Free Declaration in Support - District Court of California - California

Case 3:07-cv-05086-WHA
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Document 68-14

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Q.

Okay.

But I'm not sure that you answered my

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question about beyond the director and the deputy director. Did the branch -- would the branch have

ever given any of these proposals to anyone outside
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of the department?

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A.
Q.

No. Did you ever or the branch ever follow any of

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these procedures or processes to try and get rates increased?

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A.

I mean, I'm -- I'm sort of

I'm not

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hesitating to respond.

I'm trying to think about Certainly

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what -- what have we put forward.

providing a COLA, you know, would be sort of a no brainer, but for most of the time that -- that we're talking about, the span of time that we're talking about, there were many different task forces and redesign and other things going on to look at the whole system. While I was there, we did not have a comprehensive rate restructuring proposal. It was

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just so complicated, you know, complex that we hadn't reached that goal line yet. Q. Okay. But you said that, of course,

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providing a COLA increase.

A.

This is pretty standard across all programs.

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from there it would go into executive session. Q. brainer. A. I shouldn't have. Well, can you explain what you meant by that? I mean, in our life we're looking -- you Okay. You earlier referred to COLAs as a no

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Q.
A.

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know, your own salaries you're thinking about cost of living. So what I'm saying is that I don't think

there's any advocacy group out there for any organization who would not be bringing forward they need to get a cost of living increase. comment. That was my It's

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Doesn't matter what context it's in.

like everyone, you know, assumes a cost of living increase is something that should be looked at. So ... Q. I'm going to ask a more specific version of Did you ever

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question that I asked generally.

personally recommend a particular set of foster care maintenance payment rates?

A.
Q.

No. Did you ever supervise staff in the

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investigation of the adequacy of foster care maintenance payments rates? A. Q. No. Are you aware of any DSS investigation of the

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adequacy of foster care rates?
A.

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No. Okay. What is your understanding of how the
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Q.

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rate setting process works for increases in foster family horne rates? A. The foster family horne rates are in statute,

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the actual amount that a family gets for a child based on age, and if a -- if a COLA is given for that year, then the rates are adjusted in statute, usually through the budget trailer bill. foster family horne rates are set.
Q.

So that's how

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Okay.

And you've suggested that everybody

knows that the cost of living increases every year. A. No, that's not what I said. What I said is

that everybody is interested in a cost of living increase every year.
Q.

Okay. Okay. Do you know why the foster family horne rates

A.
Q.

have not increased according to the cost of living every year?
A.

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Those are budgetary decisions made -- made at

the Capitol. Q. During your tenure in the branch, did the

branch calculate the cost of providing food to a

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foster child? A. Q. A. Not that I'm aware of. How about the cost of providing shelter? No. The cost of providing clothing? We did look at clothing allowances and during

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Q.
A.

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Governor Davis's time, somewhere in his time we established a hundred dollar clothing allowance for all counties because some counties didn't have a clothing allowance.

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Q.

Do you remember how the $100 allowance was

arrived at?

A.

It

it was to establish a base for all As I said, some counties did not have any

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counties.

clothing allowance separate from the foster care maintenance payment. So in order to bring -- to have

a threshold for all counties, we established it at a hundred dollars. Q. Do you know why it was established for let's say?

clothing versus food,

A.

Because some counties did not have a clothing

allowance. Q. A. But others did. Yes. So you were trying to equalize?

Q.

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We're just trying to have a clothing

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allowance across the state. Q. Did the branch calculate the cost of
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providing daily supervision for a foster child? A. Q. A. Q. A. Q. A. No. How about school supplies? No. A child's personal incidentals? No. Liability insurance with respect to a child? Well, we have the Foster Parent Insurance But we didn't, no, I know that we I don't

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Fund funded by the state. remember doing one. I know

established a Foster Parent Insurance Fund many years ago for liability purposes. Q. But you don't remember the branch calculating

the cost of liability insurance? A. Q. Of separate liability insurance, no. How about calculate the cost of travel to the

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child's home from its location. A. Q. No. When you were part of the task force that

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we've spoken about earlier, do you remember the task force looking at the actual costs of any of the items?

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A. Q.
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No. Okay. When you were part of well, I guess

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should establish the foundation.
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For Exhibit 23,

the CWS redesign, were you a part of this task force? A. Q. Yes. Okay. So did this redesign committee

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calculate the cost of providing the items that I have listed? A. Q. No. Okay. Do you remember anyone raising these

14:45:23 14:45:24 14:45:27 Overall rates, yes. 14:45:29 14:45:34 14:45:39 14:45:40 14:45:44 14:46:03 14:46:06 14:46:10 14:46:14 14:46:24 14:46:28 14:46:31 Specifically related to foster family 14:46:32 14:46:35

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costs as a concern?

