Social Services Reso..pdf
(Aspen, CO) Amidst increasing dialogue about the future of Colorado’s social services system, Pitkin County’s Board of County Commissioners has passed a resolution affirming the county’s support for a locally-administered human services system.
This action comes in response to a recommendation released in 2009 by Governor Ritter’s Child Welfare Action Committee to conduct a massive overhaul of Colorado’s state-supervised, county-administered human services system and place the entire system in the control of the State.
“The Pitkin County Department of Human Services has worked long and hard to develop relationships with partners in the community, ranging from law enforcement agencies to mental health care providers, courts, non-profits and other local governments,” said Director of Human Services, Nan Sundeen. “We just don’t think the state will have the same passion for developing local relationships as we have” Sundeen said.
The resolution was passed at a public hearing on July 14, 2010 and expresses the County’s “commitment to excellence, quality improvement and enhanced accountability of local and state government in the delivery of human services.”
While opting to maintain local control of Human Services, commissioners fully supported the 27 other recommendations that arose from the Child Welfare Action Committee to improve the child welfare system. In fact, the county is engaged in a partnership with the state and Colorado Counties Inc. to produce rule, legislative and policy changes to bring many of those recommendations to fruition. The County has already started participating in the state’s Child Welfare Caseworker Training Academy. Pitkin County is also involved in an initiative led by the Colorado Division of Child Welfare to build a new Child Welfare Practice Model that will streamline how counties approach child protection cases.