BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI & JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

CANTON — After months of investigating the Department of Social Services, officials will be looking to correct 19 different areas of concern highlighted in the report.

County leaders discussed the final report issued by the Bonadio Group concerning numerous allegations of wrongdoing by the department at a recent county meeting.

A secondary part of the investigation led by attorneys from Hancock Estabrook, which is aimed more specifically at individual complaints made against the department, has not yet concluded, according to St. Lawrence County Administrator Ruth Doyle.

As a result of the investigation, DSS Commissioner Joseph Seeber said he has outlined a number of concerns and has drawn up action plans to address them. In total, 19 recommendations are currently in the review process.

“I have an action plan for each one of them,” Seeber told the committee on Aug. 15.

Depending upon the expected duration, Seeber said each recommendation has been split into intervals of 30, 60 or 90 days for assessment.

According to Seeber, a new deputy commissioner has been selected and is slated to begin work on Sept. 20.

Seeber also said priorities for DSS at the moment is how to approach the placement of foster children with DSS employees, the work from home prohibition on caseworkers, as well as child placement documentation.

“We’re going to reach out to other departments and determine the best practices and adopt those practices as long as they work in the county,” he said.

“This is something we take very seriously, and the majority of recommendations we’re already working on and have been for some time,” he stated.

Seeber also said he is prioritizing caseload management in the first phase as DSS seeks to address the 19 recommendations set forth by the Bonadio Group.

Doyle said Seeber’s plan to address the issues will be made publicly available.

Community Helping Individuals Living in Distress founder Courtney Fantone has been working with families who alleged wrongdoing by the department.

Despite some hang ups, Fantone said the report did provide some good insight.

“Honestly, I am quite pleased with the results of this investigation. Many of the issues memorialized within the Bonadio Group’s report, are issues that CHILD has brought to light over the course of the last couple of years. I vehemently agree that there is an immediate need for improved and updated policies and procedures within the Department, and that there needs to be a system put into place to ensure that these policies are being followed,” she said.

“The fact that some caseworkers were found to be operating under different protocols than their colleagues, and that there was a lack of documentation across cases, is, in large part, why we see many of the issues that we do. Given that so many issues were identified within such a small sampling of cases, it is clear that problems are ubiquitous within the Department. Some of the suggestions highlighted within this report are the same, or similar to, previous audits conducted by OCFS, which I find somewhat troublesome.”

Fantone said the report indicates that SLCDSS has not implemented these documented recommendations.

“It is my hope that Commissioner Seeber implements these, and any future recommendations, in an attempt to rein in a Department which has long been derailed,” she said.

Fantone did provide some criticism of the report, namely that it focused on the department rather than seeking information from those filing complaints. It should be noted that additional investigation remains underway by Hancock and Estrabrook, but it’s been publicly stated by both sides that interviews have been difficult to schedule due to differences of opinion regarding who should be permitted to attend.

“This is an issue because many complainants have noted that incorrect, or in some cases, a total lack of case documentation within the Connections system, was a major factor in their original complaint; thus making it difficult for the Bonadio Group to adequately assess the situation,” she said. “The Bonadio Group memorializes the presence of this issue in their finding of inconsistent, and/or missing documentation in many of the cases reviewed. I think it would have been monumentally beneficial for the Bonadio Group to have spoken to both sides, to ensure that nothing was overlooked.

Overall though Fantone said she believes some progress has been made, but says there is still room for improvement.

“When you know better, you do better. This report is a step in the right direction,” she said.

Executive Vice President of the Bonadio Group Tim Ball addressed the St. Lawrence County Legislators who comprise the Services Committee on Aug. 15, offering praise for the work being done to address the many concerns.

“The agency was open to the review and we very much appreciate how almost everyone we spoke with was very transparent and open,” he said.

Ball also spoke to prior concerns about data tracking and documentation of policies and procedures.

“I think it’s extremely important to know and see that the agency is managing with the access of that data and continuing to keep an eye on things,” Ball said.

Ball said a number of interviews and assessments were conducted this spring, from caseworkers to the top administrators of DSS.

According to Ball, everyone interviewed was “extremely open and transparent” throughout the process and helped identify cases that should be addressed and people that could help further the investigation.

Many also offered significant data and supporting information that corroborated the data, Ball said.

When assessing the many employees, Ball also said it was obvious there were a significant number of employees in DSS who truly cared for their jobs and excelled in their roles.

When it comes to the safety of children, Ball said the department has done a great job of handling safety assessments, including besting the state average on multiple occasions.

“I think when you look specifically at the safety assessments of the children and the statistics and how it compares to the state, I think St. Lawrence County has demonstrated specifically over the last year or two that when they prioritize something like that they achieve that metric,” Ball said.

Ball said the need persists to have a clearer conflict of interest policy, despite acknowledging no evidence was found that would suggest DSS employees violated any laws pertaining to those sorts of situations.