DCF HHS Advisory Committee Meeting August 8, 2014, 9 a.m. West Palm Beach, Florida ROUGHLY EDITED REALTIME TRANSCRIPT

Transcription

1 1 DCF HHS Advisory Committee Meeting August 8, 2014, 9 a.m. West Palm Beach, Florida ROUGHLY EDITED REALTIME TRANSCRIPT This transcript was created in real time by a Certified Realtime/CART Provider for the purpose of communication access. It is not a certified legal transcript and may not be entirely verbatim. It is intended for use as notes of the proceedings. HRI CART Communication Access Realtime Translation (cell/text) P R O C E E D I N G S >> PAUL ROWELL: Welcome, everybody. My name is Paul Rowell. I work for the Department of Children and Families, and I report directly to Assistant Secretary for Administration Scott Stewart. It was -- we're having this workshop as a result of a proposal made by Assistant Secretary Stewart. We at the department are very excited that you all are here. We are pleased about you the opportunities we have here today, and I want to thank you on behalf of the department every one of you for taking the time to be here and, I'm sure, the extra effort it took in order to pull together the things where you want to make some comments to us consistent with the statement of purpose of the workshop. There are extra copies of the statement of purpose. In fact, I saw the advisory committee chair distributing them a minute ago. So if you don't have one, put one in your hands because this has to do with what we are going to do this morning. As you can see when you look at it, the advisory committee for the deaf and hard of hearing, advisory committee to the department, has made a recommendation that we establish a deaf and hard-of-hearing unit within the Department of Children and Families. Our purpose here today is in the first instance to you identify the types of problems that you all, as participants in this workshop, based on your experience propose or identify for us, taking into consideration we are looking for things that are factual examples that are current issues that you are trying to deal with. We're not asking for names and addresses and phone numbers, but a description of what the challenge was that was encountered and so that we can you identify that and take into consideration our ultimate analysis. Subsequent to that are -- before I leave that, I want to try to not confine, but organize that into about three general areas, and I'm going to let Michelle describe more about how that will work when she takes over to facilitate the workshop. The second thing we want to do is get -- after we have identified the problems, is to get your input on what possible solutions are, because we are going to have a deaf or hard-of-hearing hearing within the

2 2 department, if we are, we want your observations about the best configurations for that unit in terms of addressing the issues that we have described in the first part of the workshop. Now, frequently when any of us have participated in things like this before, one of the questions we have is, well, what are you going to do with this? What happens next? Are you going to just listen to us and put it on a shelf? The answer in this instance is, we are in the process -- we, the department, are in the process -- of selecting and contracting with a subject-matter expert who will go through the information that we obtain through this workshop, do some analysis, and make some recommendations to us consistent with the stated purpose of the workshop. So there will be an ultimate recommendation workup. Also, just as with the advisory committee meetings, the CART (transcript) from this meeting will be posted on the deaf or hard-of-hearing Web page within the Department of Children and Families. If in the course of the discussion you have, or any participant has, knowledge of a particular current problem that someone is encountering that we may be able to help resolve fairly quickly, I'm going to ask you to provide that information to Aldrin Sanders from the Department of Children and Families Office of Civil Rights so that we can then go back, as we have done on other occasions, take a look at that, and see if in that specific instance we can go ahead and get a resolution there, as well as use that as an example for what we are trying to accomplish here. Again, we appreciate your taking the time to do this. We recognize this as a commitment on your part and we are looking forward to the product and benefit that will come from this workshop. I am going to now turn this over to Michelle Riske-Morris, who has been the independent consultant for the department and the advisory committee during the course of the process that we have engaged in with the advisory committee. She is going to facilitate the workshop. She is going to tell you the format with which she will conduct the workshop. Michelle? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Thank you all for being here. This is a different role for me so I will be facilitating and tracking all the information that's been provided. I'm sorry? >> PAUL ROWELL: Don't be sorry. I forgot to ask one thing. Somewhere in the course of it, perhaps you could ask everybody to introduce themselves? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Yes, that was on my list. But thank you, and I'm glad and appreciate the opportunity facilitate this setup, because I am very excited and hopefully there will be a lot of good information obtained from this workshop and can be utilized to improve the processes and the procedures for the clients and companions of DCF. First off, I would ask housekeeping -- I know Terri does this at every meeting. If you have a cellphone, please make sure that it is turned off. The reason being it interferes. Can somebody monitor the chat? Shana will. Thank you. We will go around and introduce everyone. You know myself. Lois, would you like to go next? >> LOIS MARONEY: I am Lois Maroney, a licensed mental health counselor. >> SHANA WILLIAMS: Shana Williams, licensed mental health counselor. >> KIM GAUT: Kim Gaut, director of the Deaf Service Center in Charlotte County. >> CHRIS WAGNER: My name is Chris Wagner. I am the president of the National Association of the Deaf, and I am from Bradenton, Florida. >> ALDRIN SANDERS: Aldrin Sanders, I'm with the Office of Civil Rights, Department of Children and Families.

