INSIDE OKDHS - IN THE NEWS, AUGUST 2012

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Mark Beutler: Hello everyone, I'm Mark Beutler from the Office of Communications. Let's take a moment to find out what's happening In The News. The Practice and Policy Lecture Series is back for the Fall of 2012. After a two month hiatus the lectures will begin on August 17th. Bryan Bell, the Training Supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, will explain the primary communication style being utilized by that department for supervising criminal offenders in the community. 

The skills and principles of this communication model will be presented and the impact of its use will be discussed. The lecture is called "Motional Interviewing in Community Corrections," and will be held at the Oklahoma History Center in Oklahoma City. If you can't make it to the lectures you can always log on to okdhs.org, look on the left side for the Practice and Policy Lecture button. There you will find an archive of past lectures categorized by topic. There are lectures scheduled each month through the end of the year so please take advantage of this valuable resource. 

Recently, the Family Support Services Division, the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives got together with Public Strategies, Ltd. to host the Oklahoma Fathers' Rock and Role Forum. On June 21st, professionals engaged in fatherhood and family-based programs gathered in Moore for this one-day summit designed to refine the vision for the future of Oklahoma fathers. 

The community leaders from Oklahoma had the opportunity to learn from fatherhood practitioners from other states and participate in defining the future of Oklahoma's Fatherhood Initiative. Men play a huge role in the healthy development of children when fatherhood is taken seriously. The tools shared at this workshop can be integrated into individual parenthood programs across Oklahoma. 

Also out of the partnership between the Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives and OKDHS is this Getting Ahead conference. Part of the Bridges Out Of Poverty program, the Getting Ahead curriculum is designed to help people remove obstacles that stand in the way of continued success. Working out of poverty is a monumental task but when problems occur later, the earlier successes can lead right back to poverty. These participants, from faith-based and public assistance agencies, are learning strategies that will smooth out the path to self-sufficiency. Watch for news from Faithlinks for more collaborative programming across the state. 

No Audio: Faithlinks Oklahoma û www.faithlinksok.org

Now let's turn our attention to the Oklahoma Commission for Human Services July Meeting. Governor Mary Fallin has appointed Commissioner Wes Lane to chair the Board and two new members have also joined the group. Dr. Myron Pope, Vice President of Enrollment at the University of Central Oklahoma and Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes were appointed to the Commission and bring a wealth of knowledge. The meeting began with a tribute to Commissioner Jay Dee Chase who passed away July 1st. 

Commissioner Wes Lane: As you know we lost a good friend here over the last month, Jay Dee Chase and I think it is only appropriate that we start off this meeting in a moment of silence. So if we just bow your heads or however you want to use that. I know as for me I am going to be lifting up his family in prayer. So just join me now. 

Mark Beutler: OKDHS Interim Director Preston Doerflinger took a few minutes to offer his update to the Commissioners. Let's watch some highlights of his comments. 

No Audio: Preston Doerflinger, Interim Director OKDHS

Dir. Doerflinger: When I first became your Interim Director, in evaluating this organization and, really, the success of any organization, it's the people that you have within the organization and making sure that those people are, first, the right people and then that they're in the right places within the organization. This is really the most important thing that I can do during the time that I'm with you, is to assist in this effort. 

One of the ways that we do this is reflected in the Pinnacle Plan. It does something that I think should have been done a long time ago. It calls for incremental raises for our frontline workers, our Child Welfare Specialists. To me there are no more important people in this organization than the people on the front lines. And, it's about time that we begin to pay them in the manner that they should be paid. 

So, with that said, I have gone ahead and moved on increasing the pay for the frontline workers, the Child Welfare Specialists I, II, III and IV. It is part of the Pinnacle Plan, it will help in recruitment of new Child Welfare Specialists but equally important it sends the message, I hope, to the people who currently work for us that you are important, you're valued and that we're going to follow through with what we say we're going to do. 

I won't spend too much time on that other than to say that that process is under way. I approved the paperwork that calls for it to be effective July 16 so it'll be reflected in their August paycheck. I also want to give you an update on reorganization. 

As you well know, Oklahoma DHS recognizes the current organizational structure of three divisions, being Children and Family Services, Family Support and Field Operations Divisions. This does not allow the Agency to meet certain expectations. The current structure separates Field Staff from Program Staff creating barriers to effective communication, clearly aligned goals and support to frontline staff. 

