00:00:18,370	Um, to roll call of the members who are present. Gaynn Becker, Senator Deer Tracy Famous here, Jim Holm here Trevor Vennett Chelsea Flory here and absent currently, uh, Comm. Bakken and Leslie Percey. Thank you. Um, the next thing on the agenda is the approval of the meeting minutes from June 18th, 2024.

00:00:44,500	If everybody had a chance to look those over if anybody has any, um, discussion regarding them or if anybody wants to make a motion on those? I wouldn’t move for approval. All right, we have a motion in a second, um, so I’ll just say all in favor. Any opposed? No? All right, motion carried.

00:01:05,900	Um, next we’re gonna do the director’s report, um, for this quarter, I’m gonna have our program manager over economic assistance start and she’ll go over their updates from that department. How about that? Uh, do I need to repeat all that? OK, good. Um, so the final results of this audit review have not been fully reported yet.

00:03:10,500	We’re still waiting on that report to come. Um, the next one we have a Snap management evaluation and civil rights review that has actually taken place tomorrow, um, on September 18th. This is what used to be known as our QIR.

00:03:29,530	Um, it takes place every 3 years, and the purpose of this is to assess the quality and effectiveness of the program delivered at the zone level. Only state personnel completes this review. Um, Tiffany Stick will be our zone will be in our zone office, um, on this day to observe Snap interviews being conducted by both our intake and our. At home ineligibility workers.

00:03:48,330	She will be interviewing clients as they allow her to, to ask about their perception of our zone office and the information that was provided to them. She will also be talking with several of our grassroots agencies about how they serve individuals that receive SNAP and any barriers that they may encounter.

00:04:08,430	Of, um, is that all for those two reviews, right? Does anybody have any questions regarding the federal and state review that she kind of talked about, um, just to reiterate they are statewide reviews, we just get selected to host them through Burley County. We also did like an IRS review.

00:04:25,170	Um 2023 and then I think there’s another federal review we’ll do in December, so I don’t know if anybody has any questions, but and the one tomorrow is Burley Zone specific. No All right, next, I’ll talk about um L Heap, of course, is already getting in full swing here. Um, the system opens October 1st. However, in the month of September, those individuals that are on fixed incomes only are allowed to apply in the month of September.

00:04:51,230	Um, the system will be available for processing these light heap fixed income applications, um, on September 19th, so the system is not ready for the fiscal year 2025 yet, however, we can go ahead and Start accepting those applications. Um, we are already starting to see applications being submitted.

00:05:11,130	Uh, the system was recently updated on 912 to allow us to register and pin these applications instead of holding on to them until the 19th. However, we’re not to process or authorize any of them until September 19th, when the 2025 updates have been, um, updated into the system.

00:05:33,430	We also have a fiscal year 2025 li heap training that is being held and so workers are being, um, asked to not complete the cases until they’ve gone through that training because there are quite a few changes that are going on with Lightheat this year.

00:05:50,630	Um, applications that are not on a fixed income will continue to be registered and worked for the fiscal 24 year right now and being denied for outside of the season unless there is an emergency and that we need to address. Um, the non-fixed income households are open to apply October 1st. We are anticipating many changes in the light heat program with this new season. Um, a few that I, uh, that I do know about.

00:06:11,930	This will be the last time that new applications will be received all at one time of the year. The Lightheat program is moving to a year-long certification period with an ongoing eligible recipients, only needing to complete a review for their new certification period.

00:06:30,030	The state office is working on a process to stagger out the reviews throughout the year, so that we do not continue to see the backlog every September, October and November. Uh L Heap is looking to eventually provide assistance to both the heat and the electric utilities throughout the year. So workers at that point will no longer have to verify the primary heat source.

00:06:51,470	Eligibility factors are being streamlined, so we will no longer be required to gather information like the number of bedrooms to make our determinations. However, this information when provided will still be entered in the system and used as reporting purposes only.

00:07:13,370	The amount of benefits will ensure that households with income less than 60% of the state median income, pay no more than 6% towards their energy cost. This light heap is now going to work similar to the childcare program by using a state median income and a monthly limit table that we will determine what their benefits are based on.

00:07:33,100	And as I said, training for this new light heat policy and system changes, they begin today, um, and they will go through October 8th to get the, um, the workers across the state up to date on the new changes to the light heat. Any questions on that? These are good changes, so we’re looking forward to these changes. Um, next, the call center. Um, the customer support center, uh, had some on-site training this month, earlier this month.

00:08:00,230	Uh, the reason is the contracted Deloitte team that has been helping in the call center for over a year now will be ending in October. And so this is going to create a shortage of people on that tier one team taking those initial calls.

00:08:15,370	So to help plan for that and get ahead of the wait times increasing for the increasing calls, um, being answered, the, uh, customer support center leadership has sent out messaging regarding a surge team.

00:08:35,430	Um, they are asking for volunteers to be on this team to help during the peak call volume times, um, whether it’s, you know, the first of the month or, um, those times between 10 and 2 pretty much uh when the calls really start jumping up. Um, but what they’ll be asking is these volunteers to be on a team that will jump in and take calls when needed during shifts throughout the day.

00:08:53,300	They will still be responsible for their eligibility work, but they’ll just have shifts that they can be available if they need to be pulled into the call center to answer calls. Um, the customer support center supervisors in combination with group supervisors and leads have now held two on-site in-person trainings with a small group of their current tier 1 and 2 tier call center workers.

