LAKE COUNTY – The county's Social Services director on Monday said she was disappointed by the new grand jury report's criticisms of her department and its Child Protective Services (CPS) division, saying the report didn't take into account many of their accomplishments and improvements.
Carol Huchingson was responding to Friday's release of the 2007-08 grand jury report, which examined Social Services and CPS in the wake of a 2005 child abuse case.
That case involved two Nice boys, ages 4 and 2, who had been abused by 23-year-old Tony Wayne Hernandez, their mother's boyfriend, as Lake County News reported in two previous stories on this recent grand jury report.
Hernandez was given a nine-year prison term last year for beating the 4-year-old and leaving him with 11 broken ribs, a damaged liver and numerous other injuries.
Huchingson said she hasn't yet compiled a detailed response to the report – which she has 60 days to do – but noted, “I was disappointed by the tone of the report.”
That's because, according to Huchingson, she had attempted to work “openly and constructively” with the grand jury over the past two years.
She said she's met with the jury, explained to them her department's general processes and made staff available to assist them.
What she hasn't been able to do, she said, is discuss the abuse case's specifics with the grand jury.
One of the grand jury's chief issues had been that access had not been granted to confidential case records.
Huchingson said she's not only responsible for protecting the physical and emotional health of the children served by CPS, but also must ensure the circumstances surrounding their cases are kept confidential.
The grand jury report explained that it petitioned the Juvenile Court for access to the records, which Huchingson said was the appropriate step. “The court has the authority to release information if they deem it appropriate to do so.”
She added, “As the code reads, I can't turn over those records.”
Juvenile Court Judge Vincent T. Lechowick ruled that the grand jury needed additional justification in its request, according to the report and Huchingson.
The grand jury report said the investigation into CPS would continue during the new grand jury's term, and that they would once again petition the court for access.
Huchingson said she hasn't been notified that another petition has been filed, and added, “We don't know what the court will ultimately do.”
Grand juries in other counties, such as Solano, have been given records, which both Huchingson and the report reference. However, Huchingson said she wasn't familiar with the specifics of that Solano County case and whether or not it was similar to the one in Lake County.
Explaining federal, state investigations
The grand jury report said the Hernandez abuse case triggered state and federal investigations.
Huchingson responded that a newspaper article from the time that quoted her on the protocol her department used in child abuse cases caught the eye of a federal official and prompted their concern.
The article, she said, “didn't accurately represent what we were trying to convey.”
Nevertheless, the federal Department of Health and Human Services asked the state Department of Social Services to look into it. The state came to Lake County to look at the case, while simultaneously conducting a routine review of the county's procedures as part of a statewide review, Huchingson said.
The state suggested a corrective action/system enhancement plan, said Huchingson, who added that “any system can be improved any time.”
She said she didn't see anything out of the ordinary about the review or the state's suggestions, and denied that she dismissed its importance, as the grand jury report said she was guilty of doing.
Increasing pay, adding positions
Some of the grand jury's recommendations, such as those about Social Service and CPS staffing, are already in progress, Huchingson said.
In its findings, the grand jury said CPS is chronically understaffed. Huchingson said staffing has been addressed through modifying and adding positions.
In the last few years, Huchingson said the Board of Supervisors has helped the department by supporting new staff positions, including four new CPS social worker spots and three aid positions, which assist social workers.
As a result, the vacancy rate is not what it used to be. There are four social worker vacancies, said Huchingson, as opposed to the eight reported in the grand jury report.
County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox confirmed that social workers positions have been added to Social Services. In the 2006-7 fiscal year Social Services had a total of 156 positions, with the proposed budget for next year adding 12 more positions to the department.
The grand jury report also noted that the chief of the California Children's Services Operation and Evluation branch “thought there was a huge pay gap between Lake County social workers and its adminstration.”
“In fact, the Chief stated Lake County 'is at the top of the worst' for social workers as far as compensation is concerned,” the report stated.
“I don't know how a state official would know that unless they had conducted a salary survey of all the counties,” said Huchingson.
The report compared said social worker 1 positions require a bachelor's degree and have a pay range of of $2,192 ant $2,664 per month. A social worker IV mus have a master's degree in order to receive $2,937.60 to $3,571.20 per month.
The report compared those numbers to Huchingson's salary range, which according to the grand jury ranged between $7,120.31 and $8,654.78 per month. That range differs from numbers Cox gave for Huchingson's position, from $7,298 to 8,871 per month.
To Huchingson's knowledge, the state hadn't contacted her department to ask about salaries, although they may have called the county's Personnel Department instead.
Lake County's salaries for all positions are somewhat low when compared to other counties, said Huchingson, and the Board of Supervisors are trying to address is. In the past year alone, the county has given staffers several cost of living increases.
In addition, the county recently conducted its own salary survey to make itself a more competitive employer; Huchingson said County Administrative Officer Kelly Cox's office is staying abreast of salary issues.
The trouble with salary surveys Huchingson said, is that they're moving targets.
Cox said that, while he hasn't specifically checked other counties' pay rates, he said he had a hard time believing Lake's social workers ranked among the state's worst paid, although he said the county is open to reviewing the grand jury's recommendations about salaries. He pointed out that there are seven social worker classifications – the grand jury report only looked at two, levels one and four.
Thanks to increased focus on recruitment and retention, Huchingson said she's seen a change for the better in the number and quality of job candidates.
Report left out program initiatives
Huchingson said the findings of the grand jury report are notable for what goes unmentioned – such as some of Social Services' initiatives to improve and expand services. “We were concerned that it didn't really acknowledge any of that.”
Some of those items include:
– A new pilot differential response program, which serves families that have neglect or other child care issues which don't rise to the level of CPS intervention. That might include children who appear at school extremely disheveled or complain about being hungry but don't show signs of malnourishment.
A special state grant is funding the program, said Huchingson. “It's going to enable prevention in a way hat we have not had before in Lake County.”
– Social Services is working with the courts and with Alcohol and Other Drug Services to implement a new drug court program, where dependency issues will be dealt with through family case plans.
– A grand jury recommendation which Huchingson said has been at work for about a year is use of a structured decision software, which is a risk assessment tool to help social workers decide how to evaluate the safety of children in their homes.
– Use of the special “Nurturing Parent” curriculum to show parents how to be solid and stable influences in the lives of their children. The curriculum is used among agencies countywide, said Huchingson.
In addition to those four items, Huchingson said Social Services recently was invited to a state meeting to showcase some of its programs.
Huchingson said that, despite the grand jury's criticism, she and her staff believe that they're setting a positive example for other counties with similar demographics.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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