GREENSBORO, N.C. — Last May, Guilford County DSS received a letter highlighting multiple policy violations related to a Child Protective Services Case.
That case involved one of the children who died in a house fire on Grimsley Street last December.
Two other children also died in the fire.
Their mother, Brandi Sturdivant, is in jail on multiple child abuse charges.
The violations led the state to look into other Guilford County DSS Cases which uncovered multiple other violations.
In June, 2023, Guilford County DSS submitted a corrective action plan laying out how it would prevent these violations in the future.
A report released this week shows the department is now compliant in three areas, including Safety and Assessment Planning, Permanency, and Placement Stability.
According to Guilford County DSS, during the last 90 days the agency has:
- Achieved 100% compliance with training requirements outlined in the CAP, including completion of the Back to Basics and NC Practice Standards training for all social work staff who have direct and indirect contact with families.
- Implemented additional tools for capturing timely information beyond what is included in the NCFAST/CSWIS systems, such as new real-time documentation tools to be used during interviews with families and children, a Safety Assessment monitoring tool that allows Supervisors and Program Managers to track reviewed safety assessments for later follow-up and compliance, and an Escalation Protocol to address high-risk cases with more than three prior intakes within a 2-year period.
- Developed an Escalation Protocol that attempts to limit unplanned moves for children in foster care by identifying possible placement disruptions allowing DSS to seek additional resources before a move becomes unavoidable.
- Remained in collaboration with the Courts, implemented a new family-focused scheduling process for Initial Child and Family Team Meetings.
During a press conference in June, Assistant County Manager Victor Isler said, "We will continue to remain committed to being informed, adaptable and also intentional around meeting the needs of the various populations within the community."
Over the next 90 days the county plans to take additional actions to prevent future violations including:
- Engaging a third-party vendor to develop and conduct foster parent interviews and annual surveys moving forward to identify opportunities to improve social work practice and relationships with foster parents.
- The same third-party vendor will also develop a kinship survey to understand their unique experiences with the process.
- Continue to engage in the Court Collaborative Meetings with DSS Judges, GCDHHS Program Managers and Directors, County Attorneys, Parent Attorneys, Attorney Advocates, Guardian ad Litem District Administrator, and Courtroom Clerk.
- Create and implement a Court Project: identify and contact representative partners, meet with partners, and conduct meetings.
- Complete and implement dashboards and Out of Home Family Service Agreements monitoring tools.
- Continued meetings with staff on the CAP to hear and receive feedback.
- Continued internal review of cases and creation of identified training.
Guilford County has increased its kinship placements from 4% to 11% and projects the partnership will help further expand kinship placements over the next 90 days.