3 3 >> JEFF MCLAMORE: Jeff McLamore, Department of Children and Families, Department of Human resources. >> SUSAN HERRING: Good morning. My name is Susan Herring from Pensacola, Florida, and I am a deaf-blind individual. >> SHARON CASERTA: I'm Sharon Caserta. I'm the managing attorney for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Litigation Unit at Jacksonville Legal Aid. >> JUDY MARTIN: Good morning. I'm Judy Martin. I live in Jacksonville, and I represent the Hearing Loss Association of Florida. >> TERRI SCHISLER: I'm Terri Schisler from Pensacola, Florida, and I represent the Florida Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. >> RICK KOTTLER: And I am Rick Kottler, and I am the director of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Services right here in Jensen Beach. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: And we have interpreters here. I don't know if you want to introduce yourselves? No? Well we appreciate your service. We requested the workshop. When I have facilitated groups before, in old school we used to write everything on the charts and post the charts on the wall. I'm hoping by typing the notes and comments made by staff, we can kind of capture everything. Because the time allotted is from 9 to 1, I am hoping that periodically -- I assume you would want this -- that we are going to take breaks. I don't think anyone wants go from 9 to 1 without a break. What I am going to do between the breaks is discussing what you have captured, so the flow of information on the screen can be readily viewed and we don't have to keep flipping back and forth to various pages. If anybody has an idea of better ways to facilitate that to show the information that's been captured from the group, please let me know. I think Paul did an excellent job of talking about what the purpose of the workshop is. With the information that I will be capturing, which are mostly bullet points, we're first going to look at the current problems that need to be addressed. Once we do that, then I hope we can try to group those or categorize those into main subject areas. Once that is accomplished, we will move on to the second prong of the work group purpose, which is to look at ways that we can address those problems and the creation of the deaf and hard-of-hearing unit. One last thing before we start this -- and time is of the essence -- Paul had mentioned that if anybody has an individual experience, that Al could address it right away. The second is, if you are familiar with various agencies where clients are continually complaining to you about that particular agency, we would also like to know that information as well. So it may not be that you have a specific individual in mind, but generally speaking, possibly a DCF office or a service provider, a contract service provider in a county where clients are, you know, continually referencing some issues? Please let us know that as well. Any questions before we start? Okay. Let's begin then. The first part of the workshop is to identify current problems that need to be addressed and focusing primarily how these problems would benefit from the establishment of a deaf and hard-of-hearing unit. And I'll open the floor now to anybody who would like to start off the discussion. Lois? >> LOIS MARONEY: Yes. I think a current problem is that consumers who are Deaf and hard of hearing receive written communications, and they do not understand the communications. Often

4 4 they just ignore the communications, and then they miss out on services. Michelle, we save examples for later, part 3? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: If you have an example, I would welcome you to share that now. But what Paul was indicating was that if you have a particular client that needs services or they are having difficulties right now, so we don't share their personal name and information during this work group, we would ask if you don't mind talking with -- if you are permitted to -- to talk with Al so we can address their concerns right now versus waiting a period of time. >> CHRIS WAGNER: Question. And I'm thinking, it kind of sounds like more of an individual issue. I mean, if there are individual issues, I mean -- and they are happening all over -- I mean, things are happening with anyone and everywhere, so you can't assume that an individual issue is going to affect only one client. So if Lois was mentioning this to you, I mean, it's probably going to be a general issue that can be addressed through the whole department. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Yes, exactly. >> LOIS MARONEY: Yes, and I certainly won't give any names out. It is a very common issue for many people, as Chris says. For example, they receive food stamps. And then they receive a written communication that it's time to renew their food stamps. All they see is "food stamps" and they think, this does not apply to me; I have food stamps. Then they will come to my office in a few months and they say, my food stamps stopped, I don't understand this. And so they -- I said, bring in all the letters you've gotten from DCF. And then they will bring in a letter, and it will say that they were supposed to go online and renew. Okay? So this is a very common, common thing. And I have more, but shall I wait? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: One second. I just wanted to address the one comment regarding more than likely if it's an individual issue, it will probably generally represent a broader issue. Yes, I completely agree. The only thing that I was mentioning is that if you know somebody right now who, let's say, for example, is not getting their food stamps because the certification process was such they did not understand the communication, let us know immediately because we will address that one immediately. Do you know there are other individuals out there who have the same problem? But if DCF is here and if there are ways we could address it right now, we'll do it right now as well as in the future. One thing with Lois' comment before we move to her next concern, if it's on a different area, is that I do know, and I have heard it consistently, about the DCF paperwork that is received by clients as it relates to food stamps, cash assistance, recertification. Are there any other areas, areas like service areas that DCF provides funding for, that have communications where we can also address the written communication as difficulty for clients when they receive it to understand? Shana? >> SHANA WILLIAMS: I actually had a client who was being initially entered into the child protective system. They hadn't actually made a final determination that they would be received, but they actually received communication, and their parents were Deaf. They received written communication. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: I assume adult protective investigation would be the same, if they are receiving letters from them? Sharon? >> SHARON CASERTA: Yes. I would like to make a comment in regards to what Lois said and

