The primary mission of the Department of Social Services (DSS) is to protect children from abuse and neglect; and to ensure that each child has a safe, nurturing, and permanent home. DSS also provides prevention services to help support and strengthen families. The Department serves approximately 22,000 families by providing services and programs that allow children to remain safely in their homes. These include crisis intervention, counseling, family skills training, and therapeutic services. For children whose families are unable to care for them, DSS seeks alternative permanent homes through adoption, guardianship, or independent living services.

Additional funding in Fiscal Year 1998 allowed the Department to implement the FamilyNet information system. This new system will decrease the paperwork burden for social workers, allowing them to spend more time with clients, families, and foster parents. It will allow for a more accurate evaluation of a child's risk of abuse or neglect. This will ultimately lead to more timely placement of children in foster homes best suited to each child's needs. The FamilyNet system will also enable children in DSS custody to acquire immediate MassHealth coverage. Additionally, the system will facilitate sharing of information between legal and social work staff.

Objectives

The Cellucci Administration will continue to support adoption as a means to find permanent homes for the nearly 3,800 children in foster care and group care who cannot return to their homes of origin. The Department will finalize over 1,000 adoptions in Fiscal Year 1998. Additional funding for adoption subsidies will allow the Department to finalize 1,200 more adoptions in Fiscal Year 1999.

The Administration will continue to support services for families affected by domestic violence by increasing funding for crisis intervention, short-term shelter, and transitional services. Additional funding will support community education to prevent domestic violence and increase public awareness of the problem.

In Fiscal Year 1999, increased funding will support the Department's continuing efforts to maintain the 18:1 social worker caseload. To further reduce the time necessary to resolve cases, 48 new social workers will be hired in areas where social workers have the highest caseloads.

The Department will also expand the continuum of foster care services. First, the Department will begin implementation of a statewide network of neighborhood-based Intake Foster Homes. In this short-term, home-based setting, specially trained foster parents will assess 300 children during their initial placement to facilitate a smoother transition to an appropriate foster or group care placement.

Second, a new Family Residence Foster Care program will provide a professional, foster family-based placement for 60 children ages six to twelve, adolescents, and younger, medically involved children in the care or custody of the Department. This program is designed to provide treatment supports and supervision to children and youth who may require a greater level of services than that which is available through basic foster care.

Budget Recommendations

The Fiscal Year 1999 funding recommendation includes additional funding of $590,000 for the FamilyNet information system (4800-0015); $8.52 million for caseload growth in adoption and guardianship services (4800-0020); $1.1 million for additional social workers to further support the Department's efforts to reduce social worker caseloads (4800-1101); and $1.72 million for expansion of services to families affected by domestic violence (4800-1400). Additionally, the Department's state appropriations will be funded in part with $97.73 million in federal funds from the Social Services Block Grant and the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Block Grant (TANF). These block grant funds are deposited into the Social Services Minor Fund.

These recommendations also include transfer of $8 million of tiered subsidies for foster parents from the Child Protection Initiatives account (4800-1997) into the foster care account (4800-0030), and transfer of $7.2 million from the administration account (4800-0015), $103,000 from the group care account (4800-0041), and $600,000 from the Child Protection Initiatives account (4800-1997) into a new legal services account (4800-2000).

These recommendations also include $1.2 million to improve salaries for the Department's lowest paid, contracted, direct care workers. In Fiscal Year 1998, this funding was appropriated as part of a reserve account in the Executive Office for Administration and Finance.

Budgetary Direct Appropriations

REVENUE MANAGEMENT CONTRACT
4800-0014	For costs of the revenue management services contract; provided, that said costs shall be funded entirely from this item	3,400,000
	General Fund 66.10% Social Services Fund 33.90%

CENTRAL AND REGIONAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATION
4800-0015	For the operation of the central and regional offices of the department of social services, including travel expenses for social workers	47,381,230
	General Fund 85.00% Social Services Fund 15.00%

FAMILY PRESERVATION AND STABILIZATION SERVICES
4800-0018	For family stabilization services and family unification services for non-placement families and for families whose children are expected to return home after placement, including, but not limited to, school and community-based young parent programs, parent and home health aides, education and counseling services, shelter services, substance abuse treatment, and respite care; provided, that the department shall pursue the establishment of public-private partnership agreements to fund family stabilization and family unification services from sources other than the commonwealth; and provided further, that the commissioner of the department of social services is hereby authorized to transfer a total amount not to exceed 15 per cent of the funds appropriated herein to items 4800-0020, 4800-0030, and 4800-0041	37,229,591
	General Fund 74.90% Social Services Fund 25.10%

ADOPTION AND GUARDIANSHIP SERVICES
4800-0020	For the delivery of permanency services to children in the care of the department, including the provision of adoption and guardianship subsidies; provided, that no funds shall be expended to provide subsidies to adoptive parents for children no longer in their care; provided further, that the department shall assess all children in its care for longer than 12 months for the appropriateness of adoption; provided further, that the department shall maintain a central registry and tracking system to monitor the progress of such children in the adoption process; provided further, that the department may contract with community-based agencies for the purpose of providing adoption and special needs adoption services; and provided further, that the commissioner of the department of social services is hereby authorized to transfer a total amount not to exceed 15 per cent of the funds appropriated herein to items 4800-0018, 4800-0030, and 4800-0041	62,799,408

FOSTER CARE REVIEW
4800-0025	For foster care review services	2,129,954

FOSTER CARE SERVICES
4800-0030	For foster care services, including foster care subsidies, services to foster families, reimbursements to foster parents for extraordinary expenses incurred, and a tiered reimbursement system for foster care, so called, to promote the placement of children with special medical and social needs who otherwise would be placed in structured group care facilities; provided, that the commissioner of the department of social services is hereby authorized to transfer a total amount not to exceed 15 per cent of the funds appropriated herein to items 4800-0018, 4800-0020, and 4800-0041	73,782,912
	General Fund 66.00% Social Services Fund 34.00%

