State reviewers this week pointed to problems in the way child welfare programs have been administered in Gaston County.
A local official who oversees those programs said the critique offers an opportunity to improve, specifically by creating more checks and balances in the system.
The evaluation by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services singled out missteps by the Division of Social Services in both Gaston and Union counties. The assessment was prompted by a child abuse case that came to light in November, in which an 11-year-old boy was found handcuffed to a front porch near Monroe with a dead chicken knotted around his neck.
The boy’s legal guardian, Wanda Larson, was a Union County DSS child protective services supervisor who has since been charged with child abuse, as has her boyfriend, Dorian Harper. The 11-year-old was originally from Gaston County, which prompted the state to include both counties in reviewing the records of children placed under Larson’s care.
The state’s report, released Wednesday, did not address cases or concerns specific to Larson or the boy, due to privacy issues, said Wayne Black, director of the state agency that assessed the county offices. He said the review reflects the fact that a number of cases were evaluated, not only those involving Larson and Harper.
The Gaston County report cites problems that included insufficient case documentation, and the lack of any system for reviewing the quality of staff performance.
There were also issues with the way the division awarded guardianship of children to foster parents or other caregivers, such as by not first evaluating relatives who were seemingly appropriate to look after the children.
Black said he expects changes in both counties.
“Both reports highlight several areas that need improvement and reveal deficiencies the counties must address,” he said. The state will work with each agency to ensure the deficiencies are addressed, he said.
Chris Dobbins, director of the Gaston County Department of Health and Human Services, said his agency will respond.
“We’re going to take this report as an opportunity to get better,” he said. “We’re looking at this not as an indictment, but as an opportunity.”
The Union County Division of Social Services licensed Harper and Larson’s home for foster care from December 1998 through August 2003. From that point, Gaston County DSS licensed the home, up until December 2010.
More than 30 children were placed under the couple’s foster care during that 12-year period, according to court records.
Addressing the concerns
The state’s overall report on Gaston County cited seven different areas in which there were problems with cases. Those included problems with case documentation, management, case planning, and efforts to achieve permanent placement for foster children.
For example, the report maintains Gaston social workers didn’t monitor the proper care of children in the home while also supporting foster parents — a dual role it sees as being critical.
In awarding guardianship, Gaston officials failed to fully inform some foster parents of the financial and legal impact for them and the child. There was also evidence of minimal home visits being made to caregivers’ homes to examine progress, the report said.
Dobbins said no two social service or foster care cases are alike, which prevents his office from taking a cookie-cutter approach to serving people in need. It’s also easier, in retrospect, to take a “Monday morning quarterback” approach in pointing out where things went wrong, he said.
“These are outside observers coming in after the fact, so they’re certainly going to ask questions the people working in the units may not have thought to ask at the time,” he said. “You can apply things to the case now that might not have been known at the time.”
Dobbins said he took from the report that his agency should put more checks and balances in place to ensure things are being done properly.
“Documentation was a big, big part of this,” he said. “The reason for the state to step in here was to make sure these problems were not institutionalized.
“I don’t think they saw that. I think they’re recommending tweaks.”
Dobbins said the goal in public health is to prevent problems before they ever happen, but social services workers typically fill their time responding to respond to existing troubles. He said he wants to help adopt more of a prevention philosophy across the board.
“Reports like this are not built to make people feel good about themselves,” he said. “Our point is that our children are our priority here, so if there’s a way we can do what we do better, we’re all in.”
You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or twitter.com/GazetteMike.