5 5 what Dr. Williams said. My understanding is, the reason why we are here is we have to address a global issue. The fact that DCF is an entity, again, I would just like to preface my comments to say that the comments today is about the process, it's not about the people. I am -- I feel assured that I know that everyone in DCF is working as hard as they can. It's a very hard task to master. It's a large agency, it's very complicated, and I appreciate being given you the opportunity to talk about this today. It's very important to me as I know it is to other people in the room. Also, I would like to make a prefatory remark. People are aware that I was the attorney involved in one of the original complaints against HHS, and subsequently filed another lawsuit against DCF on behalf of a deaf child in the foster system. I received permission from all of my clients to speak about their case, and I will speak about them in the context I'm allowed. What I want to get to today is, the fact that DCF needs to go to intermediaries like us to be able to get this information speaks about the fact that the system we have in place isn't working. What I mean by that is, the ADA and 504 is very clear that deaf people who receive services from DCF, regardless of what the services are, should be able to go directly to DCF with their problems. And what's happening instead is that DCF goes to deaf service centers, they go to Lois, they go to Dr. Williams, they go to Rick's center, they come to Legal Aid; and we are acting as an intermediary for DCF, and that's not how the system is designed. The system should be that deaf people and hard-of-hearing people -- and I excuse myself if I forget the reference to the hard-of-hearing community -- but deaf and hard-of-hearing people should be able to go directly to DCF with these letters that they don't understand, with these questions that they don't understand. We, in essence, are doing the job for DCF, and we are not getting the funding for it. But even more than that, one of the problems is that when the intermediaries like us continue to step in, you folks don't know what's going on, because often what we do is, we correct the problem. And at my firm, we represent people that have DCF issues across the board, not just food stamps but public assistance. We don't directly represent defendants in cases, but we help in the overall scheme. So they come to us, we fix the problem, and you folks don't know about it. That's not how we're going to fix the system. So that's one of the key reasons why this unit needs to be created, because deaf people need -- deaf and hard-of-hearing people, and deaf-blind people need to know that there's a system, internal to DCF, that they can go to. Now, I know right now, with the litigation that I do, deaf people know often, or hard-of-hearing people will come with a card, say, to a hospital and say, if you don't give me an interpreter, here's the card you should use. Deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the state don't have that linkage to DCF. So when they are denied services from DCF -- and first of all, my experience -- and I am only speaking on my experience -- they can't -- they don't know the whole breadth of the services that DCF provides. So often, they don't even know that they've been allegedly discriminated against by DCF because they don't know what DCF provides. So in some of the original complaints that we filed, for example, if a person was being denied access to a parenting class that was part of her parenting plan, no way did she know that that was related to DCF. She knew that she had a DCF provider, and she knew that she was on a plan, and she knew that she was in jeopardy of losing her children, but she didn't know where to go. So that's why it's critical that although I think these are not minor but these categorized issues are very important for us to talk about, but I think we need to talk today in a very global way about how we're going to make all of these little issues that are important in nature but smaller in size fall under an umbrella in which people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind, will call -- will know they can call the unit. It has to be a straight shot. The first complaint was filed back in Here we are in We are under an HHS settlement and federal litigation, and I can assure you there will be more

