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New Leadership at Taft and Wilder

Following the retirements of Bruce Bayless as superintendent of Wilder Youth Development Center and Larry Lively as superintendent of Taft Youth Development Center, the Division of Juvenile Justice has been actively pursuing applicants who will continue the successful pursuit of excellence for these two very important programs. Today I am pleased to announce that Jane Hayes and Bob Bowen have been named superintendent at Wilder and Taft, respectively. Together they bring both experience and fresh insight to our JJ leadership team.

Jane Hayes, formerly Jane Shaw, has been with the Department for 15 years, progressing up through the ranks and serving as treatment manager for 7 years. Jane has served as interim superintendent since Mr. Bayless’s retirement and has demonstrated excellent leadership skills. She has a deep commitment to providing quality services and environment for the young men at Wilder to become successful and positive members of their community. In accepting this appointment, Jane expressed her desire to create a restorative community at Wilder that promotes internal personal transformation as an evidence-based process for effective rehabilitation. As Jane is embarking on this new path in her professional life, she has also chosen to create a new path in her personal life by getting married. Please join me in a double dose of congratulations for Jane Hayes.

Bob Bowen comes to Tennessee from the state of Illinois. Bob also worked his way up through the ranks in the corrections field from the front-line into senior management and eventually to the position of warden. He has 10 years experience in senior correctional management which will further enhance our level of professionalism within our Division. Although his experience has been primarily with adults, his original desire as a young college student and correctional employee was to work in juvenile justice. In accepting his appointment, he expressed his excitement to finally get the opportunity to fulfill that dream. Bob is an avid outdoorsman and is looking forward to the natural beauty and quality of life on the Plateau. Please join me in welcoming Bob to Tennessee and our DCS juvenile justice team.

Thanks to everyone at Wilder, Taft and throughout the Division of Juvenile Justice who have helped make this a successful transition and who will continue to help insure the success of Jane and Bob as well as DJJ. I am in constant amazement at the teamwork, positive energy and dedication of the wonderful individuals who perform the day to day work of juvenile justice and make this a place of inspiration, hopes and dreams. My deepest heartfelt thanks to all of you.

Steven C. Hornsby
Deputy Commissioner For Juvenile Justice

Hello? Hello?

Guess what: Cellphones can be very expensive. Here are some tidbids you may not have known about that mobile phone or Blackberry that you're carrying on behalf of DCS -- and the Tennessee taxpayer:

Be prepared to write us a check, folks. Use your personal phone for personal calls. Use your state phone for state calls only. Employees must reimburse the state if they're making personal calls on their state mobiles and Blackberry phones.

Short and sweet. Keep the calls as short as possible. Unlike many personal calling plans with their pre-set minutes and flat monthly fees, the DCS  mobile phones are billed by the minute.

TXT? Except for text messages. Believe it or not, we pay a flat rate for unlimited texts. Consider texting.

In the family. And except for Blackberry-to-Blackberry calls and Verizon-to-Verizon calls. Both types of calls are unlimited with the state's plan.

Love your other phone company. Use the land lines whenever possible. Especially for those marathon conference calls.

Phone book? Consider an alternative to using the cellular company's directory assistance service, including using your Blackberry's web browser to look up the number.

Before you go. If you leave the department or switch phones, please remember to reset the password to the phone's seven-digit phone number. Getting the cellular company to do it for us is expensive.

Cynthia Setters and Joe Holzmer

Congratulations to the East Region

Looking out at the sea of DCS East family with their beaming faces reminded me of why we work so hard for COA.  These folks were so obviously proud of this accomplishment, and I was so very proud of them.

The reviewers were glowing in their praise for the staff and the work they do every day.  One of the reviews talked about all of the "WOW" moments she had had during the review. 

Jennie absolutely loved Madisonville Group Home and was delighted with the comments made by the two young women with whom she visited. 

The reviewers spoke of the obvious commitment to a continuum of care for our families and children.  They were delighted that they were able to verify everything stated in the self study as actually happening on a daily basis. 

As in every region to date, reviewers were extremely impressed with the staff and the leadership and their sincere dedication to the safety, permanency and well being of our children and their families.

You guys are awesome.  Join me in congratulating our DCS East family!!!

Viola P. Miller

Disasters Happen. We Need Your Help.

Many of you may not know that the department works closely with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to develop plans for how to respond to disasters.  We're talking about how DCS will serve its families in case of an event such as a tornado, a nuclear disaster, a dangerous derailment -- anything that could involve children's and families' safety.

These types of disaster plans also call for us to support families in other states when disaster strikes. (Remember how many of us had to help children and families who arrived in Tennessee immediately after Katrina struck?)

Already, we have many people at the department who are responsible for these duties. But we are trying to expand the teams in all of the regions. (If you want to know more, look at your region's emergency plan for details.)

If you are interested in becoming part of this group, we would really like to hear from you.

Contact Colette Crawley-Martin in Groupwise if you have the desire to help -- or just want to know more.

Colette Crawley-Martin

DCS Statement Regarding Children's Rights' Challenge of Over-Commitment Law

Download 090909 DCS Statement

September 9, 2009  --
Today, Children’s Rights, Inc. filed a motion seeking to stop the State from implementing a new law regarding the over-commitment of children into State custody by juvenile judges. The Department of Children’s Services has made great progress in recent years in improving the care and services we provide to Tennessee’s children. The Department has also corrected many of the issues that were at the heart of the Brian A. lawsuit. It appears the issues raised by the plaintiffs are less about the existing lawsuit and more about their objection to a law passed this year by the General Assembly. 

