00:00:11,800	to order the Burleigh County Human Service Zone board. Today is Tuesday, December 17th. It is 3:00 p.m. Um, I will start by, um, we’re gonna start, we’re gonna skip to the third agenda, which is the reappointment of board members before we call roll calls we have a new board member.

00:00:26,700	Um, so I just want to go over the reappointment. Um, we had 3 positions that were coming open, so, um, we did get approval from the county commission for reappointment of Senator Dever to continue on our board as well as Trevor Vennett. Trevor is not here today, but Trevor was reap.

00:00:43,000	appointed for 33 more years for those on board. Um, so we had an open position from Leslie Piercy’s, um, leaving the zone board and that was opened through application and, uh, yesterday, the county Commission made an appointment for that position. So, um, we will do the oath office for Kelly. for I haven’t voted for you, ***.

00:01:09,130	Legislature going to get reelected to take the oath. Um. I say Berlin. I. Solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the the Constitution and the state of North Dakota and the Constitution of the state of North Dakota.

00:01:31,500	Now officially discharge the duties of the office. And I will Faithfully Discharge the duties of the office. Uh, human services on board in the county of Bro. A human service zone board in the county of Berlin and the state of North Dakota and the state of North Dakota. According to the best of my ability.

00:01:50,330	According to the best of my ability. You That was. It is. OK, and I did ask Kelly if she would, um, just do a brief introduction for those who are here who um don’t know her background as well as those who are interested in, um, observe this, um, zone board meeting. Hello. I am, oh, I apologize. I am, uh, Kelly Berglund.

00:02:37,030	My background is uh financial institution. Uh, internal audits, I, so more of the business aspect of it. I am currently the mayor for the city of Lincoln.

00:03:03,170	And after that, I, I realized that that was quite an investment in time, so I stepped back from public working and I’m doing or I guess now I’m more public work, uh, then the private sector, uh, my, my desire to be on this board, I think it’s a very important role to have, uh, You know, our kiddos our future, um, my family is very in tune and supportive of the foster care program.

00:03:27,270	We’ve got a couple adoptions in our family throughout that process, so that’s very dear to my heart, so I, um. I’m hoping just to continue on in serving in this aspect rather than. The other, so I appreciate. The uh confirmation today. Yeah, thank you we’re happy to have you on the board. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

00:03:48,300	OK, so we’ll move to the agenda item then that was number 2, we’ll do the roll call of the members. Comm Bakke, Kelly Berglund. Yes, Senator Dever Tracy famous? Yes. Jim Holme Here. And Director Flory here and for the record, Gaylen Becker and Trevor Vennett are both absent. Thanks.

00:04:10,570	Um, next on the agenda, we’ll do the approval of the meeting minutes from the September 17, 2024 meetings. I don’t know if everybody had a chance to review those meeting minutes, um, any comments, anybody want to make a motion on those? Moder proof. OK, we have a uh approval and a second on that, so any discussion, just put that out there in case anybody has anything.

00:04:32,470	If not, we’ll just do a vote on that. So, um, all in favor say aye. And he po same sign. Motion carried, um, the next one that we’ll do is the, um, zone board or the, yeah, zone board meeting dates for 2025, so I did send these out to the on board members.

00:04:49,900	Sorry, Kelly, you didn’t get those yet, um, because you’re here today, but, um, I did send those out so we can look at those dates and make sure that they work for everybody, um. Again, we’re going to keep it the consistency with on Tuesdays every quarter and we did 3 p.m.

00:05:04,730	it just seemed to work better for everybody’s schedule. And that’s just for clarification, the 3rd Tuesday of every month is is the way that those states continue to flow. Anybody have any questions, conflicts? And MPO, but, uh, typically it doesn’t take an hour. OK. Today was a little longer meeting than usual, so. It’s easy when it’s upstairs rather than over Mandy.

00:05:34,870	Correct. What I motion or anything on these dates motion to approved. OK, we have a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Herenne, um, all in favor of those approval of those dates, say aye, aye. Any opposed? Same side? Right, motion carried, um, the next thing we’ll do on the agenda is the director’s report.

00:06:04,100	So we will start with our economic assistance division, and I have my, um, program administrator who will give um Grey, and she’ll give updates on, um, that. That unit that she oversees. No. How about now? Good. There we go.

00:06:28,900	OK, so just some quick updates on some things that have been going on in in our office, um, September 18th we had a management evaluation review on site. Um, this is where a snap policy um person came in, they did some snap interview observations to ensure the policy was followed. Uh, they did some cases that were needing correction, um, some case file reviews that needed correction, they were received back to the zone.

00:06:50,100	We have made those corrections and turned those back in. Um, some of the notes that we found potential findings, uh, use of income and expenses, um, timely processing, narratives needing more detail and information in them.

00:07:09,300	Um, as far as improvement planning goes, uh, of course, we’re going to make sure that we’re double checking budgets before we are authorizing any cases. Um, continue working statewide for timeliness, um. There’s been some backlog with some issues that have caused the timeliness that we’ve had, but we are on the mend for that.

00:07:30,700	Um, and then shifting work within capacity, um, more explanations in the narratives and then, uh, when it comes to IPVs, making sure that the violation that we are able to show, um, the burden of proof that a violation had occurred.

00:07:54,170	One of the or was a couple of positives that came out, um, they did say when um when she was conducting the Snap interview observations that through the throughout the interviews, um, the workers did include policies and rights, um, responsibilities for the client that they needed to uh to, to hear and to um They’re like reporting requirements, making sure that they understood what their requirements were. Um, OK, I just wanted to, for clarification for board members and, um, for Kelly.