6 6 forthcoming. I don't mean to highjack the conversation, but I think we need to talk about the global issues and how we are going to address these issues, and how they are going to fall under the global scheme of creating this unit so that we can give substantive information back to the working group or whoever is going to review that. And that also speaks a lot. The fact that DCF needs to get a subject-matter expert to talk about these things, that, in itself -- that talks about the fact that this is an expert matter that DCF needs to be completely competent in, but there needs to be those folks housed within the DCF agency. So I think -- I want to talk about -- and I am not trying highjack anyone's time again, but time is critical for me; I will speak for my clients; this is urgent -- this is stuff that we should have gotten straight a long time ago. And I would like to see our time with the very bright people that we have in the room today work on talking towards that goal. And I think the individual issues are very important, but globally, how are we going to effect the change that we need so that people can go directly to you folks, who are the substantive experts, you know, about cash and services -- and again instead of coming to intermediaries like us and us sending them to you. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Thank you, Sharon. Rick and then Shana? >> RICK KOTTLER: Bravo. I absolutely agree. Two things that I think are extremely important. And if we paid attention yesterday, the one thing that came out of yesterday's meeting is that DCF is not entirely included in on deaf and hard-of-hearing issues. It was very clear that the foster care program doesn't have a clue. And that's a major portion. And we are going to go away in one more meeting, and who is going to bring that expertise to that program? It isn't going to be us. We haven't had the opportunity. Somebody has to, whether it's hiring a consultant, or it's having a deaf and hard-of-hearing group that can go internally in DCF to deal with the issues such as that, of just having an idea. The other thing is, for five years we have been an advocate for not only individuals but different programs, different policies, because we know, we understand. Who's going to do that? It's not done. The process is not over by any means. Without an advocacy portion available, there's nowhere for anybody within DCF, who works for DCF, to go and find information when they are in a certain situation. There is nowhere for a deaf person who works for DCF to go. They can go to civil rights. But again, we go back to -- and no offense to the civil rights division -- but having a clue. I really think advocacy and education within the department are still necessary; and without them, the last five years could turn out to be meaningless. >> CHRIS WAGNER: Yeah, I would like to respond to you, Sharon, and Rick as well. I agree a hundred percent. I have lived here in Florida for 21 years; and in that time, nothing has really changed. The Department of Children and Families has basically 20 different divisions underneath it. And there is really no compliance training required for any of them. I remember back in the olden days, when I was going through the state level, talking with DCF, and they had really no clue. Deaf families wanted to be -- you know, they wanted to take -- I'm sorry, the interpreter is getting lost -- but putting deaf children in with hearing families who don't have a clue how to deal with them. I think the important thing is that really, like Rick said, you have to have people who are subject-matter experts in the department. And a unit is the answer. I truly believe that. I have no doubt. Changing people in different departments, but who's going to be responsible to make sure that there's compliance, that there's training provided, and make sure all 67 counties be trained at the same time. It will require a unit. It can't be one individual. It will take a unit to do the job. It's not just foster child. It's homeless issues as well. It's awful.

7 7 Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are earning $3 an hour less than hearing people out in the working world. There's a 70 percent unemployment rate for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. It really impacts the homelessness. They can't get services. Other things affect it -- domestic violence. That's a huge issue in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. You know, where do we have -- we have victims, then you're putting them with a hearing provider for counseling or whatever. They work with hearing people. This, you have to listen to hearing people in the domestic violence situations. So that creates a problem. So it could be domestic violence, it could be mental health. That is another huge issue. N.A.D. is facing a huge challenge; mental health is a serious issue here in Florida. We used to have a lot of deaf mental health problems. They have all gone away. What do we do about it? I think setting up a unit, we could address those issues, maybe bring them to the department. Bring advocacy and support to get the people here in Florida that you need, and appropriate services. And it's not a small problem. It's not. We have 3.1 million deaf and hard-of-hearing people in the state of Florida. It's not a small issue. I just want to be clear on that. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Thank you. Shana? >> SHANA WILLIAMS: Well, I absolutely agree. Last night I listed all of the departments that Chris was just talking about through DCF, and I tried to go through it and define some of the specific issues within each those departments. And I found no department without issues dealing with the Deaf and hard of hearing. So it became kind of an overwhelming, just visual task to define specific needs within each of these different departments. Every department, every single department is in contact with deaf and hard-of-hearing people that need that culturally appropriate service. I think one of the issues is that we have been talking about "culturally appropriate" for about five years, and the department needs to understand that if you set up; or if you have a concept that you are going to set up existing DCF employees to produce and provide this direct gateway to deaf and hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind individuals, it's going to fail. It will fail because they are not going to trust that system. And in five years, I think Terri was mentioning, there hasn't been any deaf or hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind employees in DCF that could be taking on that culturally appropriate banner. So I just want to stress that "culturally appropriate" means linguistically appropriate. But it means more than that. It means understanding Deaf and hard of hearing. And they will access that service -- in the mental health field, in parenting education. If you have a deaf, hard-of-hearing or deaf-blind provider, it draws in the deaf or hard-of-hearing people into those services. They seek out culturally appropriate services. So you want to provide appropriate services, accessible services. They have to be culturally appropriate. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Real quick, one thing I want to mention is, I think we are all in agreement that something needs to be done; we need to address that. I hear it from the group overwhelmingly -- and I appreciate the comments -- we need a deaf and hard-of-hearing unit, we need to address they -- or something to address these current issues. And I completely agree with what Sharon said. Our time is limited here. We don't have a lot of time. So I would like to focus the group to say, what is this unit going do on a day-to-day basis? DCF is going to need concrete information to say, how is this unit going to operate? What are those problems that they are going to be addressing? Lois identified the written communication. And I think we hear from the group that it said it's not just for Access services, it's probably for all departments. More than likely, it's probably with the contract providers as well, sometimes with the information that they get from the contract providers.

