Annual OCS review draws little interest

September 26, 2006

By MARY AMES/Frontiersman

WASILLA - What if they held a town hall meeting to review children's protective services in the Mat-Su, and nobody came?

A year ago, people filled the theater at Wasilla High School to discuss their experiences with the Office of Children's Services, but at Monday last week's meeting, there was an audience of four.

One person praised OCS, one came for information, and two came to tell their personal stories of trying - and failing - for a year and a half to regain custody of their granddaughter.

The town hall meeting was an opportunity for the public to relate stories about the Wasilla OCS to the state's Citizen Review Panel. The CRP was established in 2003 through the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, and by Alaska statute. Its duties include evaluating OCS compliance with state and federal laws, among other things.

Seven volunteers from across the state sit on the panel. They travel throughout Alaska, listening to the public to evaluate and make recommendations to the commissioner of Health and Human Services about children's protective services.

Sylvan Robb, the review panel's project coordinator, said the mission of OCS is to reunite families safely, in a reasonable amount of time. But OCS practices vary in each location.

Fred Van Wallinga, review panel chairman, said part of the panel's job is to get the same policies and procedures in each region.

&#8220We're trying to get continuity,” he said. &#8220It has to work the same. We can't treat kids differently in Wasilla than in Dillingham.”

OCS' job is difficult and the offices are &#8220terribly understaffed,” he said.

Rick and Ruby Ewing were there to find out if there was something more they could do to regain custody of a granddaughter, who was put in foster care in Oregon when the girl's mother went to jail on drug charges. The couple had everyone's attention as they detailed the steps they had taken, the contacts they'd made and the frustrations they felt with the local OCS office.

Peter Burchell, the man who started the Valley's first alternative high school, which now bears his name, had years of experiences with OCS locally and in Dillingham, and his view of OCS was different from the Ewings.

&#8220OCS is a key partner here,” Burchell said. &#8220They've literally saved kids' lives. In the small rural environments around the state, OCS is very helpful.

I sympathize with the Ewings, but I've had different experiences.”

Katie Hurley, a candidate for the Legislature from Wasilla, attended the meeting to listen and learn, she said.

&#8220I really respect these people and want to know what's going on,” Hurley said. &#8220When we were a poorer state, we did better by kids than we are doing now.”

OCS has 34 open positions, Van Wallinga said, and the positions remain open primarily due to the lack of a good state retirement plan.

Robb pointed out that social workers in the state system have to work 30 years before they retire, 10 years longer than most other state employees.

&#8220This is difficult work,” he said. &#8220We recommend hiring more staff, but there are no applicants.”

Social workers are doing a tremendous amount of data entry in a system that is difficult to use, he said, and the private sector pays four times as much for computer-savvy

people.

Robb said she didn't know why more people didn't attend the meeting. There was advertising on radio and in newspapers, the same as before last year's meeting that brought 150 concerned citizens to address the panel, she said.

Maybe they were all tired of fighting, or they got their problems fixed, Ewing said.

&#8220How many other kids are stuck in a system like this?” he said.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.