Trumbull CSB submits revised policy

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Trumbull County Children Services has submitted a revised visitation policy and action plan to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that calls for better record-keeping and a “constant state of examination.”

The action plan was one of the things Ohio JFS asked the county agency to provide when it issued a review of the Children Services’ visitation policies last month.

The review was conducted in response to the alleged rape of a 9-month-old girl by her biological parents during a visitation at the Children Services offices in April.

“The agency’s board, administrative and supervisory teams understand and accept that this constant state of self examination may be difficult, and may bring to light performance and programmatic deficiencies,” the action plan said.

The Children Services quality assurance department and executive team will review the agency’s visitation policy twice a year “to ensure that they reflect the current practice and standards prescribed by the agency,” the plan says.

“Within 15 days of any modifications being made [to the policy], the agency’s social services department will be retrained,” it says.

“All visits occurring at Children Services are considered supervised and restricted due to the presence of cameras in every visitation room,” the new policy says.

“However, the level of supervision for each family differs depending on the risk factors presented. The level of supervision could consist of camera-recorded, random room and/or camera checks, total camera monitoring, or eyes-on supervision in the room,” it says.

The plan specifically addressed a problem Ohio JFS noted in its November report — failure of Children Services employees to record information about the 9-month-old’s case in the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System within a reasonable amount of time after the information became available.

Employees received information starting in November 2010, but that information did not get recorded in the database until October 2011. And when that information was entered, it came from memory, not written notes, Children Services said.

The revised visitation policy calls for the information to be logged into the system “within 24 hours, preferably, but no later than 14 calendar days from the event.”

Agency supervisors monitor workers to ensure they are adhering to the visitation policy, the plan says. By January, supervisors and the quality assurance department will develop and implement a monthly review process to monitor and continuously improve staff compliance with the visitation policy.

As part of the revised visitation policy, the agency has included a series of answers to frequently asked questions.

Among them is an explanation that cameras, video cameras and cellphone cameras are not allowed during visits. Only staff are allowed to take pictures at the request of a visitor, it says.

The parents accused of sodomizing the 9-month-old are alleged to have videotaped the acts on a camera phone.