8 8 So we do know one specific problem that we have to address is identifying how do we communicate important, relevant information to the clients that they can understand so they can appropriately access the services that they need. So I think we have that one identified. Having culturally appropriate services, you know, how do we manifest that? Or other areas? I guess I am throwing it out to the group. Do we want to go through each department and identify what the problems are in those departments? Do you feel like it is more in each department? I am throwing it out to the group, how do we want to do that. >> CHRIS WAGNER: The Internet keeps disconnecting, you have to log back in constantly. It's not a strong signal. >> For those people who were not here -- for those people who were not here yesterday, we had this same issue yesterday with the signal not working, which affected the CART. Why don't we take a brief -- >> CHRIS WAGNER: I have a MyFi, a hot spot. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: I was going to recommend, do we want to take a break. Like ten minutes. So we can set this? Why don't we meet back here in ten minutes. It is 9:40. Let's reconvene at 9:50. Test test test test test test test test we're connected. >> TERRI SCHISLER: Okay, we are connected using Chris's MyFi. Thank you, Chris. It is streaming now. Okay, let's get started. >> MICHELE RISKE-MORRIS: Thank you, everyone, for coming back. We want to thank Chris for letting us use his MyFi connection. Thank you very much. I think that has helped correct the problems. Secondly, we have been asked to -- when you are speaking, please make sure to try to slow your voice so you don't talk a lot. People joke around with me; it's an attorney thing, we talk fast. I do it continually, so please let me know if I am talking too fast. I try to slow down. But anybody else, I know we get passionate about this issue, and we will try so the interpreters can interpret, and CART, so Gayl will be okay at the end of the day. And interpreters, yes, I said that. Secondly, I want to apologize. I shouldn't have asked the interpreters to introduce themselves. I apologize; I wasn't thinking. But we do have interpreters from ACD here today. Chris Prudhom, John Michelin, Jodi Raffoul, Brian Gauci, Emily Mclaury, who is an intern with the interpreters. Gayl Hardeman and intern, welcome. Alex with Coda Sound. And we have Danielle Porter, who is a service provider for Susan. Terri? >> TERRI SCHISLER: Just to clarify, Emily is an interpreting intern, and we now have a CART intern with us as well. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Thank you. >> DIANA: Emily is not here today. She was here yesterday. My name is Diana. [LAUGHTER]

9 9 >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: All right. I want to get back to what we were talking about. I think the discussion has been great. I tried to identify some of the problems. I know that we still have a long way to go. Some of the things that I put up, I think in general it's just written correspondence. So unless the group disagree, I don't think we have to necessarily itemize it by the department or contract provider. In general, written correspondence that's sent to the clients is generally difficult for them to understand. DCF employees that can work directly with clients to resolve their issues. What I mean by that is so clients don't have to go to the DCF, deaf or hard-of-hearing centers, or to legal aid, or to someone else for assistance; they can go directly to DCF to help resolve their issues, not going through an intermediary who understands and can communicate effectively with them. Providing general information to clients on DCF services so that clients understand when they are involved with DCF, what are the services out there that they can benefit from. In some respects, too, please keep in mind -- I probably will change this, but when I am talking about DCF, I am also including the contract providers. So when I reference like DCF services, it means the DCF is always the contract providers because they do provide a whole range of services. It's not just the DCF Access offices; it's a whole range of services. We need to make sure that within DCF internally, there are staff who can advocate and educate DCF on culturally appropriate services. Also, staffing within DCF can educate staff on current technology that they can distribute out to the whole DCF staff as a whole. Rick? >> RICK KOTTLER: First on that, it is more than culturally appropriate services. We are talking about that, but it's advocacy and education. We are looking at advocacy and education for the complete gambit of deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind, and the late-deafened adults. So "culturally appropriate services" refers primarily to deaf, but it's expansive, it's the whole thing. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: How can I phrase it? What would be an advocate and educate -- >> RICK KOTTLER: I think I would take out "culturally appropriate." No, leave it. We all have different cultures. "Culturally appropriate" means you are going to need to hire an interpreter for a deaf person, and any communications need to be geared toward their knowledge of ASL. >> RICK KOTTLER: But it's more than that. >> KIM GAUT: It is more than that. The culture for a hard-of-hearing person or an oral deaf person is going to be different. "Culturally appropriate" means appropriate to the person. >> RICK KOTTLER: Let me finish my comment. The rest of my comment is whether or not we are talking about globally or specific. I think in this case we are being a little too specific, and we need to be more global. You asked whether we should be talking about this in terms of department by department by department. No. That is what this group should be doing, is looking on a department-wide basis. So maybe "culturally appropriate services and" -- I don't know what else to put in there. So it's just not that narrow. You want to be more global in this case; and in the case for this group, I think we need to look at overall specifics after such time as there is creation of the group. Then you can go into specifics of the group. Then you can go into job description of what their definition is. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: So in general, if anybody has anything else to add to this, if we can just go around the room. Just on these, how we should change these so they are capturing what the group -- and I am trying to make sure that I have this correct, so I apologize if I am not getting what you are saying, but that's why I am kind of trying to go through them.