A.
Q.

Specific costs, no.

Do you remember who raised concerns about

overall rates?

A.
Q.

The group home industry. Okay. I understand that no -- that these

task forces in the branch didn't calculate the cost of providing these items, but did anyone, to your knowledge, provide this information to the branch?

A.

I -- I mean,

I know the group home industry

continually provides some kind of data that they believe is what it costs for them to care for children. Q. Okay.

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homes, do you remember anybody?

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Case 3:07-cv-05086-WHA
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speculation, foundation. THE WITNESS:

You may answer.

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The foster -- the foster family

home rates, as I said before, were established quite a while ago and -- and increased over time based on so COLAs or whatever. I cannot argue why one year

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they would get a COLA and another year they wouldn't. Again, I just say that's part of the budgetary process. So at one point in time when the rates were established obviously they did look at the costs to establish the rates initially. that. Q. MS. MARSHACK: So do you know for certain I wasn't involved in

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that the department looked at costs to establish these rates -A. Q. A.
I --

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-- initially? I don't have knowledge of exactly how that My, you know, way before I probably So I don't -- I don't know.

was established.

even came to Sacramento.

I don't know how that was established originally. MS. MARSHACK: Why don't we take just a short

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break so I can go over my outline and see whether I have any other questions. VIDEOGRAPHER: We're off the record at 2:52

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Well, as I testified or earlier, we tried to

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find out what the reasons for it were, and certainly there were some good reasons and there were others,
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you know, we needed to delve deeper into. Q. Okay. Would the -- would the branch try to

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recruit new foster parents? A. We would work with the counties around

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recruitment ideas. Q. Would the branch advocate an increase in the

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foster care maintenance payments? MR. PRINCE: THE WITNESS: Q. MS. MARSHACK: Objection, asked and answered. I've answered that before. You can answer it again.

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A.

We don't advocate for rate increases.

mean, we don't -- that's not -- our role is not advocacy. Q. Okay. Would you propose, I should say,

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suggest rate increases? MR. PRINCE: THE WITNESS: Again, asked and answered. Yeah, I feel like I've answered

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MS. MARSHACK: Okay.

You can answer it again.

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A.

Our proposals are part of our internal Building the Governor's budget It's

deliberative process.

is -- is an internal administration process.

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not something, you know, we -- when the Governor's budget comes out, that's that's the result of the

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internal discussions that go on.

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Q. Okay. Would a decline in licensed foster 15:19:29 15:19:32 15:19:36 Objection, vague. You may 15:19:39 15:19:41 THE WITNESS: Yes, as I've answered before, 15:19:42 15:19:44 15:19:48 MS. MARSHACK: Why would a decline in 15:19:48 15:20:04 15:20:07 15:20:14 15:20:18 15:20:22 15:20:29 15:20:32 15:20:36 15:20:40 15:20:47 15:20:50 15:20:51 15:21:01 124
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family homes be a concern to the branch? A. Yes. MR. PRINCE: answer.

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depending on part what the reasons are for that decline. Q.

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licensed foster care homes be a concern? A. One of the goals of our organization, in

fact, of child welfare services program, is that children be placed in the least restrictive, most family-like setting, and the least restricted, most family-like setting is either the child's extended family -- with an extended family member or with a home, you know, that's a foster family home. Q. Okay. In your experience, did the branch

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perceive an advantage to having more foster family homes available to children? A. I think I just answered that with your prior

question.

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So the answer would be yes. Yes. Okay. What -- can you explain some of those

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A.
Q.

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advantages besides the least restrictive environment? A. It's -- I believe that it is in the child's

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best interests that if they can remain with a family and that their needs can be met in a family setting that it will be beneficial to them on, you know, on many levels. Q. Okay. In your experience, is the foster

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family home a more nurturing environment than a group home? MR. PRINCE: for an opinion. answer. THE WITNESS: you know, Yeah, I'm just saying on a -I would say yes, a Objection, foundation and asking You may

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Calls for conjecture.

if we would generalize,

foster family home perhaps would provide more individualized attention, but I also am aware of, you know, homes that foster family agencies have and group homes have. You know, it comes down really to

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the people, no matter what setting you're in; but overall, yes, a foster family home would provide a

more individualized environment for the child.

Q.

Okay.

All right.

We are almost done.

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