00:08:16,030	So the work that we do in North Dakota for economic assistance is done statewide. Um, they have what they call. Las where the work is flowing, where, um, like group one will do just Medicaid.

00:08:34,900	Group 2 will do Medicaid, and then if that household also has SNAP, which is your, um, Your food assistance and then group uh 34 does kind of the additional programs like your TAA childcare, so that’s how the the lanes are separated, so when we talk about timeliness, I’d just like to clarify that it, it’s not a direct impact from Burlee County’s timeliness.

00:08:52,100	This is because statewide work is processed the way it is, so we could be processing applications for benefits from a resident in a whole another county on the other side of the state, and then the zones up in that, um, like we could be processing for ground forks, ground forks for us, that’s kind of how it works. It goes into.

00:09:07,370	To a statewide queue, the work is grabbed in the order as received, some things are expedited based off of um household composition and that kind of stuff, but, um, so when we talk about timeliness, it’s not, I can’t drill it down like you probably used to, um, to justur counting because the way it’s done when we talked about shifting work within incapacity as a state as a whole, we really spend a lot of time

00:09:22,770	looking at those lanes and moving workers. Nnimbly and fluidly through the lens, and so, um, we may find that we have backlog in group one, which is your Medicaid only. Um, we have like the public health emergency that um that was earlier this spring, right? The PH unwinding. We did a res result last year already.

00:09:41,970	I think that’s been going for the past year. So when that was lifted, we saw like an increase of work that needed to be done, so then we had to shift worker, you know, so we just kind of moved the workers nimbly fluidly to where the work is at. Um, when the winter.

00:09:56,570	Seasons come, we see an increase with our Lie heap applications because that’s just the time of year you get heating assistance. That’s what he, yeah, so, um, just wanted to clarify, just so you understood when you talked about timeliness and shifting of the work capacity.

00:10:10,300	Those are decisions that are made much higher than just a Burley County decision. So, yeah. Um, when it comes to some of the programs with Lie Heap, of course, this season started um October 1st of this year.

00:10:34,830	I do want to note for you guys, this will be our last full-on application season as we will be moving to review process with LIHEap so there will no longer be an application process at October with the benefits or the case closing at May with them having to reapply again in October.

00:10:52,130	This is going to now move to a review process, so the state is working on getting that set up so that the reviews are kind of stair stepped out and scattered out so that we’re not hit all at one time in. October, but yet they’ll go throughout the year. Um, unfortunately, I don’t know how this is going to work yet. They are still in the process of trying to figure that out.

00:11:10,770	Um The applications right now for L Lie Heap, um, now that we’re into December, we are now processing timely and we are up to date on the LIHEA applications. Um, with childcare, um, this program back in spring, I want to say April, was moved from Group 3 to our group 4, which, as Chelsea had mentioned, this was our, um, our group that works all of the programs, the tan of childcare, SNA Healthcare, and

00:11:33,570	LIEap as well. Um, so childcare did get moved into Group 4 because um there was some moving around with the lie heap so that we wouldn’t get so hit in October and so they spread li heap out. to groups 2 and 3.

00:11:49,570	Because of that, they took childcare off of Group 3 and put it onto Group 4. This did cause some backlog in the group for moving that childcare program. Um, so one of the things that they are currently working on right now is they have moved the childcare cases back to the original workers who worked in Group 3 doing childcare.

00:12:07,430	So they are helping out Group 4 right now with those childcare cases, um, Let’s see. On Thursday 125, um, this is when they decided to open up the queues for those original Group 3 workers, and on that day, 458 childcare work items were pushed out into those workers’ queues, um, so that they could help the group

00:12:29,100	for. Keep in mind this is a temporary fix, uh, to address the backlog work for Group 4, right now they currently have 10 individuals that are in the training process for the Tafin Childcare programs.

00:12:48,430	So once they get all of Those individuals completely trained so that they can work the tanNF in the childcare programs, they will then reassess at that time to see if they have enough workers in that group for to now handle the workload with the childcare and the Taifa and all the other programs, or if they need to add more workers to that group at that time.

00:13:06,600	With health care, uh, we are still kind of in the middle, I guess I shouldn’t say the middle, but we’re getting to the end, but open enrollment for healthcare did start on November 1st. Um, the public is encouraged to apply for healthcare during the open enrollment period.

00:13:25,100	This is an annual process and it goes until January 15th, uh, because of the open enrollment for healthcare, we have seen a big increase in the number of applications, um, being submitted through the federal facilitated Marketplace or this is the Healthcare.gov website. Um, this of course with that big push has also created a little bit of a backlog within the group one as well. Um, workers are processing roughly 10 applications a day right now with those that are coming in.

00:13:50,230	Um, OK, before we get into, I think that’s all the The programs stuff, um, the only other thing I would add is, um, Yeah, I mean, it’s, it’s not great conversation to talk about having backlog log clients getting delayed and getting their benefits, um, as a dome director that’s not what I would like to see for timely

00:14:10,700	processing and then getting those services to those individuals, but I will say that we’re trying to do the best we can to like shift the work, workers are, um, maybe doing work that’s outside their their typical, they’re getting extra training on other thing we’re doing is we offer and again statewide, not just Burley County, but we’re

00:14:28,100	encouraged to offer overtime for individuals. who are willing to work outside their normal hours to process the backlog. So just that the board should know kind of efforts that we’re making to to do that. Any questions regarding the programs? Backlog, anything like that. OK, sorry. That’s OK.

00:14:49,100	Uh, let’s see, back in October on the 17th, we did have our first official in-person all staff meeting. Um, we had kind of talked about that before and others on board meetings here that we were going to start doing this on a quarterly basis.