10 10 >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Sharon? >> SHARON CASERTA: First, I apologize. I know that comment about our being too fast, I know you were speaking to me. I apologize to the interpreters and CART provider. It is bad enough with the accent. Thank you, DCF, for listening to all of this. The other thing is there has already been a series of complaints filed against DCF that completely outlines problems that have been identified. So I would respectfully request that you just put a bullet on there, have them look at the complaints that were filed by Rick's agency, then were filed by Legal Aid for the first -- that happened with the settlement agreement; then the federal lawsuit, which outlines the issues within the foster care program, because those issues are still present today. So that should be helpful. And if I can add one thing, I know we are giving a lot of issues about the consumer's prospective. But also, this information would be helpful for the contractors and contract providers. I receive a cheater's list. They are DCF recipients just like I am. The Legal Aid office, we receive funding from DCF. I took my training. I just want to show, I got my certificate. I took the training online. I passed it, thank goodness. And I get a lot of calls from providers from DCF, and they say to me, "don't tell DCF I'm calling." I say okay, what's going on? Because in general, they are trying to do the right thing. And these providers, they are not equipped -- and Rick spoke to it a little bit -- not just culturally, but they are not tuned into the services of the community. Let me give you an example. We might have a person that's in a parenting plan and they have all of these items in a parenting plan they have to get done; and one of them might be they want more interaction between the child and the father. And maybe the house doesn't have a videophone yet, so the contractors and provider, they have no clue about this technology, so they don't know how to get a VP in a phone for a deaf person. So it's all of those types of ancillary services, or the child needs to go to summer camp so the parents can get some respite. Well, the contractors, they don't know where deaf summer camps are, how they tune into those types of services. So it's not just, in my opinion, the consumers that are struggling, but it's also the contractors and the providers who are looking for guidance on how they can comply with the agreements that they have. We also find that the SPOCs that are at these facilities are very well trained, but because of the turnover that happens within their own agencies, the SPOCs might be trained, and they train the staff. But like with any mental health services or public service agency, the high turnover within the staff is no longer trained or the one guy that knew how to do this one thing is no longer there. So I believe for the contractors and providers to be able to pick up the phone, or, if there's a deaf unit at DCF, I'll call them, I think that would also be very inviting to the contractors and providers. I think, in my opinion, it would be less daunting for them to have to call someone that they think is controlling the funding stream. And even though the deaf unit I believe needs to have a lot of authority on fiscal responsibility and what can be provided in the state, I don't know the funding stream is a separate source. I know as a legal aid agency, we want to do everything our funding stream is asking us to do. So my experience has been that the contractors and providers are sometimes avoiding calling DCF for problems because then they look like they are not complying with the settlement. Then they are concerned that their funding stream will be taken away. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Sharon, real quickly, did I incorporate it correctly? >> SHARON CASERTA: Yes, DCF and the providers.

