NewsletterServices Begin (by Connie Perez Ebrahimi): The Martin County Service Center officially transitioned on Monday, December 1. Staff members were greeted with a reception from members of UFF, CHS, and FPS. Training and orientation was held this week with new and transitioned staff members. The orientation program was designed to achieve the following: provide a genuine welcome to new employees; develop positive perceptions about the agency; confirm the employee's decision to join the agency; teach basic fundamentals each new employee should know when joining the agency; answer basic questions of a new employee when joining a new employer; provide mandatory new employee training; and to put the new employee at ease.
Attending the orientation program were former DCF employees transitioning over and new employees hired by our two Case Management Agencies - Children's Home Society and Family Preservation Services. Let us introduce you to them
Quita Barton, Data Management Specialist
Sybil Bell, Dependency Case Manager
Mary Ciociola, Family Support Worker
Katherine Fortney, Dependency Case Manager
Marta Giambrone, Lead Dependency Case Manager
Edythe Gordon, Dependency Case Manager Supervisor
Rowena Herrera, Dependency Case Manager
Elizabeth Holzapfel, Program Director
Kathryn Kries, Dependency Case Manager
Marni McLaughlin-Smith, Lead Dependency Case Manager
Jackie Pakonis, Dependency Case Manager
Elizabeth Pelligrino, Executive Director
Marcy Pitkin, Dependency Case Manager
Shannon J. Roulerson, Data Management Specialist
Bruce Roder, Lead Dependency Case Manager
Kathy Rossini, Program Director
Carol Russell, Dependency Case Manager
Violet Smith, Administrative Support
Norma Thomas, Administrative Support
Todd Trumpore, Dependency Case Manager Supervisor
The program theme "A Time For Change. A Time For Opportunity" reaffirmed our combined collaborative community commitment to work towards improving the services provided to Treasure Coast and Okeechobee children and families. It was an exciting morning filled with hope and enthusiasm in starting this new beginning of change.
Community Prevention Initiative: DCF released the "Community Based Prevention Initiative" grant request for proposals on December 1. The UFF Leadership Council is meeting today, 10:00am, at the UFF office to discuss a collaborative approach in responding to the RFP.
Intake, Placement, and Utilization Management (by Anne Posey): Intake and Placement services are continuing to work diligently to ensure children are placed in the most appropriate settings. We have been tracking the number of new children entering the system as well as children being reunified. In addition, we are tracking the number of disruptions in foster care. We hope that by tracking statistics such as these we will begin to get a firm idea of our capacity issues and the types of services we need to prevent frequent movements of children.
In addition, Utilization Management is beginning to look at cases in Martin County that have been in care more than 24 months. Our goal is to pay special attention to these cases so we can identify any barriers and move these children to permanency faster.
All of the counselors, supervisors and ADAs as well as the Program Office and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program Office have been very cooperative as we strive to make placement and UM work smoothly. Special thanks go to Gary Pettit and Beth Barone White who work closely to ensure that we have appropriate placements for our children..
Dependency Court Improvement Project: The Dependency Court Improvement Project (DCIP) meeting is today. The information for the meeting is as follows:
Meeting: Dependency Court Improvement
Date: Friday, December 5, 2003
Location: DCF Fort Pierce Service Center, Benton Building
337 N. 4th Street, Fort Pierce, Rm 104 (1st Floor)
Time: 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm |
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