COUNTY GOVERNMENT Can you highlight some of the significant projects or programs your team is engaged in?
In child welfare, our goals are always safety, permanence and well-being. Projects tend to be centered on these three factors. The number of children who are struggling with mental health issues is growing and we have worked closely with Vaya Health, Chatham County’s public Managed Care Organization, to improve communication and access to timely services for children and families. We now have a clinician who comes to our office weekly to provide mental health assessments, which has been a wonderful resource. Also, last spring we began to offer a virtual online program called Strong Fathers which is designed to provide parenting education and increase fathers’ awareness of the impacts of domestic violence on children and their mothers. In the foster care program, we are working to increase the number of relative families caring for children and to strengthen family time with parents when children are in foster care. The number of foster and kinship/relative families attending [prospective parent] training is growing, and our program is now stronger than it’s ever been. Could you provide specific examples of your team’s community engagement efforts in delivering support and assistance?
We know that residents rely on the services they get through our department. When the pandemic hit, it was critical that services continued without interruption and that people needed upto-date information about what to expect. We increased our capacity to manage phone calls, created a special page on the website to share information about service changes and worked with the Chatham County Public Health Department and Chatham County Emergency Management to get the PPE needed. More recently, we have started to think more about our customer service model and how we can update our approach to reach more people. [We want to] obtain meaningful input outside of the survey method that has been used for many years. The opportunity to engage more of the community and to include the voices of people who are receiving services at DSS are important considerations.
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CHATHAM MAGAZINE
WINTER 2023-2024
LIGHTNING ROUND What are you reading right now? I just finished reading two work-related books this summer: “Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading” by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky and “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott. “Demon Copperhead” by Barbara Kingsolver is sitting on my table, and I’m looking forward to getting started on it. What is your favorite quote? I have a quote on my desk that I cut out from The Daily Tar Heel many years ago while I was in college. It’s from Soren Kierkegaard and says, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” It’s meaningful to me because often there is no one “right” answer in the work that we do at DSS. It is important to do the very best job you can and keep moving forward. Where are some of your favorite places to go in Chatham? There are so many! Lately I’ve been enjoying Cobb salads from Virlie’s Grill, and I love the flan at Carolina Cravings. What is your favorite band? I have diverse tastes in music, so it is impossible to pick one. I’m partial to ’90s country music but enjoy just about everything. Locally, we have loved going to the Bynum Front Porch music series in the summer. It’s a great chance to hear local groups and meet wonderful people!
Is there a particularly heartwarming or uplifting story from your tenure as director that illustrates the positive results your team has accomplished through their work?
Some of our most heartwarming experiences are when children exit foster care and achieve what we call permanence. This means that they have either returned to the care of their parents or family or have been adopted. Seeing the transformation that children experience, their progress in school, enjoyment of extracurricular activities and developing relationships with important people in their lives is inspiring to be a part of. This year, four children will be adopted, which is exciting. What is your department’s role in ensuring that children in need have access to essential resources, support and a sense of joy during the holidays?
We have been extremely fortunate to have a large Christmas Wishes (children) and Dreams (adults) program that serves more than 300 children and about 50 adults who are elderly or disabled and receive services at DSS. The community generously supports this program every year by sponsoring individuals or even whole families. Each year our “Christmas Cottage” fills with a tremendous number of gifts, and we have a dedicated group of elves at DSS who make all of it happen. In addition to Christmas wishes, donors often provide additional clothing, shoes and basic supplies. As you look toward the future, what are your goals and aspirations for the department, particularly concerning ongoing community engagement, innovation and how to leave a lasting imprint on the lives of those you assist?
Medicaid expansion represents a huge opportunity to ensure access to health care for many residents who have not been insured. It is very exciting to truly be able to serve the community. We recognize that the people served at DSS are disproportionately impacted by poverty, housing instability and other major stressors in life. We are continually working to ensure that our workforce is trained in understanding where inequities show up and how we can minimize impacts [of those stressors]. CM