11 11 >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Do you think it is just DCF staff, or contract providers and their support providers? Shana and then Rick. >> SHANA WILLIAMS: I think it's both, and it's also the community. I kind of see this as being a consultant to the community to provide outreach and strange within those providers, contract providers, as well as in-house. And there was a concern that within DCF, all of these staff members would just kind of dump all of their responsibilities onto the Deaf and hard-of-hearing unit, if that unit were set up. But I think that each one of those departments have specialization where they would maintain and use the deaf and hard-of-hearing in a role of a consultant, in an educator, rather than turning it over for them to actually do that work. So that would be a concern. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: We had Rick, Terri, and Chris. >> RICK KOTTLER: I'm fine. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Terri? >> TERRI SCHISLER: My comment is kind of in this area, but I think it relates more to Sharon's earlier comment about this global perspective. What I have been seeing in the conversations I've been having with the DCF staff that I have been working with over the last couple of months and what I saw yesterday here in our meeting is that the settlement agreement focused specifically on frontline staff, training those frontline staff to meet the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing clients and companions. But what we're not seeing is that at the very top level, the program level, that this awareness of the need to meet the communication needs of our clients is not being taken care of, at the program level, meaning that they are not reviewing all of the materials to make sure that videos are closed-captioned. They are not adding it into the contracting process to make sure that the contractors understand that things have to be closed-captioned or whatever. So we're training frontline staff, but we're not looking at the very high level, program level, you know. It's not on every checklist of we're going to contract for services. One of the items you have to ensure is that that new contract is accessible and that those contractors are aware of their obligations. You know, you are putting things on the Web site. On any page in the Web site, is it accessible? Are videos captioned? Are they captioned accurately? So that's not just frontline staff who have to deal directly with the deaf and hard-of-hearing people that come in the door, but it has to be embedded in every level of services from top to bottom. And I don't think that these program managers -- and not to knock on Kristi; I think she has just joined us, working specifically with me in the last few months. But again, her consciousness is not to apply that criteria in every aspect that her program is doing. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Would it also then be program level awareness and review? Or like oversight? That kind of thing? >> TERRI SCHISLER: There has to be -- >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Because it's not just awareness, you have to do this, but someone has to review it to make sure it's appropriate. Does that make sense -- make sure it's appropriate? >> TERRI SCHISLER: In every review, implementation, development, contract -- in every aspect of services, there has to be that intentional review and compliance for effective communications. Diversity. That's another aspect. Diversity. Actively recruiting within the deaf and hard-of-hearing community in every program. So, you know, compliance as well as integration and inclusion of deaf and hard of hearing, experts within those programs. So it's not just being done at the

12 12 program level. We are failing at the immediate access level, walking in the door; but it's not even begun to be incorporated at the program level. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Chris? Chris Wagner, and you. >> CHRIS WAGNER: Really, just a couple of comments; and I will try to slow down for the interpreters. Okay. One, when you are talking about use of technology, again, I don't know, we've got technology all over the place. My vision, and a solution, could be to see every department have a videophone set up, and each local place has a videophone set up who could contact the deaf unit and provide access to the deaf unit, and it's from the agencies themselves. I do agree with Terri that it's a top-level program there. It has to start there, top down. We have been fighting here at the bottom, the frontline, and I disagree with that. That's not going to change completely until we can change the top level. The other comment I have is, I am seeing a problem as far as collaborations between agencies. One example, Department of Children and Families, working with courts, working with other agencies. Sure, there are the service providers. But I see a lot of parents are required to take anger management classes. The videos aren't captioned, or they won't provide interpreters. Contractors refuse to provide interpreters because they have to end up paying for them! So we have to make that clear. Anybody who receives money from DCF has to provide the services, and they have to make sure that they are complying with their responsibilities, no matter what the contract is. If it's for a specific role or responsibility, they have to follow the compliance manual before they can get the money from DCF. So they have to provide accommodations. So there has to be some kind of interagency collaboration. And I see that as an important thing because otherwise you see people falling through the cracks because they are not getting services from every agency, and that, well, one more thing I want to add. I want to go back to where we were talking about written communication. And I agree with that. A lot of it is not really clear. But also talking about the Web site. It is not friendly at all, deaf friendly at all. I mean, it says services for the deaf and hard of hearing. But really? We have Deaf consumers that go there and look for services, and they can't figure out what it's saying there. I mean, look at it. It says services for Deaf and hard of hearing, but that's a lie, because we don't offer services for the Deaf and hard of hearing. So I'm concerned about that. It's misleading information. So the Web site also has to be clear. I applaud people for putting up the videos. I applaud that. But again, it is not all deaf-friendly, not for the consumers that we serve. So we need to make that clear. Talk about communication, there are different groups here that we're talking about, like Kim was saying, but they both had mentioned about culturally appropriate communication. Concern is that communication -- well, the contractors, it could be a deaf contractor, it could be a family member. All of these are impacted by what we're doing today. So talking about deaf and hard-of-hearing people, we are also talking about beginning parents, and family members and colleagues. So we have to make sure that we emphasize that as well. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: In terms of emphasizing, for me to put up the bullets, because you provide so much information, but I type fast but I can't type that fast. So educate DCF and its providers and appropriate services within the department. What else