00:15:06,230	So we did have our first official one, during this staff meeting, we did have, uh, an individual come from the village Business Institute and give a training presentation on um subject called Compassion, fatigue, and employee burnout. Um, the presenter did have lots of good information that was found both informative and useful and not only our work lives, but also in our personal lives as well.

00:15:26,400	I did have several staff reach out at that time to express, um, that they did appreciate the meeting and the speaker and the information that was given. And as of right now, it’s not on the calendar yet, but I am looking at having the next all staff meeting planned for sometime in February or March.

00:15:46,700	Um, yeah, the only other thing I’d add to that is obviously through a lot of that conversation we just had about programs shifting. It is, um, change fatigue on our team members. I mean, that’s just not for Burle County with statewide.

00:16:04,730	We continue to move, um, the work they’re doing, how they’re doing the work, who’s doing the work, that, those kind of things and that does cause that compassion fatigue, so, um, there’s also been some changes with the redesign that was implemented where we went away from doing case management to process management and really what we’re seeing is we, um, remove the person from the Y like you used to sit across from your client as a case manager and really be connected

00:16:21,800	to that person and that individual, and now you’re just working a task in a queue. So it kind of causes some of that compassion fatigue as well, so we’re really trying to, and Greg will get into the next, um.

00:16:34,770	them, but we’re really trying to do it more outreach, um, because we have a lot of workforce who are, who want to be connected to the Y and want to be connected to the community. So we’re trying to do a little bit more, um, outreach that will help our citizens, so. So yeah, we are currently um doing some outreach with the Department of Corrections right now.

00:16:52,370	Um, we have two of our eligibility workers going out to the state pen once a month. I think it is that they’re going out, um, they are meeting with those individuals who are within 30 days going to be released.

00:17:11,530	And so that way we can go ahead and get their applications completed and filled out, um, at that time instead of, um, if we have applications come in that aren’t entirely filled out. This is going to kind of, you know, mitigate that process where we have all of the information that we need, they’ll be able to answer the questions that the inmates may have at that time.

00:17:25,530	Um, so we started that on October 31st, I think is when you guys took the tour and they went out, I think twice in November, twice in November, and I don’t know if they’ve gone out in the month of December yet. This week we go. Yeah. OK. Um, so I know they continue to do that.

00:17:42,070	The two team members that are doing it have expressed that they really enjoy it. They feel like that they are um really making a difference, um, as far as getting those applications, they are keeping the applications and processing them as the inmate gets released and we get notification from the DOCR that they have been released, they will then process that application because they have

00:18:00,830	it there on their desk ready to go. Um, and we’re looking at doing more outreach in the future too. We’ve got some Chelsea and I have talked about some ideas of other things that we can do.

00:18:21,430	So any, um, Feedback from the board on the outreach of other ideas for outreach, like some things we’ve talked about is we partner a lot with um like Global Nes for refugee programming that they offer for um programs that they may have, um.

00:18:44,100	There Eligible for and so there’s some ideas of us partnering with them in trying to, um, they’re there to provide that advocacy for that individual, and then we’re just there for the technical application processing, um, as well as, um, probably checking in with our Homeless Coalition, things like that, like where could we do outreach, but I’m open to any suggestions, so.

00:19:09,570	Madam Curker, I just ask when you, when you go out to the Prison, what programs you’re Dealing with So in that one mostly Medicaid, but there’s also some instances that they may be eligible for Snap when they’re released also, especially if they’re released back into the community and their own home. Um, if they are going to, um, another facility, they may not be eligible for SNAP because their meals may be covered for them.

00:19:27,170	Um, so we’re really taking a look at how are they being released, where are they being released to, and focusing more on that Medicaid and the snap when necessary. So continuing medications that they took. At the prison Correct, I mean, the goal is continuum of care. Um-hum. So when they’re in the prison, they’re getting um that through a different source and then once they’re released.

00:19:48,500	We’re finding that um they’re on their own to come and sign up for it and that doesn’t always happen, so we’re bringing the services to them in hopes to have continuum of care. It’s critical that they continue their medication. Correct. Yes. stabilization, yeah.

00:20:06,700	And a lot of them have health concerns too that those medications are needed, um, and like Gray said, Medicaid is the biggest one, and then we do SNAP based on where they’re going if they’re discharged into a facility, um, that provides the food, then they don’t apply for that.

00:20:20,600	We also had one individual who was releasing straight to a home that he owned and he was able to, um, like get light heap, you know, things like that are applicable, so we offer them all the programs, but the, the two main that we’re focusing on are Medicaid and SNAP. And did you still want me to explain the interview process that we have. No, you’re OK. OK.

00:20:40,700	Anybody have any questions for Greg? Or economic assistance, OK. Thank you. OK, next on the agenda will be our, uh, update on our child welfare unit. Oh my Hi, my name is Jeremy Smith. I’m the program manager for child welfare here in Burle County.

00:21:13,300	Um, I’m gonna start off with a couple of initiatives that we have been going through and working through for all of child welfare, and then after that, we’ll get into some of the Different units and stuff, um, for work and knowledge. um. Couple, couple of the initiatives. One is a motivational interviewing.

00:21:36,230	We are working on, I, I believe a couple months ago when I stood up here, I talked about motivational interviewing before, um, we’re still going in that initiative. It’s gonna be a very long initiative, um, probably about a two-year process to get everybody kind of up and up to speed in the training part, um, motivational interviewing is, is really a technique. Um, it’s a different perspective on you engage families, um.

