Director's Message

July 20, 2007

To: All DHS employees

From: Ramona Foley, M.S.W., assistant director, Children, Adults and Families Division

"The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work."
-- Vince Lombardi

And speaking of work, as he mentioned in last week's message, Dr. Goldberg is taking a few weeks of vacation. During his absence, he has asked his assistant directors to send the weekly message.
As this week's guest writer, I want to take the opportunity to update you on the Children, Adults and Families Division (CAF), which includes self-sufficiency, child welfare and vocational rehabilitation, and to share with you how we are working with other divisions and community partners to keep children safe and families strong and to assist Oregonians to be independent and healthy.

The recent legislative session clearly articulated the critical need for collaboration across systems -- social services, courts, law enforcement, schools, advocates, faith communities, public health -- to ensure positive outcomes for Oregonians.

As an example, more than 60 percent of the children in foster care have parents with substance abuse issues. During the session, DHS received more than $10 million to support drug and alcohol treatment services for families involved with or at risk of becoming involved with the child welfare system. This has resulted in an exciting new partnership between CAF and the Addictions and Mental Health Division (AMHD). This partnership is expected to improve coordination between the two divisions as we improve access to treatment services for this targeted population.

As another example of the opportunity to collaborate across systems, CAF and AMHD are partnering at the federal level with the Seniors and People with Disabilities and Medical Assistance Programs to share their experiences, best practices and recommendations for increasing employment, retention and promotion of workers with disabilities. Oregon is one of five states invited to participate in the U.S. Department of Labor's State Policy Exchange initiative, which highlights the critical intersection of health, disability and employment systems. Being selected to participate certainly reflects Oregon's national reputation for creativity and collaboration across health and human services.

While the Governor and the legislature have recently provided us with new mandates to improve family stability and children's safety and well-being, DHS has also made significant improvements over the past 18 months. Under Dr. Goldberg's leadership, we are moving toward a uniform, consistent and precise practice model for child safety. This year we've implemented the new child safety model and are distributing a new procedure manual which supports sound child welfare practice.

In a recent weekly message, Dr. Goldberg wrote of substantial improvements to TANF, a program designed to reduce the number of families living in poverty through employment and community resources. The TANF redesign, effective in 2008, is expected to further our ability to meet the needs of our TANF families so that children remain in safe and stable homes.
Continuing with this theme of the good work that is being accomplished, this month we received news from our federal partners about success in two other programs:

The federal Rehabilitation Services Administration reports that in 2006 Oregon met every federal goal for employing people with disabilities. Office for Vocational and Rehabilitation Services, a state and federally funded program, works in partnership with Oregon communities and employers to develop employment opportunities for people who have disabilities.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified Oregon that its food stamp error rate for 2006 was 5.28 percent; the national rate is 5.99 percent. This achievement speaks to the extensive efforts of workers in CAF, SPD and the Area Agency on Aging offices, all of whom have worked diligently to improve Oregon's payment accuracy.

In closing, I leave you with two thoughts. First, thank you for your hard work and contributions to the DHS successes I've mentioned in this message.

Second, after we take that brief moment to congratulate ourselves on the successes, let's remember the work that still lies before us. In our efforts to improve the services we deliver every day, we should remind ourselves that until a system of health and human services is one that we would trust to serve our own families, there is still work to do. I hope this challenge excites you as much as it excites me.

To provide feedback email: DHS.Directorsoffice@state.or.us

This message is intended for all department employees. Please read it electronically, if possible. Managers and supervisors are asked to share the message each week with employees who do not have email access.