Texas Council of Child Welfare Boards, Inc

TEXAS COUNCIL OF CHILD WELFARE BOARDS, INC. FULL BOARD MEETING WYNDHAM GARDEN HOTEL, AUSTIN, TX SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 - 9:00AM MINUTES

President David Cory called to order the meeting of the Texas Council of Child Welfare Boards, Inc. at 9:22am. A quorum was established; the following were in attendance: Region 1: Anna Rigler Region 2: Patsy Baggett Region 4: Sandy Hilliard, Nancy Preston Region 5: Tim Allen Region 6: Jeanette Elias, Janet Stansbury Region 7: David Williams, David Woodberry Region 8: Carole Foster Region 10: Vicki Maline, Karen Cook Region 11: None MAL: David Cory, Catherine Earley CPS: Joel Levine, Joel Williams, Nancy Mumford, Estella Olguin ED: Shannon Ireland

President David Cory opened the meeting by reading a letter of the resignation from Lynda Topp. There was discussion about how our appreciation could be shown to Lynda for all she has done for our board and for the children of Texas, locally, regionally and statewide. It was decided that personal notes of appreciation would be sent by board members who wanted to show their appreciation to Lynda.The minutes were approved as corrected.

Treasurer’s Report All billing for the TCCWB has been sent through July 2016. Pending reimbursements requests include: CAPTA $ 2,133.66 June 2016 CAPTA $ 2,133.66 July 2016 CAPTA $ 2,133.66 August 2016

Council $ 263.91 July 2016 Council pending August 2016

Total Receivables = $ 6,664.56 (yet to be paid by State office) ______Current Chase Bank Account Balances as of September 7, 2016

Total Cash Balance = $27,040.38 CAPTA $ 2,996.03 Council $ 5,254.96 Discretionary Funds $ 8,633.57 License Plate $10,155.82 PAYPAL Donation Account $ 627.72 ($200 designated for Awards Program)

Total Available to Council $34,332.66 Shannon has been paid through September 2016 on her part time salary. All board travel reimbursements that have been turned in, have been paid. Awards 1 To date we have received $1,085.00 from County Boards and TCCWB Board Members.

License Plate Funding: $ 8,541.19 FY15 Q1-Q4 $ 1,614.63 FY16 Q1 $10,155.82 Total received as of September 7, 2016 In mid-August, the Texas DMV finally released the individual county plate sales for FY15.

Shannon Ireland went over the Treasurer’s Report. She stated that because there was not a planning meeting in June for the TCCWB Executive Committee, that there was money left in the budget. She has sent a letter of request to the state to have the funding changed from a travel line item to other. The left over money will be used to help fund the Fostering Brighter Futures Website and promotional items to give away.

Shannon stated that the new contracts were here. The amount is the same, but there is different wording in the plan of operations. We no longer are required to be a part of a conference and do training at a conference, but we are required to develop and submit three grant proposals per year to show that we actively pursuing additional income.

Shannon reported on the License Plate Funding. Funding was finally received from the DMV for prior years, but we are again having trouble getting funds from the DMV for 2016. Shannon has set November 1, 2016 as the cut-off date for child welfare boards to request their money for license plate reimbursement. Shannon asked that the board set a policy on the timeline for license plate reimbursement requests. She reported that it never fails that one or more CWBs will miss the cut-off date and then a year later complain that they did not receive their money. After much discussion, David Williams made the motion to have this policy: All local CWB requests for TCCWB license plate fees covering the prior calendar year must be received by the TCCWB on or before November 1st of the following year. Sandy Hilliard seconded the motion and the motion carried. It will be on the website that payments are contingent upon the TCCWB receiving funds from the DMV. Patsy Baggett reminded everyone that there was also a request for the number of volunteer hours for the Rainbow Room/House for the year 2015 on the license plate request form. The request reads: total number of volunteer hours donated in fiscal year 2015; total volunteer hours donated even by non-members. There was further discussion about volunteer hours and the need to keep up with them. Although it is no longer required by DFPS, it is still good practice to keep up with the amount of time that is volunteered for Rainbow Rooms/Houses, fundraising, education and other activities of the local CWBs.