SEXUAL ABUSE INTERVENTION NETWORK
4800-0036	For sexual abuse intervention network services to be administered in conjunction with the district attorneys	695,783
	Social Services Fund 100%

GROUP CARE SERVICES
4800-0041	For group care services, including the Commonworks program, so called; provided, that the commissioner of the department of social services is hereby authorized to transfer a total amount not to exceed 15 per cent of the funds appropriated herein to items 4800-0018, 4800-0020, and 4800-0030	110,058,315
	General Fund 73.80% Social Services Fund 26.20%

NEW CHARDON STREET TEMPORARY HOME
4800-0050	For the operation of the New Chardon Street home for women located in the city of Boston	794,587

PLACEMENT SERVICE FOR JUVENILE OFFENDERS
4800-0151	For the provision of alternative overnight non-secure placements for status offenders and non-violent delinquent youth up to the age of 17 in order to prevent the inappropriate use of juvenile cells in police stations for such offenders, in compliance with the federal Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, as amended in 1988	754,820
	General Fund 55.00% Social Services Fund 45.00%

SOCIAL WORKERS AND CASE MANAGEMENT
4800-1100	For case management services, including the compensation costs of social workers	84,195,936
	General Fund 95.00% Social Services Fund 5.00%

SOCIAL WORKER CASELOAD MITIGATION
4800-1101	For social worker caseload mitigation; provided, that funds from this item shall be expended for the AA subsidiary payroll costs, so called, of social workers for the explicit purpose of mitigating social worker caseloads in those area offices furthest above the statewide weighted caseload standard, so called; and provided further, that no funds from this item shall be expended for any purpose not specifically referenced herein	1,983,420

PARTNERSHIP AGENCY CONTRACTS
4800-1200	For community-based services for linguistic, ethnic, and cultural minorities, mentally retarded, and handicapped clients, including service delivery, service referral, and resource development, to be provided by community-based organizations with a demonstrated capacity to serve said clients	3,018,368
	General Fund 62.00% Social Services Fund 38.00%

SERVICES FOR BATTERED WOMEN AND CHILDREN
4800-1400	For battered women shelters and support services for women and children at risk of domestic violence, including supervised visitation programs; provided, that the department shall pursue the establishment of public-private partnership agreements established for family stabilization services funded from sources other than the commonwealth; provided further, that not less than $715,000 shall be made available for visitation centers; and provided further, that not less than $62,205 shall be made available for the North Quabbin Domestic Violence Prevention Program	13,782,637
	Social Services Fund 100%

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION SPECIALISTS
4800-1500	For domestic violence prevention specialists in the department`s area and regional offices	568,428

CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES
4800-1997	For programs to improve the quality of services provided by the department to children in the care of the commonwealth, including, but not limited to, foster care and adoption recruitment units, post-adoption services, bridge homes, child care and respite services, and training of social workers and investigators	8,600,540
	General Fund 71.10% Social Services Fund 28.90%

LEGAL SERVICES
4800-2000	For legal services and related expenses	8,004,857

Budgetary Retained Revenues

FOSTER CARE RETAINED REVENUE
4800-1111	The department of social services, for purposes of foster care and subject to the provisions of item 4800-0030, is hereby authorized to expend an amount not to exceed $20,000,000 from federal revenues collected pursuant to the provisions of Title IV-E and Title XIX of the Social Security Act; provided, that the comptroller shall establish monthly benchmarks for the collection said revenues based on the budget director`s most recent projection of total fiscal year 1999 receipts of said revenues; and provided further, that before depositing any revenue in this account, the comptroller shall certify that the department`s collection of said revenues is meeting or exceeding said benchmarks	20,000,000

SUBSTITUTE CARE AND SOCIAL WORKER EXPENSES RETAINED REVENUE
4800-1115	The department of social services, for the purposes of permanency, foster care, group care, and social worker expenses, and subject to the provisions of items 4800-0015, 4800-0020, 4800-0030, and 4800-0041, is hereby authorized to expend an amount not to exceed $6,000,000 from federal revenues collected pursuant to the provisions of Title II, Title IV-D, Title IV-E, Title XVI, and Title XIX of the Social Security Act, and from the department`s sliding fee collections; provided, that the comptroller shall establish monthly benchmarks for the collection of said revenues based on the budget director`s most recent projection of total fiscal year 1999 receipts of said revenues; and provided further, that before depositing any revenue in this account, the comptroller shall certify that the department`s collection of said revenues is meeting or exceeding said benchmarks	6,000,000

Federal Grant Spending

CHILDREN`S JUSTICE ACT
4800-0005	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Children`s Justice Act	239,722

FAMILY VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND SUPPORT SERVICES
4800-0007	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Family Violence Prevention and Support Services	1,400,280

TITLE IV-E INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAM
4800-0009	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Title IV-E Independent Living Program	667,803

FAMILY PRESERVATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES
4800-0013	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Family Preservation and Support Services	3,915,172

TITLE IV-B CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
4899-0001	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Title IV-B Child Welfare Services	4,632,153

CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT PREVENTION AND TREATMENT
4899-0022	For the purposes of a federally funded grant entitled, Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention and Treatment	522,785

Trust and Other Spending

4800-3110

SOCIAL SERVICES - PRIVATE DONATIONS

40,000

4899-8103

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES - SCHOLARSHIP TRUST FUND

20,000