NC advisory committee hears panelists call for attorney access, funding and oversight changes under Ryland’s Law

Olga Morgan Reitsch, chair of the North Carolina Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, convened a public briefing on Aug. 7 to examine child-welfare policy and implementation under recent state reforms.

Wendy Sotolongo, who runs the Office of the Parent Defender, delivered seven recommendations aimed at reducing unnecessary removals and mitigating trauma for children and parents. She said data for 2022 shows that “74.3 percent of the substantiations were for neglect,” and urged the state to study whether universal mandated‑reporting laws lead to overreporting. Sotolongo recommended that “parents should have access to attorneys during a child protective services investigation,” arguing that many parents do not receive counsel until after a petition is filed and a child has often already been removed.

Sen. Lisa Grafstein (D‑Wake, District 13) framed the problems in funding terms, warning that structural tax cuts will shrink revenue and exacerbate staffing shortages across state and county systems. “Culture eats strategy for lunch,” Grafstein said, urging oversight that examines local practices and biases not captured by high‑level data.

Lisa Tucker Hawley, senior director for child, family and adult services at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, described the state’s implementation steps under the Social Services and Child Welfare Accountability Act (referred to in testimony as both “Rollins Law” and “Ryland’s Law”). Hawley outlined a regional support model that has added oversight positions since 2019, said her office has hired regional directors, and said a statewide child‑welfare case management system called Path NC is slated to roll out beginning in 2025. Hawley and other panelists said Path NC is intended to give the state more consistent data for oversight, and that implementation will include training on the new practice model.

Panelists and committee members repeatedly returned to workforce concerns: high vacancy and turnover rates, uneven county pay scales, and insufficient court availability to schedule hearings needed for timely reunifications. Sotolongo told the committee that attorney rates cut after 2011 and remain low — she said parent‑defense rates were $75 an hour in 2011, fell to $55, and were raised to $65 after a 2022 bump — and called for higher compensation and interdisciplinary defense teams (social workers paired with attorneys) to improve outcomes.

Committee members asked for specific numbers to accompany the flowchart presented by DHHS — including percentages at each decision point — and panelists agreed to provide those figures and additional documentation. Hawley said the regional model has produced case‑level corrections when state staff intervened, but emphasized that the model is not yet fully funded.

The committee will accept written testimony through Sept. 23 and expects additional panels, including a session focused on impacted individuals on Aug. 23. The advisory committee will compile findings and recommendations for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Next steps: committee staff said they will provide the requested data and that drafts of the advisory report will be open for public review before final submission.