MONTICELLO – The Sullivan County grand jury has written a 100-page report on the operations of the Department of Social Services and Child Protective Services including the finding that the legal representation for both functions falls short of the high quality work the professionals in the office deserve and that best serves the county.
The report also recommended that:
- The County Attorney’s Office should be divested of all responsibility for CPS’s legal representation and DFS’s Legal Department should be reinstituted as it previously existed;
- There should be an annual reporting process created for CPS as to the quality of legal representation the workers understand they received in a given year;
- There should be a complete rethinking of the use of motels to house vulnerable populations in Sullivan County;
- Sullivan County should create its own drug treatment facility;
- CPS should obtain the ability to drug test their clients in-house; and
- The county legislature should create its own legislative subcommittee to work to facilitate local Sullivan County hospitals adopting the double-doctor override for a maternal refusal to accept drug testing at delivery and refusal to permit drug testing of an infant experiencing withdrawals.
The grand jury also found that the staff in social services and child protective services work in tireless good faith to protect the families in the county from substance abuse, maltreatment, neglect, abuse, violence, criminal activity, and mental health issues.
District Attorney Brian Conaty commended “the courage of all those that came forward and participated in this investigation despite the fear of reprisal” and he said he will continue working to make the recommendations in the report happen.