00:09:14,530	During this training, they are processing SNAP and healthcare cases, completing interviews and working the case from beginning to end to learn the eligibility process in order to give them a better understanding and the ability to answer more complex questions from the clients. Um, this is also in an effort to increase the amount of those tier 2 workers that And answer the more complex questions.

00:09:33,570	Um, the only thing I have to add about the call center, Gray and I were talking earlier about the wait time which has improved greatly, um, over the last year. And so as of September for September, the wait time for the call center is 1 minute and 27 seconds.

00:09:49,100	That’s, um, how long somebody is expected to wait. Um, they do break it down between tier 1 and tier 2, so it does take a little longer to get through to tier 2 because those are your more complex calls being escalated, but on average, it’s a minute and 27 seconds. Much better than when we were a year ago, yeah.

00:10:07,770	Any questions about the call center feedback on that? Um, Grace changes she talked about both that onboarding and having workers learn how to work the cases is a good positive change as well.

00:10:27,570	It’s taken from our workforce for sure and Burley County having to participate in the training of those individuals, so, um, huge kudos to those who have stepped up and, um, been willing to participate in the training, but it makes them like she said, more well rounded and they can work those complex cases, so. OK The next thing I have on my list to talk about here, um, we are instituting our staff quarterly meetings.

00:10:49,500	Um, in October, we will be holding our second in-person all-staff quarterly meeting. Um, during these meetings, we will be working on team building for our Burleigh County EA staff since most everyone works remotely, this will allow us to come together as one big group and still feel connected.

00:11:07,700	These quarterly meetings will be used as an opportunity to allow for team building activities, um, keeping staff up to date on the newest. directives providing new trainings and offer presentations by bringing in trainers such as the village EAP to speak on topics relatable to our work environment. Um, the final thing I have, um, our staffing update as of right now we do not have any open FTEs.

00:11:29,970	We are fully staffed. We had one new hire for Group 4 began employment last Monday on the 9th and the 2 new hire for Group 4 began this Monday, um, yesterday. Um, the other thing I have gray go over, um, and this isn’t your packet that you got today.

00:11:55,570	It’s just a snapshot of our, um, Application processing timeliness, so focusing in on that top box with the colored chart. Um, I’ll have her kind of talk a little bit about. The initiative that took place, um, looking at those numbers from January to current.

00:12:13,300	So yeah, as you can see in January that orange color up at the time is up at the top is coded as not timely. So that was the amount of applications and reviews that were coming in that were not being approved timely because of the backlog from the light heap season last year, the amount of, um, workers in the different groups, we’ve done some shifting around.

00:12:32,430	Um, but then also you can see in March is when we did the March Mad when the state instituted the March Madness initiative, and so with a Of the workers all across the state really jumping in and knocking down the backlog of work that was sitting out there.

00:12:51,630	Um, you can see our untimeliness has gone down dramatically, um, beginning in April, you can, you know, well, in January we can start it was that, you know, our timeliness rate was at 54.77%, and this is statewide. This is not, you know, just burly, but it’s statewide. Um, but when we instituted that March Madness, you can see in April we jumped up to 83.3% of the application. being processed timely. And as of August, we are up to 89.29%.

00:13:13,030	Our goal is 95% timeliness rates, so you can see we’re definitely on our way there. Um, on a statewide level as directors, we talk, um, Snap and timeliness is definitely one of our initiatives or priorities that we’re working on to address, um, things that we know is when our federal partners come in there is performance improvement

00:13:34,170	planning on the state that we have to do and so part of it is addressing the timeliness, um, other things we talk about as directors is advocating for. Um, quicker access to their EBT issuance.

00:13:50,900	Um, we’ve talked, uh, through this board that that went to a different model where that’s coming from a vendor out of state for clients to get their EBT card issued. So there is still work around maybe a hybrid option for a client to still walk in and get issued their EBT card and walk out with a, um, card in hand that day.

00:14:05,900	So those are things that we, this is definitely a focus that we do statewide going into the next, um, year for sure. The another thing I can speak about this is Recently, the zone directors took a tour of Uh, counties up in the Devil’s Lake area, so we were able to visit, um, Fort Totten and Turtle Mountain reservations and see their food distribution

00:14:24,030	that they do in those areas, which was um really unique to see how they’re filling a need in their community to um address people who might have limited transportation, um, access to being able to maybe get to a store hours away and the work that they’re doing through that program, so I, when Gray talks about her um

00:14:43,900	upcoming all staff meeting, those are things I’ll share. With um the workforce. I just think it’s inspiring to see other areas of the state, how they’re meeting the needs of their community because we all have unique differences, so.

00:15:05,430	Any questions on Snap or economic assistance in general? So Madam Chair, I’m just curious when you when you say that. The average time is a minute and 20 plus seconds. What would the high end be? Good question. I don’t know what the high end is of it.

00:15:26,730	I mean, I do know a year ago we were sitting at, I want to say close to sometimes it could be a 20 minute waits on these calls, so we definitely. are improved, but yeah, that is the average I have is one. 1 minute and 27 seconds. I don’t know the high end. So there may be some people still frustrated, but with complex cases. Yes, and to add to that, yes, um, the call volume has also gone down.

00:15:46,870	I couldn’t grab the call volume numbers as of today, but we’re seeing a decrease in the call volume which I could speculate is because people are frustrated and they quit calling in or we could speculate that, um, now that we have the right capacity within those working lanes like Gray talks about we have the right, uh, staffing model.

00:16:03,970	Cases are getting worked quicker, so people are. Calling in saying, where’s the status of my application? I’m gonna hope it’s the later of those two reasons why the call volume is down, yeah. Much improved over time. Yeah.

