The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services met Oct. 24 to discuss membership.
Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the department:
CERAP ADVISORY COMMITTEE Minutes for October 24, 2016; 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM JRTC Room 215 Teleconference call-in; 1-888-494-4032, access code 4385612907# Attending in person: Diane Scruggs, Janet Ahern Attending by phone: Nora Harms-Pavelski, Jennifer O’Brien, Joan Pernecke, Tamara Fuller Meeting called to order at 1:05 PM with approval of August’s meeting minutes. It was confirmed at this meeting that last year’s report was forwarded to the legislature on September 6, 2016 with no cover letter attached. Joan Pernecke requested that all future reports be sent with a cover letter. The group discussed membership on the committee. Nora Harms-Pavelski stated that DCFS and OIG staff are consultants only and are not able to vote. Also stated was that Denise Kane was involved in the development of CERAP, but was never a member of the committee. Diane Scruggs asked that a letter be written to Denise inviting her or a representative to the meetings in a consulting role. Due to her being in a consulting role, no appointment would be required. Antwan Turpeau has replaced Theresa Hughes as the Special Assistant to the Director and all resumes will now funnel through Antwan for recommendations to the Director for appointments. The group discussed resumes submitted for possible appointments to the committee. After discussion, a vote was taken and agreed to forward the following person’s resumes to Antwan for Director Sheldon’s consideration in appointing to the CERAP committee; Kelly A Alexander, Megan V. Rose, Dianna Jean-Louis, Michelle R. Luburic, Gina A. Perdue, Brenda Coble Lindsey and Carrie R. Cohan. Diane mentioned the need for a welcome packet be drafted for new members. Nora stated that Antwan had emailed her asking if there are any by-laws for this group. The group mentioned that they did not know of any. Diane agreed to write a draft of by-laws for the committee. The group discussed ideas for this year’s project. Tami mentioned that she would like to see practice issues from the field looked at. Nora stated that CERAP training is built into the Foundations training and that new staff must be certified before taking cases. Nora also explained that there is currently a CERAP workgroup working on updates to Appendix G. Within the act that established CERAP, it states that the annual report is to look at the reliability and validity of this tool. During discussion about potential project ideas for the current year, it was mentioned that Illinios DCFS is towards the bottom in the nation for return homes. The group raised the question as to if CERAPs play a role in return homes within the courts. The group suggested a survey of all parties involved as to if CERAPs are looked at or asked for by name from state’s attorneys, guardian ad-litems, judges, and/or other parties involved in the court setting. The group has decided that they would like to survey all of these different populations. This committee will need to decide what questions should be included on the survey. The group was advised to reach out to these populations to determine what questions should be included on the survey. The next meeting of this committee will be held via teleconference at 10:00 AM on November 21st, 2016. Meeting adjourned at 2:40 PM.
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