The new law, Section 30 of Public Chapter 531, would require counties that commit children to state custody at a rate above three times the statewide average to share the costs of that care with the State. The law also requires DCS to alert courts when their commitment rate for each fiscal year appears likely to double the state average. This law was carefully crafted, with input from members of the Tennessee General Assembly and child advocates, to encourage the courts to work with the department and the state legislature to ensure the fair and proper use of state resources. Furthermore, as it is now Tennessee law, the state cannot selectively choose not to enforce it. 

The Department of Children's Services works closely with juvenile courts statewide to balance the need to keep children safe with the need to shield children from the trauma of coming into state custody unless necessary. Overwhelmingly, this partnership works very well; however, there have been a relatively small number of instances where children are admitted to state custody at a much higher rate when compared to other counties -- sometimes more than four times the statewide average. This is traumatic for children, and it consumes the foster-care resources that could otherwise be used for children in other counties who need them.   

It is worth noting that, had the current law been in place during the most recent fiscal year, no counties placing children into foster care would have been billed under the formula. We believe that thoughtful attention to the over-commitment issue is already benefiting the children and families of Tennessee.

Adoption Tour Readying for October Rollout

The 2009 Adoption Tour celebrates its fifth exciting year of growth in promoting the message of permanence for children through adoption! 

The riders begin Monday, October 5 in Johnson City on their new tour route.

The Adoption Tour is proud to keep our theme for 2009: A Journey Home!  Through the traditional symbol of childhood, a bicycle, 75 enthusiasts will embark on a statewide tour pedaling 433.7 miles in 5 days to spotlight the journey each child takes on their way to their forever family. 

In addition to celebrating adoptions, we will also ride for hundreds of children who are still awaiting their forever family.  So please join us, won’t you?  In a child’s celebration of, and pursuit for, A Journey Home, by supporting The Adoption Tour!  For more information, please visit adoptiontour.org where you can find pictures, videos, and maps on the Adoption Tour 2009.

Flu Follow-Up: Google Labs' Flu Trends

The folks at Google have come up with a new way to track flu trends -- based on the Web search terms that people are using from around the world.

Arm Yourself for H1N1 Flu

As flu season approaches, be sure to read this note from Tennessee's Health Commissioner Susan Cooper. Take the time to inform yourself -- for your benefit and for the families that we all serve.

Residents and visitors of Tennessee:

Undoubtedly, you have heard of confirmed cases of the H1N1 flu virus in our state. Most r ecently, the World Health Organization announced that it has raised the influenza pandemic alert level to Phase 6, indicating the beginning of a pandemic. This reflects the global outbreak of this new virus, to which people have little or no immunity and for which there is no vaccine.  

This announcement is not unexpected. It will neither influence nor is it necessary to change any of our response activities in Tennessee or the U.S.

The Department of Health continues to work with federal and local officials to respond to the outbreak in Tennessee and inform residents of ways to prevent the flu. The raising of the influenza pandemic alert level reflects the spread of the illness, not its severity.

As new information develops, it is important that we all remain aware and be informed of updates for the health of ourselves and our loved ones.

Please use this H1N1 Web site as a resource to promote, protect and improve  your health during this flu pandemic and check back regularly for the latest information.

Sincerely,

Susan R. Cooper, MSN, RN
Commissioner
Tennessee Department of Health

Great Work, Knox Region!

Knox Region had an outstanding COA peer review exit conference this morning.  The reviewers spoke glowingly of the outstanding, dedicated staff and their commitment to teamwork in responding to the needs of their families and children.  All staff interviewed expressed excitement about COA as an avenue for making their work meet the standards of best practice.

All reviewers referenced the practice wheel and were particularly impressed with our Child and Family Teaming model.  They were very complimentary of the region's commitment to PQI/CQI.  They loved the well being unit and our regional general counsel!

They told one story that I thought was particularly telling.  A birth father came into an interview and immediately announced that he really didn't like talking to people much.  He did relax eventually with the reviewer and told his story.  He said that he cannot read or write.  Each time there is a new permanency plan, his FSW comes to his home and spends hours going over everything in the plan to make certain that he understands.  He wanted the reviewers to know how much it meant to him to be treated with such respect and thoughtfulness. 

The youth they interviewed felt in control of their lives and their Child and Family Teams,  saying that they did most of the talking.  They bragged on how available their workers are to support them and feed them occasionally!!

Knox is well aware that they did not do this alone.  I am certain that they would want me to express sincerest appreciation to Dimple Dudley, Diane Easterly, Rosa Webb, Judy Cole and the many, many others who were there to offer assistance during this process.

Viola P. Miller

Two More Regions in Full COA Compliance

Congratulations to Davidson and Southeast.  We have received notification from the Council on Accreditation that these regions are in full compliance with all standards. 

We are delighted to receive this news and very proud of the hard work that led to this accomplishment.  Our children and families are the big winners!!

As a reminder, we now have confirmation of full compliance, in addition to Davidson and South East, for Upper Cumberland, Northeast, Southwest, Northwest and South Central.  Over halfway home!!!! 

Congratulations all.  

Viola P. Miller