00:22:03,030	Non-judgmental ways of um and, and, and working with the families and not being um resistant to their work and stuff like that, so, um, about 75% of our staff right now are trained in the motivational interviewing. Now they’re moving over to a learning groups, so learning groups are supervision now, so it’s not really training, it’s supervision, um, with the consultant through Case Western University.

00:22:27,700	And um the there work is Really bringing in cases and talking about cases and how you can handle that and how you can work through um these cases and they, and like I said, they’re called learning groups. Um, we’ll have 4 different learning groups. We are combined with different zones, um, mainly, uh, Rough Rider.

00:22:52,570	Is in the pulmon area, um, we’re combined with their within the learning groups here. Next is um trying to um obtain the next. Um, staff members that haven’t gotten the training, which um, our, our supervisors and the case management area and then also new staff that we’ve hired in the last couple of months.

00:23:20,470	Those individuals hopefully will get registered in, and, um, attend the motivational interviewing two-day training either next month or March. They haven’t set a date yet because the dates and coordination really does get set at the state level and not the county level. his own level. Um, Right now we’re working with UND um University of North Dakota.

00:23:47,630	They received a grant, um, to work on an initiative through um working on Native American culture, um, working on how we can look at data, um, differently, um, and things like that and Um, we’re collaborating with UND and the Naty it’s called, so the national um Native American training institute, and there’s different um staff, they’re all called IFPs, so EA family present preservationists, and

00:24:15,570	they’re part of this group, um, that they’re working with us and we’re identifying different gaps in our community, um, One of the gaps was trying to keep that culture alive, um, with her children in foster care.

00:24:38,070	The children in foster care that are Native American and um sometimes they are placed outside of a Native American home, um, so we’re helping out with these, uh, foster care providers, um, understanding the culture and then also helping out the Um Kids, um, so you can continue the culture, um, as they see.

00:25:04,100	And that will be tonight, um, the first event, Chelsea will be, um, directing that and, and facilitating that and it’s called, we, we called it keeping the culture alive and it’s a partnership with Three Rivers in the state and um Joel Bear’s tail will be presenting there. She’s the author of a book called Bear’s Braid. And um she’ll be there at 6 o’clock at the public library.

00:25:26,930	Yeah, the only other thing I’d add is, um, to Jeremy’s point, this initiative is really, I guess, important to me as we’re working with families, cause sometimes the cultures even lost within that family for whatever reason within that family, they might not celebrate their own culture. Um, they may have, um. Um, historical trauma that’s happening.

00:25:44,000	And so what we’re finding in these, with these kids that are in foster care or in our prevention services is like the sense of belonging, so there’s a lot of initiatives that are happening through the public schools, uh, for this same sort of initiative giving children a place to be and um having that support.

00:26:00,630	So this was really, um, for that picture of not only for the foster and adoptive parents to have that, um, support and learning, um, opportunity, but for also the children to have a place. So it’s really geared towards foster adoptive, um, children as well.

00:26:16,600	as their um foster and adoptive providers to come in and learn, um, I think this is our first event we’re doing and we so far are RSVP for 40 people to attend, so, um, really great that we have an interest in this and this, um, Joe will be a great, um, is a good first topic, and so we’re just looking to grow more and being able to do these events. Sorry, thank you, Jeremy.

00:26:35,870	So part of process improvement and quality improvement, uh, you know, some of these. Items that we’re doing, we also need to understand the data, so about a couple of weeks ago, uh, CFS director myself and Harmony, um, Perier who’s Through the University of North Dakota that um leads this ground, met with Casey family and Casey family has a tool, um, that they bring

00:26:58,330	in. I I can’t remember what they call it, but they bring in a lot of data through the Census Bureau, um, and then create, um, different demographics and um different things that they, that you can look at, whether it’s education, poverty levels, um, just anything in particular and you can either look at it within a

00:27:21,870	a neighborhood you can look at it within a town city, uh, county, um, so we’re definitely gonna be looking at the data we’re gonna be the data, um, and comparing our Kind of reports, you know, through like CPS reports and also reporting um of the public, whether it’s public, um reported or the mandated reporting and, and

00:27:47,330	really see. What reports are really coming through into our CPS assessments and what um reports are being. Um Screened out by the state. We don’t screen out when the reports come in to us, we don’t screen out the reports right away. It is done by the state, um, a state team.

00:28:12,570	So we’ll be looking at data here in the next couple of months for that. Uh, one of the, one of, one area that we found, we saw that there was a gap in the last couple of years was, um, a dis discontinuation of partial hospitalization program.

00:28:37,030	And Um, Chelsea and a number of other individuals are on a group called um Systems of Care Grant and, and the systems of care grant um really is kind of the lead in working with CHI. So CHI CHI is starting to a partial hospitalization program again.

00:29:02,630	And um with partial hospitalization program means is, is, um, if you’re receiving behavioral health services or addiction services, it’s not going to a therapist for one hour a week or you’re not going to inpatient care and staying there um overnight, uh, partial hospitalization is open really just daytime hours. So, Monday through Friday 8 to 5, um, it gives a chance to get uh for these children.

00:29:27,630	Whether it’s mental health issues or concerns or addiction concerns, um. They’re able to Get the supports they need while they’re trying to go to school because, um, with PHP or the partial hospitalization program that’s going to be starting here, um, they have collaborated and worked with the school system to offer school while they’re at that, um, partial hospitalization program.

00:29:52,830	So very good program that they’re bringing back, um, that it just wasn’t happening in the last couple of years, but No, it’s, we’re seeing it coming back. All right, um, talking about some programs and I wanted to just, uh, I don’t know if you guys all our data people, um, but I did do some data look.

00:30:16,830	I know it’s not the end of the year, but I wanted to do, um, up to December 15th, so I did some data checking and, and comparisons and things like that. You’ll also get a annual report, you know, in, uh, in about a month, um.