00:16:27,400	Yeah, it’s been frustrating, I think for call center staff, I mean, along with the constituents on the other side of the phone, but the call center staff, you know, they show up and they, they do this job for a reason they want to serve people, but it’s frustrating when the clients on the other end are frustrated with them and then they’re just working in the system that’s put in front of them so we’ve

00:16:39,700	done a lot of pausing and pivoting and I call it to my team, um, they’ve been. Great at taking that messaging and working with their teams to understand the why behind it cause it’s frustrating.

00:17:00,000	I think our workforce is experiencing, we call it change fatigue, but it feels like over the last two years, um, pretty much every other month we’re changing the way we’re doing something we’re moving people, um, moving people around to different groups, so. It’s a lot, it’s been a long 2 years for sure. Madam Chair, I have a question. On the application processing timeline in the bottom portion.

00:17:22,430	Where it has burly Human Service zone and the 3rd column over it has case number. What’s the significance of the case number? What does that mean? Those are just internal numbers that we have.

00:17:39,100	And so that’s why I said pay attention to that colorful portion on the top of this, um, print out this bottom part is um how cases are drilled down, that doesn’t, um, unless you were looking. Through the dashboard that we use um through the different filter that that would mean anything on the sheet. So it’s not the number of cases or no, no, no, no, yeah, no, thank you, good question. So, Madam Chair, just one more question about the application process timeline.

00:17:58,870	How are they defining timely versus not timely. So Greg can answer that, but that’s outlined in policy, I believe. program has their timelines, processing timelines that we have to look at.

00:18:20,630	And so, for example, Snap, um, we have a 30 day processing time frame unless it’s expedited, then it’s a 6 day, 7 day processing time frame, so that’s what it’s looking at seeing if the if the program is meeting that processing deadline, that processing timeframe for policy. Mm-hmm Yeah, offering compliance with those and then, um, Yeah, we talk a lot about if cases have to be escalated to. Different departments within our different units within the State Department, um, where is the.

00:18:44,100	I want to see accountability on the timeliness for those departments too, you know, we hold our workforce at zones to these timeliness standards, but sometimes cases get escalated and they can maybe get pended or sit for a period of time and so we definitely pressure back on um making sure that that work is timely. All right.

00:19:05,030	Well, thank you, Grey. I appreciate it. OK, so for your child welfare portion, I will provide that update today. Our program manager for child welfare is attending, um, a conference here in town, the Behavioral Health conference, which is a great use of his time to bring that, um, that knowledge back to our team and um be able to

00:19:27,770	support our workforce. So I will provide this one which is, um, more of my background anyways, so I’m OK with that, um, so first we’ll just kind of go over the units, so the child protection services team that is fully staffed, um, within that one right now.

00:19:44,370	I’d say the focus of that unit is working on prompt, um, completion of regulations to do with face to face contacts are made on time and um. That we’re completing our assessments in a timely manner and both of those things are outlined in policy, so, um, I could speak to the uh recent audit that was completed for the state of North Dakota regarding timeliness on these

00:20:05,200	things, um, that audit has results that are a statewide audit, not just for Burley County, but. A lot of things that we talked about as zone directors is, um, when those audits are done and they’re pulling data, are they pulling the correct data in the right way, or is our workforce entering, um, policy reasons

00:20:24,130	into the system so that when the data is pulled it it can be confirmed or, um, accounted for. So those are things that we’re working on too with our workforce, but I do know that audit was recently completed, so. Um, are in-home and foster care services.

00:20:43,100	Um, we have two case management, um, Openings on that team. We are working with those two, so, um, previously in home in foster care case managers really operated separately. They had their own caseload based on the program the client was in. We are working to. Really unify the case management together to have a seamless transition for families.

00:21:02,830	So when they move between the foster care program and um they’re able to have the children back in their home and we start in-home services, um, to monitor safety. They can stay with the same case manager and it’s more um like a continuum of care for them.

00:21:18,500	So this should allow for better services for the clients so we are working on that. It is hard because foster care and in-home have different policies, um, regulations on their face to face visits and so it’s complex for a worker to know, um, depending on the program that the family might be under, what policies they’re administering for that family.

00:21:38,730	So it’s a learning curve, but the team has adapted well to that change and really understanding that the, the why behind it is to have better service delivery for the families. And then our parent aid services that we’re doing, we are fully staffed in that unit, I believe now as well, um, we are exploring implementation of evidence-based programming, so right now we assigned parent

00:22:00,570	aids to cases that, and we work with them to Identify what’s the need of the family, what type of parenting skill they need to work on whether it’s routine, structure, um, completion of, um, getting services involved in the family is this basic, um, parenting skills and education. Um, so there’s some evidence-based program we want to get our.

00:22:21,370	Staff trained in so that when they are working with them, it really empower working to empower the parent, recognizing their strengths, providing tailored support to the family, um, and the children.

00:22:38,630	So the one we’ve been researching and looking at doing is the family checkup program, um, but we’re still in the stages of looking at what does that look like to implement it, the oversight of that program within our agency. Um. The next thing I talk about is regarding. Case management services, so the state of North Dakota has, um, under CA Child and Family Services started a comprehensive case coordinator, so the pro um.

00:23:05,100	goal of this program, it’s a pilot that’s focused on dual care coordination of children in the child welfare system, so these children could benefit from enhanced or individualized care coordination services.

00:23:26,530	Um, this program started taking referrals on September 9, 2024, in order for a child to be eligible to be referred to this program, they have to be involved in multiple systems, so the child welfare system as well as juvenile justice, um, the developmental disabilities program. Me behavioral health services, like they’re getting, um, Human Service Center skills training services and or protection and advocacy.

