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DCS director outlines equity review, notes drop in child-welfare reports during pandemic
Summary
DCS Director Terry Stigdon told the Child Services Oversight Committee that the agency is reviewing its mission and practice to emphasize equity and said child welfare reports fell during school closures; the DCS Ombudsman reported increased assists and a new case management system.
Terry Stigdon, director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, told the Child Services Oversight Committee on July 20 that DCS is reviewing its mission, values and vision to better reflect equity aims and is "working to remove systemic racism." She said the agency has continued core services through the COVID-19 pandemic while trying to maintain quality of care.
Stigdon said child welfare reports fell during the pandemic because educators—who are among the largest groups of reporters—were not seeing students in person. "Without children attending school, reports dropped," she said, and DCS has worked with community partners and trained teachers on what questions to ask when checking in on students.
Stigdon described a series of changes implemented in response to a 2018 CWG assessment, including a new practice model, salary adjustments, multidisciplinary training for the DCS legal team, and changes to Family Case Manager–Supervisor ratios. She said those efforts corresponded with a drop in staff turnover from more than 30% in 2017 to just above 20% in the most recent year.
Jessica Stier, assistant ombudsman in the DCS Ombudsman Bureau, reported that while formal complaints declined in 2019 the office handled 984 information referrals and 210 "assists" in which staff facilitated communication between DCS and constituents. The office reviewed 176 cases during the year and found about 38 of those to have some merit. Stier said 2020 appeared on track to be similar to 2019 and noted that a new case management system rolled out recently has been a significant operational improvement.
The committee did not take any additional formal action on the DCS reports during the meeting. The co-chairs recorded the updates for oversight and follow-up.
The Child Services Oversight Committee is scheduled to meet next on Dec. 18, 2020, by Zoom.