00:30:40,430	Looking at actual true data, but I just wanted to run through some data here, um, child protection services, we are working on, um, just looking at the timeliness and the organization of the, of um our workers because we do our and our seeing an increase in the reports that are coming in for open assessment.

00:31:01,230	So, so it’s just a matter of trying to shift and trying to figure out and mold to a new, new area. of um trying to contain those assessments. And um and finishing those assessments on in a timely manner. So by, by December 15th, From the beginning of January 1.

00:31:34,230	Um, there were 2,086 reports given to Um, the state intake out of those 2,086 reports, 88 of them turned into an assessment, so only 39% of those reports. Um, moved into assessment for us, so that means that You know, a little over 60% of those reports that Either mandated reporters are reporting or parents, um, other parents or, or family members are reporting 61% of them are already getting screened out. Um, at the state level.

00:32:05,230	Um, just to give you a comparison with 2023 numbers, 22 numbers, and 21 numbers at 2023, um 37% of those reports were screened in. And then at 2022, 34% of those reports are screened in and then a 2 2021 37%. So this year already at December 15th, 39% of those have been screened in for uh open assessment for families.

00:32:35,630	In In Germany, when you look at, um, in your guys’ packets, you have the kind of some of the data and then the charts it. It appears as though for a child protection assessment team, like we’re on trend for Where we were in probably 2023.

00:32:51,170	I know this is printed black and white, so you kind of can’t see some of those lines, but it looks as though we’re on, like we’re not far off from where we have been in previous years.

00:33:09,730	And like Jim talked about for timeliness that is a measure that um all of North Dakota is measured on, um, for human service loans we have, um, different ones that we work with the department on insuring, so I have one through economic assistance for timeliness, and then we have one through, um, child welfare.

00:33:26,930	So one of them is the timely response to face to face of victims as well as timely completion of a CPS assessment with in according to policy. So those are both areas when I got my last, um, review of My measurements where we have improved not just for Burley County but statewide. So these are initiatives that were, um, trying to do, which can include um.

00:33:43,970	Collaboration with other zones, so if your victim, if you have another zone who may not have a higher case so they may collaborate with us to come work some of our cases to ensure that we get timely face to face with our victims, um, that kind of stuff, so. Those are the two that are related to, um, child protection. All right, so that’s, any questions for CPS child protection services.

00:34:05,830	All right, moving on to case management, uh, I want to start at the beginning, um, before we get into our actual program right now the state is at the pro in the process of doing a state redesign of our case management system.

00:34:28,230	Um We’re lucky and fortunate enough to have two of our staff on that committee or that’s that work group.... 11 is a supervisor and one is a case manager, um, it does take up a lot of time to do these redesign, um, they did a CPS redesign a couple of years ago and then we also did a an adoption redesign, um, last year and, and for those

00:34:47,170	people that really commit their time, it takes up a lot of time for them, so I do want to thank them on, on the record. um that they’re gonna be working on the work group, but um it’s, it’s a variety of different zone members, state workers, there’s even stakeholders I believe on the work group, um.

00:35:06,800	And, and what their purpose is is really looking at how we can streamline documentation, you know, there’s a lot of documents, especially in the foster care system that you have to fill out and um that’s a huge initiative right now at the case management redesign is looking at that.

00:35:28,570	Um, one of the other areas that they want to look at is supervision, how, how supervision can hand hand handle this, um, because as we have So many staff and so many cases, the expectation of uh supervision is really, um, meeting with the supervisors with each case manager and going through each.

00:35:52,670	Case and um they’re looking at how they can streamline that and make it more effective and efficient there, um. And um, and, and enhancing the case management tools, so I guess it’s, it hasn’t been fully rolled out yet, but from what we’re gathering, um, they’re really gonna be instituting a seamless case management system So right now, um, a lot of you here, uh, in home case management unit

00:36:21,500	and foster care case management unit, uh, at Burleigh County. We’ve been working on um Kind of getting rid of the unit talk and really just talking about your case manager, you, you could either be doing foster care work, um, and providing foster care services to this family or um.

00:36:44,630	You would do in-home services and providing, you know, home services and going out to meet the families there, um, this gives them a chance to for the family members to have a seamless interaction before they would have two separate case managers if, if, um, for some reason, a youth and family, the, the children of the families were removed, um, and they were

00:37:07,370	receiving in-home services and now if they’re removed and into foster care. We would switch the case manager. Now we’re not doing that, um, if they’re removed. Into the out of the home where they’re gonna keep the same case manager. So they don’t, so the families don’t have to retell their story again.

00:37:31,430	The only thing I add about the case management redesign, so that kicked off, I think in July or August, and that’s an 18 month redesign that’s led by the department. So we, we’re in it for the long haul.

00:37:46,470	Like Jeremy said, we have two team members who are currently actively on it as they identify work streams, um, kind of as they get into the redesign and they start looking at certain pieces of the process, they will be pulling our team members into, um, round table conversations and, um, looking at those kind of things, but yeah, it’s gonna be a long redesign, but I’m very hopeful that it’ll help us.

00:38:03,930	Their first step was identifying the why. Why do we do what we do? Which is to ensure the safety in serving children and families. So really bringing the workers back to what parts of their job are the most important pieces they do, which is serving in direct work with the families, and how do we get those workers

00:38:16,800	back to doing that versus some of the other stuff they’re doing like Jeremy said the paperwork, the court process is a big one. there’s a large number of my staff that spend a lot of their time doing transports, um, for appointments or visits, and that’s not the best use of their time, however, those

00:38:34,070	things have to be done. So it’s. Kind of looking at how can we as a community. Do more and, um, you know, we have foster parents who who are serving these children, but they can’t always do that stuff too, as they have other children and they’re, um, their work and family responsibilities.