00:23:49,430	And they have to have one of the following, um, 3 placement disruptions in a six-month timeframe, child is residing in an unapproved placement setting, so some zones are, um, having children maybe be hoteling or um office space and then inability to achieve placement stability in their identified appropriate level of care.

00:24:10,330	So this is just an added support to what we in Zs refer to as our complex youth, our youth like we talked about who are engaged in multiple systems and just need that higher level. Of, uh, support, um, the zone staff need extra support when working with these children. Um, I believe as of last week, the this unit just kicked off like I said, on September 9th, and they’ve only they just received maybe 2 or 3 referrals.

00:24:30,500	So it’s still a pilot process on this, um, so definitely more to come on this comprehensive case coordination and what it will bring to the team. Any questions on anything so far? Um, and I should say those comprehensive comprehensive case coordinators.

00:24:52,030	There’s 2 of them and those are FTEs that were or full-time employees that were, um, secured through the department, um, through child and family services. So those are not zone employees, those are department staff and then they just, um, offer support on those cases. Next thing that we could talk about is case management redesign, so, um.

00:25:13,230	Child and Family Services, along with Human Service zones, tribal social services started meeting in May 2024 to revision in the delivery of case management services. So this, um, project kicked off and it’s got members of this team could include um zone frontline workers, or, um, members of management. It includes um members of Child and Family Services, they’re those who administer policy procedure, those who do licensing of the foster homes.

00:25:36,170	As well as stakeholders and community, um, those were invested in uh child welfare. So this just kicked off, so right now their conversation is really regarding the why, why does case management exist? Why do you choose this career path answering those questions to help develop like their purpose when they’re serving families.

00:25:56,070	They really identified who are they serving? Are they serving the child, the parent, I think the overall goal was they are serving like who is their primary customer? And I think it’s identified that the customer is the family, so it’s really this wraparound approach to the whole family.

00:26:15,170	Um, the purpose of this team or the overall goal of child and family services with case management that they identify is to engage, inspire and strengthen North Dakota families by providing them with opportunity and supports to discover their potential to keep their children safe and their families together, promote family health and well-being and meet families where they are at the moments that matter.

00:26:36,600	So this is an 18 month redesign. This will be definitely a conversation that we have over the next 18 months about where things are at and we are very fortunate that we um we had a team member from Burley County who was selected to be on this redesign team. Not every zone has representation at the table.

00:26:52,600	Um, I’m glad we do. We’re very vocal here in Burley County. We serve a large number of youth and so it’s really great to be able to have representation during redesign. The next thing I’ll talk about is a program, um, I don’t a program, a working group that I participate in in continuous quality improvement.

00:27:12,900	I refer to this as CQI. Um, CQI is made up of zone team members, state administrators from Child family services, stakeholders, uh, tribal partners, uh, the goal of this team is to review data around child welfare services, discuss barriers that impact our goals.

00:27:33,630	Uh, we work on finding solutions and then we implement processes to improve the overall quality of those services in order to. So we’ve been meeting and we just kind of go over different data, um, I don’t provide everybody with this because there’s um PowerPoints on top of PowerPoints that we review.

00:27:50,270	So I just kind of wanted to talk about a couple things that this team recently met on, um, like, so for example, and we will, we look within our crossonal team, which is this, um, Or I’m gonna be directionally challenged southwest region of the state. So we’re looking at data from those that area, um, so of all the children who entered foster care within this, um, time frame, which was.

00:28:12,130	2021 to 2024, uh, 25% of those children exited foster care within 90 days, 50% exited within one year and 75% exited in 2 years and 3 months. So then the goal of this team is to look at that data and start asking those questions on why, why are 75% of the children lingering in care for two years and 3 months,

00:28:30,770	and some of those things can be um out of our control and then we try to look at the things that are within our control and how can we improve them. And a lot of that, um, we talked about court improvement, um, timely processing of filing affidavits for permanency.

00:28:46,300	I mean, there’s lots of things that we do have control over as zones and so we just try to make improvement. Um, Different things that we talked, so it’s some different points from this data is children who enter as infants have the longest staying care, uh, 50% are still in care at a year and a half, um, 25% are still in care after

00:29:04,900	2 years. So again conversation from this group is the why, why with the infants and some things we talk about is the, um, complex needs of that age group, um, parents needed a little bit more, um, their vulnerability and so parents might need more education or time for that, uh, and In order to reunify with

00:29:22,700	their children. Um. And then a lot of the work we do and I’m very appreciative when our tribal partners are at the table, whether that’s from, um, advocacy or they are tribal social services, but a lot of the conversation is um very clear that our largest group that we serve is our American Indian children and not only

00:29:45,500	are they our highest population, but they have the longest staying care, so 50% are still in care after a year and a half, um, And 25% are still in care after 3.5 years.

00:30:01,570	So some of the things we look at is, um, the difference, you know, there was one of these slides showed us that after a certain amount of time, um, the. Um, non-Native American children. Drop off and they start to reunify and why do these children linger in care. So, um, I could skip ahead and talk a little bit about.

00:30:19,830	Um, the work we’re doing here in Burley County, but really it’s looking at how do we engage, um, that culture to meet them where they’re at and um maybe have more family centered engagement so there’s a state there we’ll talk later in my agenda, but we have a statewide work that we’re doing as well as just within Burley County to address this, but.