In many locations management is responsible for a myriad of programs covering Family Support, Adult Protective and Child Welfare Services. Creating new vertically integrated divisions for Child Welfare Services and Family Support Services will prove advantageous for staff, leadership and, most importantly, for the adults and children we serve. 

The goal of vertical integration is to create a system with clear delineation of roles, effective lines of communication and accountability throughout the system. Vertical integration allows for more direct communication between top-level management and frontline staff, leaving room for fewer mixed messages or multiple interpretations. 

Line authority is clear, and supervisors and workers now have more immediate access to management. Accountability for program integrity is focused, allowing managers to be more responsive in time and intensity to program staff needs, including training, consultation, data mining and monitoring. As you may recall, House Bill 3134 passed this session, abolishes the Field Operations Division on January 1, 2013. 

For the new Commissioners, as part of the Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan, which you will be hearing about from our Child Welfare Director Deb Smith, the services of Child Welfare will be vertically integrated with field staff. In communicating the change in structure to the field staff and getting their input on the proposed structure and relevant issues, senior staff has spent five days in the field obtaining feedback from about 200 staff in all five areas of Oklahoma DHS representing all counties of Oklahoma. 

County Directors, Supervisors, frontline workers in Family Support and APS to the receptionist attended. OPEA helped with all of the forums as well. The Adult and Family Services forums were held in the last 10 days in Enid, Norman, McAlester, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. If you're interested, on the OKDHS website there is a Restructuring Corner on the home page and all the feedback from the forum will be posted there. 

Mark Beutler: Each month the Director brings the Commission up to date on the status of the Agency. We post these comments in their entirety at okdhs.org. Look to the bottom left of the OKDHS home page and you will see a link to the Commission Report. As we've been telling you here, the future of the Southern Oklahoma Resource Center and the Northern Oklahoma Resource Center - Enid, generally referred to as SORC and NORCE, is up in the air. 

The July meeting was to have been the vote to accept or decline the recommendations made by Commissioner Michael Peck in his committee report last month. Commission Chair Lane postponed the vote after Governor Fallin requested a delay. Groups representing the Parent-Guardian Groups, the Oklahoma Community-Based Providers and the Oklahoma Public Employees Association spoke to allow all sides to have a say in the Commission's decision. 

This decision has an enormous impact on the residents, many of whom have been in these facilities most of their lives. The employees of the facilities, the families and guardians of the residents, and the leadership of Pauls Valley and Enid all have a stake in these resident's lives and it has been a long process to make these decisions. However, as of our taping here today, the final decision will have to wait. We'll keep you posted. 

Our final note from the Human Services Commission meeting is another topic we've been following for a few months now. The budget for the next fiscal year includes a provision to raise the rate dispersed to therapeutic foster caregivers, contracted foster care providers and resource families. Sandra Harrison updated the Commissioners on these changes.

No Audio: Sandra Benischek Harrison, Coordinator Office of Intergovernmental Relations and Policy
 
Sandra Harrison: Today as a Commission you are considering fixed reimbursement increases for the following three groups of providers: Resource Parents - which are grouped together as Foster Parents and Adoptive Parents - Therapeutic Foster Care and Contracted Foster Care. Increased rates for these Foster Parents, Contracted and Therapeutic have been studied and increases asked for by DHS for many years in our annual budget request to the Legislature and has been a recommendation from multiple groups, such as the Foster Care Review Task Force, The House HCA Audit and most recently the Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan. 

We are pleased that with the help of Director Doerflinger and the Legislature appropriating the funds for the Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan, we have the ability for the first year to fund the rate increases that are before you today. Let me say that a different way: this is only for one year of rate increases. There's a five year plan that's part of the Oklahoma Pinnacle Plan but right now we only have one year in front of us because we only have one year of funding. The attached rates for Foster Care, Contracted Foster Care and Therapeutic Foster care have been increased only two times in the last 30 years. 

The rate briefs show an effective date of August 1, 2012. I've already talked to you that the Legislature has already provided funding for this. If the Commission votes today to accept the rates will not put any contingencies upon proceeding August 1, 2012 since the rate increases are long overdue for Foster Parents and increases are way overdue for caring for our Oklahoma's most needy children. 

Mark Beutler: The OKDHS Independent Living Youth Conference took place the last week of July and once again, it proved to be a great experience for participants. The youth in custody with OKDHS or in tribal custody learn and have fun at this conference each year. We're going to leave you today with a few pictures from this year's conference. We'll see you next month. Good-bye. 

No Audio: Pictures from the OKDHS Independent Living Youth Conference.

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