13 13 should I be adding to that bullet so it captures what that problem is, and it's the fourth bullet down. >> CHRIS WAGNER: It's not only providers, it's also making DCF aware of when things are sent out. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: When I redo this, it will say "DCF and its contract providers" so it will include both of them. I am doing this for time-saving so I can capture as much on the bullets as we can. But it will change, it will say DCF and its contract providers. Lois, then Rick. >> LOIS MARONEY: Yes. Thank you. This is Lois Maroney. The second one, DCF employees that can work directly with clients to solve their issues. Just add a little bit more, and see if you want to change it. I feel that the problem often is that many people who are Deaf and hard of hearing, they often have a mistrust for people who are hearing. Okay? Whether this is founded or not, but they do often have mistrust, and therefore, even when working with an interpreter, they feel that somebody is trying to oppress them and they are not being fair. And I think that often what will end up as a result of that, the deaf person will request a hearing, or it could even go into lawsuit or something. But I think if there was a deaf and hard-of-hearing team, that they would be able to step in and try to resolve this, because quite often, when a person who is deaf talks to another person who is deaf, that mistrust and misunderstanding will go away. Okay? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: So just put "mistrust of hearing people." Do you think that captures it? I don't know how well to capture what you are saying. >> LOIS MARONEY: Yes. And if that's okay. I don't know if other people get a little upset about that. Let me just tell you. >> CHRIS WAGNER: I think it's mistrust of the system itself. >> LOIS MARONEY: Okay, let's do that. I knew people might not like this, but let me give you an example, okay? I have real life examples here so you understand. I have a person, a client, who was very upset and asked myself and Michael Yelapi to go into the meeting, and the client would not sign any form that the DCF employee gave, even with the interpreter explaining. Okay? So I was thinking that if a DCF employee is in this situation and they got an interpreter there and things are just not going well, they can put a call into the team, to the unit, and then the unit can be there and they can try to help resolve the issue there. So just having another person who understands deafness and all of that and it gets rid of this mistrust of the system. Okay? So that's one issue. And the second one is that when people do come to me about problems they are having with DCF, I don't understand how DCF works. Okay? So therefore, the deaf and hard-of-hearing unit, they would have an understanding of how DCF works, they will be able to help them. Is that in there? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Look at number three and tell me if that's okay. And again, DCF and its contract service provider services. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Anything else? >> LOIS MARONEY: No. Does everybody feel that covers the point? I didn't quite get it when I read that. Obviously. I brought up more. But that's okay. It will be in the CART transcript.

14 14 >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Rick? >> RICK KOTTLER: Back to number four, and I think I have rewritten it so it makes a little more sense to what I was thinking. You can bite me up when I'm done. Okay. You want them to act as an advocacy, an education resource, for DCF, on culturally appropriate services, effective communication, and compliance. With each department, within each department. Does that make sense? >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Mm-hmm. Everybody okay with that before we move on? Thank you. I will go to Sharon. I don't know who else. >> SHARON CASERTA: I just wanted to add to what Chris had said, putting on my litigator cap for a minute, and what Terri said about the people at the program level needing to be trained. Anyone in DCF, their contractors or providers -- their mistake or their lack of understanding of this system can lead to a lawsuit. So I think it's important that we talk about the gap that, although obviously this forum is recommending a deaf unit, part of that deaf unit's responsibilities is to make sure that the whole system understands that this is everybody's responsibility, because one person's mistake is all it needs for the lawsuit to be filed. I'm not sure where you want to put that on your slide. >> MICHELLE RISKE-MORRIS: Well, I'm kind of wondering, though, where it talks about as an advocate and education resource on compliance within each department, and then maybe we can add within each department and service provider agency. Would that address that, do you think, that compliance? >> RICK KOTTLER: Sure. >> SHARON CASERTA: Yes, I think it would. The flip side of it is, it, too, is I have been called by DCF employees who are concerned about a settlement; they want to get it right. They are concerned about the information. If they had a deaf and hard-of-hearing unit, not only could they get information from subject-matter experts, but that engagement with a deaf, deaf-blind or hard-of-hearing person that you might not be used to, that whole experiential unit that the DCF employee will gain is something they will now have and can provide that same sensitivity to their deaf, hard-of-hearing, or deaf-blind client. That is missing now because there's no deaf people or hard-of-hearing people in positions of power within the structure. Hearing people are asking hearing people for their opinions about deaf and hard-of-hearing-related things. So to me that's a disconnect. I just have one more thing on that with regards to what Chris had said. As an attorney, I also see a disconnect between the legal services community. What I mean by that, I'm often called by dependency attorneys. And if someone doesn't know what that means, when someone has their children taken away by Florida Statute, they will automatically be assigned an attorney. Many deaf people know when they have a case filed against them, they automatically get an attorney assigned to them. So I speak with these attorneys, and they are not aware of the settlement, and they are not aware of the services. So we sometimes have state employees or state-funded people, because these people are paid by the taxpayers. So if you want to spin this when you go back to your work group as a cost-saving effort, they are spinning their wheels trying to figure out what they need to do to get compliance for their deaf client when there's already a whole system in place. So I found that the bar is not educated on all of this, and the services that could be available to them. The same is true for other ancillary providers, like the guardian ad litem office. They get called in, and they don't know what to do, and we've had cases where we've had deaf people in parenting plans whose guardian ad litem had refused to provide them an interpreter and therefore it affects their ability to