00:30:36,930	Um, yeah, there’s, again, there’s slides on top of slides of things we go over and and what we talk about, but it’s been really good to look at, um, like an approach that’s actually. I’m going to call it solution focused. Looking at the data and actually drilling down where we can make a difference, so.

00:30:59,770	Um, any questions on that? Does any of that suggest any legislative Initiatives To help smooth the process or, yeah, I would say what that is right now, um, I don’t know because what they do is they take her cross zonal work from each region and then they meet with the State Department, um, Child and Family Services, and they look

00:31:18,000	at this, all the regions on a statewide, um, CQI approach. And so some of that will we talk as directors require legislative action for things that we’re doing. Um, some of it is.

00:31:36,430	More local Response that we need to do such as um training for our staff, be more culturally aware, but yeah, there will be, I do think there will be direct impact from that. Other than money. Hopefully other than money, yes, correct, uh, yeah, I, I would say other than money, some things that we talk about that I can just.

00:31:54,230	I mean, it’s hard to say that because everything feels like there’s a fiscal note tied to it, but one thing we talked about is, um, court improvement with making the courtroom more, um, some states do family court, so when families are involved in the child welfare system, they go through a special model of family court, um, but when we’re working with our IQW partners because that is our highest population.

00:32:13,900	We talk about a cultural courtroom and how do we make the courtroom more, um, inviting for families to come into and we meet them where they’re at and so that’s. One thing we talked about that would not in my head have a. Huge fiscal impact, but I say that and I feel like everything has a physical note, so.

00:32:32,100	But going into session, there are some, um, committees that definitely will be, um, zoned directors will be working with Child and Family Services on bills that are coming. I know that there’s, they’re meeting today, um, maybe juvenile Justice Committee. And then next week is Human Services Committee, which I am.

00:32:50,270	Scheduled to attend that next week. I haven’t reviewed the bill yet that I’m. Working on. Um, the next thing that we was in line with this is the child and family services review we refer that as the CFSR that is the federal and state agencies that are currently conducting, uh, they’re in their 4th round of the CFSR cycle. Um.

00:33:18,100	I would say that CFSR is designed to meet statutory and regulatory requirements and provide oversight of state compliance, so they really go together the CQI for me is more of our internal state, um, on compliance and then we work with, um, for CFSR for that federal level goal of CFSR is to enhance outcomes related to safety, permanency, and

00:33:38,900	well-being. Um, this, I would say. Zone boards could possibly be, um, board members could be listed as stakeholders, so sometimes they’ll put out surveys to um stakeholders on your thoughts on the child welfare system. So I would say to this board you could expect to be, um, contacted as a stakeholder for that.

00:33:59,700	As part of my advisory board and not just this board, but all on board, so. Um, next thing kind of in line with that would be our performance measurement, so we talked about this, we’ve talked about this others own, um, meetings, but we continue to monitor the key performance indicators that are identified

00:34:19,430	by the state, um, Part of it is like I’ve talked about before, noting um issues with. Data entry errors and how that impacts the dashboards and the measurements that we get, um, but we also know that some of this is working with our supervisors and their teams, um, with prioritizing the work they’re doing, um, their

00:34:40,930	caseloads are heavy. And, but that doesn’t mean, so it’s just about prioritizing the front facing work with your client and what we call internally, we call it blue light time, but it’s basically blocking off some time on your calendar to do those data entry things so that we are in compliance.

00:34:55,230	A lot of times it’s not that the work isn’t done, we just haven’t had time to do the paperwork or the data. So both are important, especially as zones we want to paint that picture going into legislative session or for anything else, um, that’s important that we have data entered so it’s really working with the

00:35:10,770	workforce to help them prioritize. The people right in front of them and the paperwork and the data. Um, any questions on any of that? Other initiatives of the zone would be continuing to work with our work force on motivational interviewing, so most of our staff have been able to go through that, um, I don’t know

00:35:34,230	if it was a I think it was a 2 day in-person training, um, where we just got the one on one on motivational interviewing, but we’ll continue to work with, uh, the training.

00:35:55,030	Institute that is implementing this on now having work groups or cohorts and going over motivational interviewing so it’s a skill that definitely takes some time for staff to adopt and implement into their work, but it has great um. I would say successful data to support this model and working with families and improving their engagement. Which would then also help with their overall goal. Like I talked about with quality, um, improvement of reunifying children quicker. Um.

00:36:21,770	We’re also working with Burley County, um, to do targeted case management. So this is something where a lot of the work we’re doing could be um considered target case management if for youth enrolled through Medicaid, but, um, this is a transition we haven’t been doing targeted case management in Burley County, um, so that’s something that, um, myself and our

00:36:40,070	business manager have worked on getting registered for targeted case management, but there is um certain things that we Have to get through like your county, um, auditor and things like that in order to be um enrolled for target case management. So that is our goal to work towards that.

00:36:57,530	Um, once we get, once we’re able to do the targeted case management and get it set up, it will work with our, um, staff on. they’re documenting, documenting their activities so that we can get reimbursement for those activities. Um, other thing I had was community collaboration, just things that we’re working on with our community partners.

00:37:19,570	Um, I feel like it’s always ongoing. We’re meeting with different multidisciplinary teams, um, we’re doing trainings. I sit on different policy advisories for stakeholders, um, but I would say right now our current focus is regarding our equal partnership. So we’re doing some internal work, um. With our equal partners.

00:37:41,830	Trying to find Um, so the Native American Institute has been meeting with my management team and myself and we’re really just defining. Who we are, um, so kind of what we came up with was a dedicated team of professionals, community members, and advocates committed to uplifting Native American families in Burleigh County through collaboration, cultural awareness, and shared vision of hope.

