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Deputy director outlines child-protection process, PathNC rollout and foster care pressures
Summary
Deputy Director Laura Harrison detailed CPS intake thresholds, in-home services, permanency planning and a PathNC rollout now scheduled for Sept. 8; she reported 64 screened investigations and 153 children in foster care.
Deputy Director Laura Harrison told the advisory board July 28 that child protective services respond only when reports allege that abuse, neglect or dependency already occurred — not to speculative concerns — and described the steps from intake to investigative assessment, in-home services and, when necessary, foster care and permanency planning.
"It must meet the definition of abuse, neglect, or dependency, and it must allege that something has already happened," Harrison said, explaining legal thresholds for DSS intervention under state statute. She described efforts to keep children safely at home where possible by offering in-home services and referrals to mental-health and community partners.
Harrison provided program statistics: the department took 116 reports and screened 64 into investigation for the period cited, has 24 current in-home services cases, and said the agency is supporting 153 children in foster care; staff also finalized one adoption in June. She warned of foster-home shortages that sometimes force placements outside the child's home community.
On technology modernization, Harrison said the county’s PathNC rollout for ongoing services is now scheduled for Sept. 8 and asked for community support as staff adapt to the new system.
Board members and staff briefly paused the presentation when the chair notified the room of a nearby funnel cloud; the meeting resumed after staff checked local radar.
