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Commissioners told EMPOWER foster-care vendor is in receivership; county child-welfare board preserved funds
Summary
County commissioners were briefed that EMPOWER has entered receivership; the child-welfare board has retained designated funds and will advise next steps, and staff expect the state to assume operations if the vendor cannot continue.
The chair informed the committee that EMPOWER, a foster-care vendor, has been placed in receivership and that a receiver is administering the company's affairs. The commissioner leading the update said the county—s child-welfare board has taken steps to preserve the dollars set aside for services so that the funds are not lost to the vendor.
"It seems clear through that legal process and also through the information that I've gathered that probably EMPOWER cannot do the job that it's entitled to do," the commissioner said, and added that county staff keep hearing that the state may step in to assume operations. The county's child-welfare board will advise the commissioners on next steps and has been involved in holding funds so they can be used to sustain services rather than being lost in receivership.
Commissioners asked what the next procedural and operational steps will be; staff said they will await the receiver's determinations and then coordinate with the child-welfare board and state authorities. No replacement vendor was named during the briefing, and the commissioner said the county is monitoring legal proceedings closely.