00:38:02,270	We strive to build a supportive network that empowers families and promotes safety and well-being. Uh, we then went on to kind of create um a mission statement, a vision statement, and we did a lot of discussion, um, kind of going back to that CQI on those families and the barriers and how what control we have in this work and how we can make

00:38:19,770	the changes. So things we came up with was. Empowerment, focusing on empowering families to make informed decisions through advocacy of their rights, um, building cultural competence, recognizing and honoring cultural values and traditions. A family centered approach, um, that promotes parental engagement, family bonds.

00:38:46,130	Um, resiliency and healing, promoting healing from historical trauma, fostering resiliency among Native American families. Uh, systemic changes, collaboration and partnership, advocacy and social justice, um. Things like that, so we’re really working internally to. Promote this, um. And then at the same time, um, Oh boy, I’m gonna lose my train of thought, um, working on a regional level to do some different.

00:39:15,330	Supports for children in foster care who, um, to keep their culture alive, you know, one thing that we talk about is losing the culture within the children and so, um, I have some work that I’m doing with different partners too and child and family services to really implement some activities that kids can go to as well as foster parents, and they can

00:39:31,230	learn about the culture and then implement that within their foster home, so, um, really trying to come at it a wrap-around approach, uh, again with the statewide work that we’re doing for training. Court improvement for, um, cultural competency.

00:39:54,700	Um, Really the last thing that I had to talk about was more from um my zone director level, so the uh zone Director association that is made up of all the directors from across the state, so there’s representation for all 19 zones. Um, we probably in May put out a call of action or position letter to behavioral health, uh, regarding what we call QRTP PRTF services.

00:40:18,230	So those are your qualified residential treatment providers, um, an example would be like your Home on the range and then DBGR can do work like that, and then your psychiatric residential treatment facilities, um, that would be more of my partners like Manchester and then again DBGR. So, um, we put out a. A request to um.

00:40:42,230	Behavioral health, child and family services, and Medicaid, medical service division to just express um concerns that we’re seeing in North Dakota with the youth that we’re serving and um. Barriers that they face to get the right level of care. So we just talked about the different opinions on the level of care across the state, um, Training of the facility personnel within those, um, providers, um.

00:41:02,300	Lack of communication, whether it’s between, it’s on the z own end or the facility end, um. Youth being discharged for the same reason they were placed there.

00:41:21,970	So sometimes, you know, a youth will go there for services and they might reach what a facility will call max benefit and they’ll be, um, discharged from the facility, but yet they’re in the same position they were when they got there, um. Conflicting referrals, um, recommendations.

00:41:42,070	So there was just a, it was a great opportunity to discuss between zones who serve as a custodian to these facilities are, um, frustration or what we feel like as children falling through the the cracks of these programs, um, so that discussion, I think that was in May when we. It could have been in June. I don’t know. I have something to add that I’m glad you guys are saying something because I’m seeing a lot. In the Avis comes to two people with To what the royals and.

00:42:04,570	Medical needs, they’re not getting met by these. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and we, you know, we have a lot of discussion with the providers. I can definitely see from different roles that I’ve served outside of this and in charge of staff and training and that kind of thing, um, there’s a workforce issue that happens as well.

00:42:24,770	So I can have a lot of empathy for these facilities with turnover that they experience or maybe their applicants that they, um, the workforce that they have for them might not be at the same skill level that it once was. And so I understand, um, but we need to look at.

00:42:41,530	How we would address that and how we work towards, um, improving that. So, um. Definitely don’t want to say it’s all on. The custodian is definitely not on all, on the facility. It’s really, I think our duty as those who um serve families in North Dakota to come together and try to problem solve around it.

00:43:01,570	Um, so it was a good discussion that we had, um. With them, but. I think from there the action planning was uh look at clinically driven training, so as we evolve as zones and as the state, making sure that the clinical partners for these facilities are evolving as well in their idea of what’s best practice for these children, um, we also looked at partial

00:43:22,430	hospitalization programs through systems of care, uh, so. Here in Bismarck, the we’ve had partial hospitalization programs before and I think we’re in. The next few months they’ll be reopening partial hospitalization, um, and this is through a system of care grant, um, to support improvement of children’s behavioral health. So that’s exciting, but that’s exciting for children in Bismarck.

00:43:46,970	There’s a struggle then if we have um children from other areas who could benefit from partial hospitalization because it’s just a day treatment program. Um, so one thing that I, I’ve talked to the department about is. Um, pairing with foster homes who if another zone has a youth that could really benefit from that.

00:44:06,270	And having that youth have a foster home here that they could work with, um, because we do need somebody to care for those kids nights and weekends, so. And they have to really be invested in that partial hospitalization treatment programming.

00:44:26,500	Um, other things we talked about is value-based payment structure, paying for quality of care in North Dakota that would take, I don’t know if that’s so much legislative action, but adjustments to Century code on um the way that we pay these PRTFs now is, um, not really based on a quality of care. So one thought is, you know, more complex kids.

00:44:47,400	are harder For these facilities to take because of the impact on staff and, um, their skill level, so maybe it’s uh an incentive if it’s a value based payment structure. Um. Last thing that we really talked about was really looking at a state review team, so we used to do state reviews on cases, so on that kind of.

00:45:09,700	fell apart, I’d say a couple of years ago and so really looking at the desired outcome from state review, um, the appropriate structure for that and it’s just a, when I talk about state review, it’s a place where my team member could identify a complex case and bring it to this, um.

