior general counsel, Department of Human Services) explained the ombudsman would be able to access foster-care records, protective-services case files and related records to investigate complaints, make recommendations and help resolve individual and systemic problems.
Martin said the position would be housed at the Commission for Child Abuse Prevention and Domestic Violence at UAMS and that DHS had agreed to support funding through a contract; committee members asked clarifying questions about record access and whether one person could handle the workload. Martin replied it may require more staff in the future but that one ombudsman is a start.
After questions the committee passed SB662 by voice vote with no public opposition recorded in the transcript.