TNOYS PRESENTATION - Christine Gendron David Cory introduced Christine Gendron, Executive Director of Texas Network Of Youth Services, (TNOYS). TCCWB is looking to collaborate with TNOYS, since our partnership with Prevent Child Abuse Texas has ended. Christine gave a power point presentation and overview of TNOYS.

TNOYS is a network of providers who serve children, youth and families. They have representatives though out the state. Their mission is to strengthen, support and protect youth. All young people are valued. One thing that makes TNOYS unique is that they have a comprehensive and innovative approach to strengthening, supporting and protecting youth. TNOYS does not give direct services, they just work with organizations to help them serve the children, youth, and families. Priority program areas of TNOYS are: investment in prevention and early intervention, safe nurturing foster care services, services and supports for youth experiencing homelessness, trauma informed care, addressing adolescent behaviors appropriately, supporting youth through the transition to adulthood, and working in partnership with youth.

Christine Gendron gave an overview of the TNOYS Conference which was August 9-12, 2016 in Houston which was well attended. TNOYS offers free training for their members and also contracts with DFPS to offer camps during spring break for foster youth. David Cory suggested setting a date for a conference call with Christine Gendron and several executive committee members to formalize TCCWB’s partnership with TNOYS.

2 There was much discussion about how to get information about the counties and regions in the state and how to encourage them and become more involved on a state level.

Shannon Ireland reported that Valinda Bolton asked the TCCWB for a donation to help provide meals and snacks for a training for special investigators. There will be 200 people attending the 2 day training. Catherine Earley made a motion to donate $500 to help cover the expense of meals and snacks for the training. Tim Allen seconded the motion. The motion carried.

The board broke into committees. Shannon Ireland passed out forms she created. She is hoping the forms will help the committee chairs streamline the committee meetings and organize information better. She spent time with each committee.

Shannon reviewed the TCCWB delegate roster with everyone, so it could be brought up to date on the website. During the review, it was brought that since Karen Cook had moved to Region 2 and was no longer a delegate for Region10, something needed to be done about her status on the TCCWB until she can get established with local and regional CWBs. After some discussion, Anna Rigler made the motion to appoint Karen Cook as a Member at Large. Sandy Hilliard seconded the motion and the motion carried.

David Cory passed out The 85th Session Draft Priorities to the board. He stated that The Child Protection Round Table’s Sub-Committee: The Child Welfare Improvement Committee, (chaired by Will Francis), came up with this list of priorities they would like to see go before the legislature. David explained that the sub- committee is still working on the priorities and will determine which of these priorities have a consensus and which priorities need to go back to the drawing table or be withdrawn. There was much discussion about several of the points, which priorities the TCCWB can support and which ones they cannot support. There was one point that was fully discussed: Addressing incongruous policies between RCCL and CPS Investigations by shifting abuse/neglect investigations away from RCCL to CPS. Estella Olguin and Catherine Earley helped explain and break things down for the board. The consensus of the board is that there needs to be more communication between RCCL and CPS, not more duplication. David Cory reported that the Roundtable is working on guidelines, what it means to be a part of the roundtable legislative priorities, who gets to vote on the priorities, and revising how the roundtable operates. There will be other conference calls to refine the priorities and hopefully they will have a final draft in November. The board will be called on to agree or abstain. Shannon Ireland, Estella Olguin/Joe Levine, David Cory, and Jeanne Stamp are participating in the conference calls. David also reported that there is an ongoing crisis of staffing in CPS because of low salaries. Today, new case workers fresh out of college start out at $33,000 and investigative jobs start out at $38,000 as opposed to teachers starting out at $51,000. David Cory stated that there is concern that all of these “priorities” could distract the Legislature from what is really important, which is: more caseworkers, more money for caseworkers, and higher salaries.

David Cory also stated that the Judge Jacks ruling may have a big fiscal impact. The state now has the decision to fight it or choose to find ways to implement it. This can be a lobbying point that we, as board members, can take to our elected representatives: do we want to continue a legal battle or do we want to begin to implement a reasonable standard of care. There was much discussion about these issues.

David Cory adjourned the meeting at 5pm.