00:45:28,370	Team across of statewide members across the state who can I always say it like this they have the ability to pull the levers that need to be pulled. Sometimes we have cases that We don’t know what to do with and um we just need to consult with experts in these areas, whether it’s behavioral health or child and family services, and, um, they might have some of the answers

00:45:46,000	that my team might not know just because it’s more complex, so I’m hoping between the state review and these, um, Comprehensive case coordination that I had talked about, uh, that we will see improvement in, um, serving those youth because they are our toughest youth. Any questions on any of that? Well Yeah.

00:46:15,370	First value-based payments, we are talking about that in the healthcare task force but more associated with. Uh, medical care and the hospitals are at the table. But I’m curious, um. I’ve gotten a call from people associated with DPGR.

00:46:40,170	About a new process for placement of young people that delays that is that some of what you were talking about here? Yeah, and I should have known you were gonna ask me that, um, so they’re losing big dollars. Um, I wouldn’t, I don’t wanna speak to if they’re losing the dollars or not. I have heard from facilities like they have beds that are open.

00:47:00,870	I will say as a custodian it’s frustrating cause I have referred children to these agencies and they have um. refused to take them in to care, and I have spoken to, um. Let’s say administration through that facility about that that yes you have an open bed.

00:47:18,970	I have a kid who needs that level of care, but because of some of their needs, they will reject them. Um, that’s what we talked about as directors. What is that gap? And a lot of times it is, um, IQ or developmental delay, they’ll say they are not able to take our programming at our facility, it wouldn’t be beneficial to them due to their IQ or it’s kids who are aggressive.

00:47:34,770	They’ll say, um, those are. Our two biggest challenges as directors if I have a kid who’s labeled as aggressive or has um unprovoked aggression, uh, facilities do refuse to take them.

00:47:54,670	So I can speak from the custodian piece that yes, I’m referring kids are not taking them, but what I think they’re speaking to is a new, um, level of care determination. That’s why I said I should have been prepared, you’d say that. I think started in July and so now, um, we have to submit certain information to this assessment process and then there’s a one stop place that determines what’s the right level of care.

00:48:12,930	Does a child need to be in? A PRTF or a QRTP or can they get these services by being in a treatment foster home with path and getting them community-based services, or can they just be in a regular foster home and get community-based services, so. They could be seeing impact from that, and I wouldn’t know. On their end fiscally or what that looks like for referrals.

00:48:33,670	And I understand that those are evolving situations. Yeah, I think you’ll hear a lot about that the upcoming session cause it just went live like I said, I think in July, so it’s kind of we’re in that period where we’re waiting to see what the, what it looks like the numbers look like.

00:48:52,470	But yes, I would anticipate that will be a conversation I, I will be happy to have during session of and advocating for these kids, so. Madam Chair. With the situation that Senator Deaver is talking about.

00:49:12,870	Would that make a difference if there was More funding for more staff to meet the needs of some of those kids, whether they’re aggressive or IQ, etc. Um, I mean, I think. Everybody’s first reaction is always to throw dollars at things and say it’s a funding thing. So I don’t, it could be, I wasn’t thinking. I was thinking staff, but if you’re gonna get more staff, it always involves do.

00:49:33,370	So to me it’s just really looking at um the way we’re doing things in these facilities like having um the evidence-based treatment they do or doing behavior programming that um makes sense for those children and sometimes that’s why I talked about when we did the um. Clinically driven training was one of the talking points. The way that we served children.

00:49:53,770	30, 20, even 10 years ago is different than we might need to do it now. So really looking at, um. Individualized Programming, um, for each kid, and that could include behavior incentives, um, but then you have to make sure the staff are trained on that. I speak a lot when I talk about this.

00:50:11,370	I think a lot about my work in DD services and every one of my clients was on an individualized, um, behavior plan. And so even if I worked in a group home with 4 individuals, each one look different and I had to be very well trained on their behavior plan in order to execute the plan and have the most success.

00:50:28,430	So I think sometimes it’s just the way we’re working with the families, um, but Yes, that could include more dollars for training, more dollars for staff, um, sometimes these facilities will talk about it’s the way their facility is, um, structurally built to serve these aggressive kids to be able to separate them from maybe your non-aggressive children that are I just think

00:50:46,770	about like if I had my own child in one of these facilities and then another youth was having aggression unprovoked the liability on that as well so there there’s a lot that’s why I said it’s not just on the facilities to fix this. It truly is on.

00:51:03,100	All of us around this table or anybody who’s invested in child and family services, so. I’ve, in my experience, I’ve seen two where Dangerous children. Really Physically and emotionally, mentally injure others. I’ve seen that multiple times, even as young as kindergarten girl. Breaking bones. Another person. Yeah.

00:51:31,470	Um, One thing I think I advocate for when we work on system of care, work in this grant is, that’s a lot of wrong behavioral health and children who are in on mental health crisis. Sometimes we’ll reach out to these supports and they’ll say that’s not a mental health crisis, that’s a behavior.

00:51:46,300	They’re having a behavior and one thing I say is it’s interesting that you could have behaviors until you’re 18 and then you turn 18 and now you’re in a mental health crisis. You know, you don’t, when somebody’s in an adult in a mental health crisis, you don’t say they’re just having behaviors. So that’s frustrating for me because I think we need to also change the way we’re looking at.

00:52:00,370	Um, our response to children and mental health crisis, we talk a lot about just the, the goal model other states do if somebody calls in their mental health crisis, we usually just go.