00:38:51,970	So what are different areas doing to um respond to this need so that it doesn’t fall on those case managers who again need to be doing some of that more important work with the family, so Those are all conversations to be had over the next.

00:39:04,500	We’re probably however far we into it now, I think we got a year left, so. Thanks, Jeremy. Thank you. Are going into the actual case management and, and just kind of um reviewing some data for you.

00:39:26,800	You know, you got some of the monthly data and up to Um, November data in front of you, but um I did run some numbers here up to December 15th right now, so just so you guys are aware, um, kind of as an annual, um, perspective, um. We’ve served 258 children in Burleig County in foster care. So 258 children have been in um foster care. For this just year alone, right? And We also have served 128 families for in-home services.

00:39:57,630	So in home services, um, I mean, the main thing in in home services is prevention of removal, um, when child protection services does their assessment and then they identify a need for continued um case management and continued um care and and um support they would refer them into in-home case management services, so The biggest thing is prevention.

00:40:24,370	So if we didn’t have that prevention and that in-home services that number would probably be higher in foster care. Um, so just, um, to give you a perspective. One of the, one of the big comparisons though I want to point out to you is um the other larger counties, um.

00:40:48,200	For in home services, we’re working with 128 families within this year. So, um, to, to let you know, Ward County has worked with um you know home cases 50 families, right? And then Grant Porks has worked with 44 families and Cass County has worked with 27 counties, you know, families, um, one of the things that they’re working in concentrating on is foster care,

00:41:10,300	but are, are really work is trying to prevent that foster care. Uh, one of the programs that um has started with at West Central Human Service Center that I wanna, um, kind of, um, tell you about um that we’re kind of working with and it helps our in-home case management services is, it’s called functional family

00:41:41,330	therapy. So if you’ve ever heard of FFT or functional family therapy. What it is is it’s uh it’s an individual therapist, basically, however, the therapist goes out to the home and the therapist works with the family, not with one child, not with two children, the whole family and, and, and works on skills and development

00:42:04,230	of family skills and, and maybe working on how to work with um the youth in the family members and That FFT program is very committed to these families because they also have to offer 24/7, um. Crisis work.

00:42:31,630	So if for some reason at 10 o’clock at night, a family member, you know, a child, um, is disruptive, um, that mom or that dad or or relative placement can call up that therapist on call and somebody will be. Um, there to respond. So, uh, functional family therapy is a very, very intensive, um, treatment program, um, but we’ve been working.

00:42:57,070	Really hard to try to collaborate with West Century UN Service Center to get them into our families um sooner than later. One of the, one of the areas I want, I do want to highlight, um, so our CFS director had discussed with the directors and um a lot of the supervisors that you know this is the first year and we’re talking federal fiscal year, so, uh, federal fiscal year goes

00:43:22,170	through October, um, through the end of September, so, um. It was when we reached the face to face contacts with case management services, so, so foster care case management services has to do a face to face contact with every child at least once a month and um the state um.

00:43:44,030	For the first time for a very long time, I don’t even know how many years um it was. I think they said 2018. 2018 in me that um threshold, the threshold is 95% of the children are seen within that month.

00:44:08,570	So, um, there’s various reasons why some of the children aren’t seen um within that month, um, but to give you a perspective for us in Burleigh County we hit 98% for the federal fiscal year and the 97% last year. Um, the year before, we’re at 94%. So at 94% we did incorporate an improvement plan just because it was 1% noncompliance of federal standards didn’t mean that we needed to work on getting that number up.

00:44:32,530	So we worked really hard at looking at what, what the causes were, um, was a data entry, um. Are we getting out to these families or are we getting out to um these children that are up in Langdon, North Dakota or, or Williston, North Dakota, um, so we did a lot of collaboration with different um

00:44:52,430	zones as well for um calling courtesy case management, so they were able to help us out um with these visits, so, so last year it was 97% this year, um, for the federal fiscal year was 98%.

00:45:10,470	The only other thing I’d add on that is we do have to rely on other states to provide courtesy case management if we have children placed with relatives and other states. So if they, um, have a child from here is gonna go be placed with a relative in South Dakota, Minnesota, um, Kentucky, they have to, we have to coordinate with their local social services to do courtesy case management and complete those face to faces for us.

00:45:27,130	So some of, there is a small portion of it that is outside of our control to, um, ensure those things are done timely. And I wish I could give you the data for our in-home services, but policy states for in-home services, um, those children have to um be visited, whether it’s at school or in the home 2

00:45:49,430	times a month, at least 2 times a month. So, um, a lot of uh case planning happens with those children and family members, um, but they have to be seen at least 2 times a month, but um. The data reporting system isn’t working really well, so we don’t know that data.

00:46:06,030	Um, we really do rely on the KPI system, um, from the state to give us that data, so. What’s the, um, Medn time, uh, a case has worked. So how long is somebody in the case? for in-home services. I don’t have and then how often are you dealing with multiple? Right, I don’t have that, um, actual number, but anecdotally.

00:46:31,630	I would say Up to about 60 days, 60 to 90 days for in-home services. Foster care, um, Normally, on average, I think. 10 months 9 months at best, um, we do have cases that are. Um, 18 months, you know, in some cases that are, you know, 2 months that are successful.

00:46:58,830	Um, I would, that’s anecdotal though. I don’t have the actual data I think for our next board meeting, something we can definitely grab once we have 2024 completed, um, looking at the average length and state. So when Jeremy’s talking about some quality insurance, um, quality improvement planning that we’re doing with the state.

