MONTICELLO – The Health and Human Services Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature heard an extensive review of the county’s child welfare policies and procedures from the Bonadio Group on Thursday, October 17. 

This review was done, at the request of County Manager Joshua Potosek, as a follow-up to investigations that were conducted by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) and a Sullivan County Grand Jury report looking into the death of 16-month-old Akasha Luvert at Knight’s Inn Motel in Liberty last year. 

Next steps

Following the report from The Bonadio, Health and Human Services Commissioner John Liddle provided the Legislature with an overview of what steps can be taken moving forward.

Liddle said that while this report was not made public until now, they haven’t been waiting with bated breath for the report to be released to begin making improvements. He noted that they had as many as 12 caseworker vacancies last year and they are now down to three. 

“That’s helped us to put a lot of these recommendations into action before they were even made public,” Liddle stated. “I’m looking forward to continuing to strengthen our partnership with the County Attorney’s Office and providing Sullivan County with the safety and better health that our children must have to thrive in a challenging world.”

Based on the recommendations from the Bonadio Group, the County came up with a Service Quality Improvement plan, which included four different project categories - provide more efficient transportation services, institute lifecycle management for child welfare cases, enhance information management and cross-departmental communication and improve staffing for DSS and County Attorney’s Office. 

The key goals from these four categories includes filling remaining vacancies, adding three caseworkers and two case aides (to be proposed in 2025 Tentative Budget), creating a formal transportation services policy, reducing gaps in case activity, establishing a Managing Attorney position and monitoring improvement through regular reports to the County Manager. 

County Attorney Robert Freehill stated that staff vacancies have been challenging for both his office and the Department of Social Services (DSS) over the past year. 

“This report will help us map out a strategy as we continue to fill these vacancies,” said Freehill. 

Last month, the full board of the Legislature passed a resolution to increase the base salary of Assistant County Attorney positions to $125,000, which Freehill believes will substantially assist him in retaining and attracting attorneys to work in the County Attorney’s Office. 

Call to action 

The Legislature is taking this report and have taken the aforementioned grand jury report as a call to action, noting the need to address the concerns raised. 

“This was a prime opportunity for an independent look at our child welfare system and we are taking the results very seriously,” Potosek said. “I’ve already included the addition of personnel into the 2025 Tentative Budget which I will be presenting to the legislators next month.”

Legislature Chair Nadia Rajsz noted the most important concerns to address are hiring more caseworkers to handle a growing workload and the establishment of a Managing Attorney and staff attorneys for Social Services which “will help communications immensely, ensuring that both Social Services and the County Attorney’s Office are responsive to the urgent needs of child welfare casework.”

District 5 Legislator Cat Scott, Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee, thanked the Bonadio Group for their detailed and unbiased review of the program which is critical for the health and safety of the county’s children. 

“Our staff, even while overburdened with cases, is incredibly dedicated to keeping our children safe,” Scott said. “Maintaining these efforts and undertaking Bonadio’s recommendations will be a focus of our committee moving forward.”

District 1 Legislator Matt McPhillips noted that they received the thorough report they asked for and it is now their turn to respond thoroughly as well. 

“As both a legislator and Majority Leader of the Legislature, I will be certain to follow through on whether or not Bonadio’s recommendations have been implemented in the months and years to come,” explained Matt McPhillips. “Taxpayers expect no less.”