00:52:14,230	You just go and you assess it and what is a crisis for you is different than what is a crisis for me and that’s not somebody’s job to assess over the phone. They should go and assess that in person and just give them what they need. Um, that is something I think we can improve on in North Dakota. Sometimes we screen that over the phone and. And sometimes that could be the right answer, but.

00:52:30,100	For those one-off times, it’s not, that’s um. That can have lifelong impact if that person truly is in a mental health crisis, so. Um, great questions. I thank you for all the engagement on this topic. This is one of my um.

00:52:51,530	Definite passion topics and like I said, going into session, those are things that I like to talk about and how we can improve and something I’ll advocate for, so I look forward to um. Being able to bring you guys updates and now that I have heard some of this feedback, I’ll try, um, in between these meetings to just keep you guys updated on any, um, work I’m doing or conversations or, um, bills

00:53:08,700	that we’re looking at, but, um, definitely by December we’ll have, um, we’ll be in a better place, kind of where we’re um the approach of the association of directors where we want to go with things um so. If you don’t have any more questions on that otherwise.

00:53:27,400	Madam Chair, I’m just glad to hear that they’re looking out for part of it is for the protection of the other children they have in those institutions. All right, and I gotta find my agenda again through all my paperwork. On the Thank you.

00:53:48,830	OK, we’ll move on to number 5, the public comment, um, there’s nobody here for public comment, but I don’t know if there’s anybody on via phone. I did have somebody who said they might reach out via phone for public comment. So I’ve given him a number to call, so I don’t know if that. The Guy running the booth does that, but.

00:54:08,070	Um, otherwise we’ll just move on to other business, um, and in lieu of my. Public comment that wanted to talk about the. Transportation measure. I did ask Trevor if he wanted to. Provide some insight because he’s been involved in some of that. Yeah, I, it’s. It’s probably for Ben and driven it for. My friends. The depends on the senses for that. And uh the other part, the public safety.

00:54:36,700	It’s gonna be on the ballot in November. And uh Hope to get good outcome. For that It’s gonna take more transit. And uh it’ll help your clients be able to access. B Better reliable transportation. And one of the things I’ll say is. If we don’t get this, we’ll be really.

00:55:06,630	So if you If you can get the word out. Mm, um, Comm. Connelly, City Comm. had provided me with some handles that have a QR code, um, so I have some of those here, um, and then we’ll have them in our office as well, and we’ll try to get them out, but um this just provides

00:55:26,370	information on that measure, um, to support public safety and public transportation. I don’t know what measure that is I OK. City Yes, City measure one. Yep. All right, um. Otherwise for other business I don’t. I think I have anything else to hand. Did you have anything I’m missing? OK, um.

00:55:52,230	So if anybody doesn’t have any other comments, questions, things you want to talk about? Um, or I should say for other business, we do have reappointment coming up of some of our members, so I will be reaching out to those members and seeing if they are interested in reappointment for a two-year term, um, those are staggered between, um.

00:56:11,800	Now on our next meeting in December, so I have one in November and 2 in December, so what I’ll do is, um, once I hear back if they want reappointment, I’ll have to go but um before the county commission and ask for approval to reappoint and then if, um, a member does not want to be reappointed, uh, then they’ll

00:56:27,430	have to, we’ll have to work with the county offices to post for membership and get applications. So, um. In December, then when we meet, there could be new board members appointed if, um, we don’t have. Uh, they don’t choose to seek reappointment. I would say we do have a requirement to have one legislative member on our board.

00:56:45,900	So, um, I’ll um, I’ll Why would you have me You ask really good questions, so I would have you here regardless, um, but it is a requirement, so I’ll work with you on if um you’re interested in a reappointment and if not, then uh we’ll have to.

00:57:08,830	Work together to, you know, find an applicant to apply for membership on the board to continue to serve. I also It might be beneficial. To the zone to Educated Another In which case my Recommendation would be Senator Sean Cry. He’s the only Bismarck I just say.

00:57:38,230	So Um, I appreciate that perspective cause as much as I would like to have you on my board forever and I enjoy, um, your perspective and questions. I was thinking that too, that, um, you know, a term limits of different things that, um, it’s always good to get a new member on to, I don’t wanna say spread the word, but to just educate more about human service zones and what we do.

00:57:56,370	Um, Senator Cleary, I’ve, um, Probably I’d say testified in front of I don’t, um, haven’t spoken too much to him, but uh, he is one that came to mind when I was thinking who would replace you, so that’s probably a conversation you could help me have maybe in the next. Couple months. At home. OK, thank you.

00:58:16,170	He’s just got such a good head on his shoulders. Yeah. a service issues anyway. OK And I think he is on the, um, the committee the interim, I don’t know if he’s on the interim committee then for that I’ll see next week so I can.

00:58:35,370	Reach out to, but Yeah, I’m on the Sure Yeah, um. Either way, um, either way we’ll sort that out, but then I’ll reach out to, um, others about their appointment and then we’ll just go from there.

00:58:55,900	So yeah, I would anticipate that our December meeting will see new reappointment, um, and then, um, Kriner Bakken, he’s not able to be here today, but, uh, we’ll have to look at that too cause his. term, I think, is up in 2024 it’s in December of this year as well when his commission term expires, so that would, um, depend on, yeah, so the essentially the his place would be whichever Comm. is elected and to sign this portfolio.

00:59:16,530	So that could change as well. Correct, uh, to jointly, I think they decide who’s gonna take which portfolio, yep. So I would say that in 2025 we’ll see some changes to the advisory board, so. Um, OK, well, I don’t have any other business, so if nobody has any other questions, we can adjourn the meeting.