00:47:15,370	That’s what we look at as the average length of opening for those cases and especially in the kids in foster care and then trying to drill down to the why, um, I think in the last board meeting I talked about we’re seeing there Native American children stay in care longer than non-native children. So we’re trying to.

00:47:27,900	drill down the Y, and is it because they don’t have family sports we can reunify with, um, those kind of things. So yeah, those are all good questions your, your other part was you said how long are they open and then.

00:47:42,970	Yeah, and then, um, how many cases, uh, uh, uh, I’d be curious to see a little bit more of a breakdown of um multiple cases within a home on the in-home services, so it’s multiple children and what that looks like, you know, that’s taxing on resources as well, so I think if you got 3 kids versus 1 kid, you know, so I would say to that answer, um,

00:48:03,100	so in foster care, numbers are counted by the kid, and in home we count. You know, like he said, 180 some home or whatever cases, but you could have 7 kids in the home.

00:48:16,430	So what Jeremy has worked with our team in doing is develop a weighted system because not every case is the same amount of work and so we’re really um looking at that, um, you know, I could have a caseload of 12 and you could have a caseload of 17, but my 12 kids could be more complex. They might have DeD um developmental disability diagnosis. They could have mental health issues.

00:48:33,930	They could have, um, Families that have different, um, dynamics that we have to consider. So yeah So yeah That currently tracks that or is that something that’s part of the. Yeah. OK.

00:48:53,170	So, I’ll let Jeremy speak to that because that’s something we did in Burleigh County, but it sounds like that’s something that’s, um, I’m gonna say we started kind of doing that for our own and it looks like it’s being picked up and redesigned from. Yeah, so right now, um, the redesign effort is kind of taking our template and um trying to work through that. Um, when I first came on and, and understood these um case loads. I, I knew.

00:49:13,970	One does not equal one for a child, right, um, but I didn’t know how to look at that and do a caseload ratio and I did do research, um, through like various journals and things like that, um, of how nationwide they do that and there’s not really a good.

00:49:37,970	Um, good system on how they do that nationwide either, so I started working on this um waiting system. We waiting basically meaning, you know, Does, does the child, um, receive an extra point for the mental health services or extra services, or does the child um get an extra point for multiple placements in the last month and they went through 3 different placements

00:50:01,730	because that takes up a lot of time, um. I did meet with um a professor at University of North Dakota, uh, about a month ago to start working on validation of the tool. I don’t know how much I’m gonna go forward with that because redesign is taking it on now.

00:50:22,830	Um, but my really, my next step is really looking at that formula. The case ratios and working with each of the staff members and understanding. Do I have it right? Um, and looking at, you know, their levels of, of intensity that they’re providing, uh, cause, cause more likely my formula is not gonna be the best formula, you know, so, um, but I’ve been

00:50:46,030	working through that with the supervisors, um, countless times of redoing it over and over, um, what about this? What about that type of thing, so. I can see where that’d be very valuable data set though. Yes, thank you.

00:51:11,930	um, so how do you account for the transition, sometimes going from that foster care to the in-house or the in-home and the in-home. Transferring over to the foster care as far as documenting it here documenting it’s, it’s in the same system, um, in our same record system so that wouldn’t move at all, um, if, if for some reason, um, hypothetical um situation if we would have um a Situation that the children were removed from

00:51:39,770	the home, um, through, um, early open, you know, CPS assessment, then we would identify a foster care case man or a case manager now providing that foster care work. Um, they would go through their core process and then they would They would work at reunification.

00:52:04,170	Once they work with the bioparents or relatives, um, that could be a guardian. That case manager. would automatically work through that with the core process and drop um court orders, um, or quas poor custody and we um send it back to the parents, um, or the guardians, um, so. I don’t know if you want to answer more or.

00:52:32,500	No, I think, um, Oh, I think So it’s like Jeremy said, it’s all through the same system that’s ran through, um, the State Department that the whole state uses for this and all it essentially your caseload may stay the same, it’s just. We go through um the data part of it and change the program.

00:52:47,500	So they may be listed in the system of receiving in-home services. It’s the click of a button to say now they’re receiving foster care services. If a family is in foster care, and we are working with reunification with the parents and, um, we no longer need to be the custodian.

00:53:01,970	We go before the court and say we’re comfortable with the parents being the custodian, but we’re just going to stay involved to monitor and we essentially get what we call a supervision order. It is an order through the court that allows us, um, authority to supervise what’s happening in the home, still stay on top of everything, then we go into that system and we switch it over to in home services. OK, perfect.

00:53:18,370	Thank you. So really, um, the point is, family shouldn’t feel the impact from that switch of a button in the background. We really wanted the continuity of care where I as a case manager in foster care, wouldn’t say, oh, you’re going in home now you gotta go work with Steve.

00:53:34,430	I would say no, you’re gonna stay with me and I’m gonna work with you no matter what program you’re in, um, there is a clear separation of our team families that receive services through child protection services.

00:53:49,970	We don’t, um, you know, those are concepts that other people talk about, like if I’m a child protection worker, I’m just gonna carry this case if you go to foster care. That’s not good practice. very two different, um, hats that you’re wearing when you’re doing that, um, I would just very different skill set and I would say from lived experience, very difficult to go from a child protection worker and maybe um make some findings on abuse, neglect, and then turn around and work with

00:54:07,130	that same family. So that’s why you you hand the case over to somebody else who has, um, the ability to, to do that. Yeah, so those are very different, yeah, but case management can be very fluid between the level of intrusion we have on a family with custody or just supervision.

