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DSHS Secretary Dreyfus Says She Stands Behind Embattled Children’s Administration Director

Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 EST.

Follows ‘No Confidence’ Vote by Workers – Foster Parents Say Denise Revels Robinson Squelches Debate Over Privatization

 


DSHS Secretary Susan Dreyfus.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

 

OLYMPIA, June 8.—After an overwhelming vote of “no condfidence” by front-line childrens’ services workers, Department of Social and Health Services Secretary Susan Dreyfus is rising to the defense of her embattled Childrens’ Administration director.

            Dreyfus issued a statement Tuesday calling Denise Revels Robinson “the finest public child welfare director in America today.” Robinson is carrying out the directives of the agency and the Legislature, she said, making measurable improvements in the department since her appointment. “She has my full confidence,” she said.

            Workers said otherwise Monday night in a stunning vote conducted by the Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents workers at the agency. Making the strongest statement possible against an agency manager, 98.6 percent of those casting ballots voted to express no confidence in Robinson’s leadership. Some 783 workers cast ballots in the election, 37.4 percent of the 2,273 who were eligible to vote.

            At the heart of the controversy is a push by DSHS to contract out to private agencies for case-management services. The Legislature in 2009 authorized a limited pilot project in two areas, to be launched in 2013. But it also is developing a new contracting procedure statewide, and the union contends that Childrens’ Administration is overstepping the bounds of the law. A Thurston County judge has issued an injunction blocking further efforts while a lawsuit makes its way through the courts.

            The situation has caused morale in the department to plummet, observers say. “We have never been crueler to social workers than we have been in the last two years,” said Beth Canfield, co-president of the Foster Parents Association of Washington State. “We have been telling them any day they can be replaced by someone without experience.”

 

            Appointment Created Controversy

 

            Robinson, who declined to issue a statement of her own, has been at the center of controversy since she arrived at DSHS in 2009. Her appointment itself was controversial: She had come under fire as director of the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare following the notorious beating death of a 13-month-old under her agency’s supervision in 2008. An investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlighted the fact that 22 children under the agency’s care had died between 2004 and 2008. The firestorm forced Robinson to transfer to another job within the agency. But new opportunity beckoned when Dreyfus, a former administrator of the Wisconsin Division of Children and Family Services, was appointed to head Washington’s big social-services agency. Dreyfus hired Robinson a few months later.

            At the time, Dreyfus said criticism is a fact of life in the child-welfare field. Children’s Administration is the program that intervenes in cases of abuse and neglect, and oversees adoption and foster-parent programs.

            DSHS points to a recent federal review of the program by the Department of Health and Human Services, which showed Childrens’ Administration had improved its performance against federal standards since the last review in 2003. Washington now exceeds five of six national standards regarding child safety and permanency and meets the sixth. The review also said Washington needs to improve court case reviews and the array of services available to children and families. DSHS says those points are being addressed as it develops the new contracting process.

 

             Privatization Creates Fears

 

             Robinson, as the manager most responsible for developing the program to contracting-out program, has done little to quell concerns about the upheaval, critics say. “We’ve heard just enough to scare us,” said Canfield, a foster parent for the last 28 years. Foster parents are in a different class than the Childrens’ Administration employees who voted in the election, but they deal with those front-line workers on a daily basis. They are concerned that experienced case managers will be replaced with private-agency employees with less expertise. It is unclear how the shift will save money, Canfield said.

            The concern with Robinson is as much a matter of management style as it is of agency direction, she said. In a letter to Gov. Christine Gregoire earlier this year, the foster parents’ organization said Robinson has squelched internal debate within the agency as it moves toward the new contracting procedure.

“We may agree to disagree on some of the proposed changes your administration is making to the child welfare system,” the letter said. “However, we would never intentionally show you or members of your administration the kind of disrespect that foster children, foster parents, our association and members of our board and front line employees of Children’s Administration have received under the helm of Denise Revels Robinson and some members of her senior staff.

 

             Another Vote of No Confidence

 

“Governor Gregoire, you would expect no less from us, the people who work for you and the people of our state.  We believe that if this type of behavior goes unnoticed, that this sends the wrong message to senior employees, front line employees, potential and existing foster families who provide care and the children in their care.  The head of Children’s Administration needs to serve as the best role model for all of the stakeholders in the system.  We believe she has failed at that task.”

In one case, Canfield said, a DSHS employee known as an advocate for foster parents and children – Bob Partlow, a former state-Capitol reporter for the Olympian – was rebuked by Robinson at a meeting with foster parents for failing to look at her while taking notes. Partlow apparently was transferred shortly afterward to adoptions, Canfield said – foster parents haven’t been able to speak with him since.

“He’s always been so supportive, and he listens to us,” she said. “The rumor was that he was thought to be too much on our side.”

 

            Dreyfus Offers Support

 

            In her statement, Dreyfus said:

“Having held the Child Welfare leadership position in the state of Wisconsin myself, I know that Denise holds the hardest job in our agency – harder than my own.

“When Governor Gregoire appointed me, the highest priority she gave me was to hire a great Assistant Secretary for Children’s Administration. I brought to this state the person who I and many others believe is the finest public child welfare director in America today.

“When Denise arrived I gave her a very clear directive:  I wanted to see quality, consistency and accountability for every child, every time. Denise came here at a time of unprecedented change in these historically difficult economic times. During her nearly two-year tenure, she has successfully made measurable system improvements on all those fronts.

“Because Denise started her 40 year career as a case-carrying social worker on the streets of New York and Washington, D.C., I know she has the best interest of her staff at heart and deeply respects the work they do on a daily basis.

“This is a very difficult time in state government. I know staff are concerned with the realities of the state budget and the innovations the Governor and Legislature want to see in child welfare. Denise is performing these responsibilities consistently with that legislative direction.

“Denise is collaborative by nature and well respected by our many partners who make up our child welfare system in the state of Washington. Even our federal partners are recognizing the significant changes in how we work with our state and local partners and the improvements to the child welfare system that have translated into real, positive changes for children and families involved with child welfare.

            “She, like her front line employees, has an unwavering focus on assuring that our must vulnerable children are safe and able to live with permanency in their lives. She has my full confidence.”


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