00:54:26,170	Yeah You know, just echo to Jeremy’s point, but on the other zones and our numbers for in home. That was a big thing, um, for me was trying to swing the pendulum from the number of kids in foster care to the number of in home cases we’re serving. I wanted to see that shift of that level of intrusion.

00:54:40,730	Obviously if that’s the level we need to keep kids safe, we would, but I think there’s a lot of work we can do on prevention and a lot of that is just getting, um, community services in place for families, um, getting them connected to different case management programs free through recovery programs, um, addiction

00:54:56,330	services, those kind of things, so that way, um, they can have tools in their toolbox to prevent that, but um, so I would like to say we’ve seen a good swing of that, but at the same time, our numbers just keep increasing in general, so. It’s nice to see the increase in the parent aid.

00:55:17,000	Yes, yes, um, that one I will tell you that one is, um. As a a new board member, that one is a kind of a direct impact to um employment because that is, um, you know, like child protection worker, if I’m down to workers, I don’t get to stop those cases coming in. I can’t shut off the faucet.

00:55:32,430	So then I’m just overwhelming people with the work where parenting services are based on really if I have capacity to add a par a to your case load. So I agree with you.

00:55:48,100	I’m really happy to see those cuz go up, but that’s because we’ve been full staffed in that unit for probably For a while, but we’ve also added positions to that unit and increase the overall capacity to perform those functions, but agree with you that is a huge prevention, um, service we use and education of families, but yeah, that one when you see the dip in the numbers, there’s a good um good likelihood that if you compared

00:56:03,970	it to my FTEs, you would see that I had a dip in the employment. Um. Sorry Jeremy, I was just gonna see if we had anything else that we were gonna. I think that was everything you had. Yes, that was everything I had. Any other questions regarding child welfare? OK, thank you. Thank you. Um, Others own updates.

00:56:35,370	I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know that I prepared too great for my others on updates. Usually I try to give you guys just more my overall operations, but it’s been a pretty busy, um, few months for just really actually working in those programs that you got updates from Gray and Jeremy on, um.

00:56:50,970	So I don’t know that I have anything to Big, that would be um overall for just the zone itself. and I, OK, um, so I don’t have anything, but if anybody has any questions about. Anything else I can answer that. Otherwise, we’ll go to um agenda item number 7 for public comment.

00:57:14,570	We actually do have somebody in the room for public comment today. I board Chair. You want to turn your, um, your mic on. Hi, Chair and board, um, my name is Mike Connelly. I’m one of the Bismarck City Commissioners. I just wanted to make everybody aware.

00:57:41,100	I mean, I’m sure you’re all aware that the uh initiated measure, the citizen initiated measure passed in Bismarck, um, the goal was to, uh, um, Basically save public transportation. Um, it was bleeding reserves, it was going to be out of money and what grandmas and grandpas and disabled people do if they don’t have access to thrive in our community.

00:58:04,200	And it was more than 40 volunteers, um, that disabled or elderly went out and got the signatures and the citizens voted on their behalf, but now with that change in a funding source. It’s how do we not only stabilize the services that we have now.

00:58:24,570	But, uh, grow it where it’s a community asset where it can actually help with economic development and hopefully get people to that may be accessing the services that the zone board um provides and getting them to grow beyond the surfaces to where they never have to get back on services. Um, some of the members, the appointments have not been made tonight.

00:58:44,700	That’s part of the meeting tonight, but Don Cop from the, we have a subcommittee meeting starting next year, um, at Don Cob from the Downtowners, Brendon Nagel from the EDC, uh, Brian Rutter, um. I, uh, um, public relations at Sanford, Dustin Gelo, Kim Ripple from the MPO, Mike Taylor is a user and an advocate from University of Mary, uh, Trevor Van Nett, um, which you all know because he’s on your board, and Deidre

00:59:10,870	Hughes from Transit, uh, Jaylene Chathams from the PR, uh, outreach person for Senas and Lay Hoffer from United Way are currently on there and just making you all Delaware.

00:59:32,730	Um, reason why tonight, not wait until after, um, we start the meetings and things is, is that, uh, the zone board doesn’t meet like month to month and things, there’s some spans in between. You have connections that we don’t have.

00:59:51,900	So as you’re talking to people, if you send emails, if you have insights, if there’s maybe unmet needs that we’re not aware of just to send that information in so that it can be all added to the discussion so we can make it the most efficient. use of the resources available to us. Um, we want to do it in a respect to the citizen way to where we’re maximizing the use of the resources.

01:00:11,430	Um, and grow it into that asset, like I said, it’s a service now, but growing it for an asset to the community, so we can be a more special, um, community. Mandan has a separate initiated measure they’re working on it within their own circles and things, so, um, it’s, it’s really, uh. Anything and everything, no idea is a bad idea. Share it with us so we can talk about it.

01:00:31,430	If you have any questions, feel free. Yeah Um, Mike, would it be possible to get, uh, Luke Chelsea in on, um, your meeting minutes and, and make sure that they know she’s a resource if they have any questions as well. I can certainly ask that, and I’m pretty sure that would be, um, with an accommodation.

01:00:51,330	I think that would be the best point of contact, you know, we know everybody on that board anyway, but I think that’d be the best conduit as far as communications coming through, um, conveying anything that. You guys are seeing and anything that we may have for insights as well. Yeah, absolutely. OK. N. Any other questions? Thank you.

01:01:15,900	OK, um, number 8 on the agenda is other business. I don’t have anything for other business, so, um, last item on the agenda is to Adjourn the meeting, so they, um, thank you guys, um. So our last meeting for 2024, so I will see you in March of 2025. Thanks. Merry Christmas,