Ranger – Cherokee County Department of Social Services is in a problematic position.
The department has been forced to initiate child protection cases involving families that were previously separated through the use of custody and visitation agreements, known as CVAs. Cherokee County officials say the department has been forced to initiate the cases, even though it’s a conflict of interest to do so, because two neighboring counties refuse to accept them.
The county is fighting five lawsuits regarding the use of CVAs, which allow parents or guardians to relinquish custody of minors without court involvement. Earlier this year, a jury issued a combined $4.6 million award to a father and daughter who were separated through the use of CVAs, and four additional civil lawsuits have yet to go to trial.
Meanwhile, child protection issues continue to arise within some of the families who were previously separated through a CVA. When state officials intervened in the matter in 2018, they distributed all of the CVA cases to neighboring counties because it was a conflict of interest for Cherokee County to continue providing services to them.
Local officials say Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties each agreed to take CVA conflict cases at that time. The agreement required the county that took the original CVA case to handle any new cases that arose from that same family. However, Clay and Macon counties have backed out of the agreement.
“Clay and Macon counties are actually stating to the public they are not going to follow state policy, and they are not going to protect all of North Carolina’s children,” Cherokee County DSS Director Amanda McGee said. “I have memorandums of understanding with those counties to reimburse them for every penny they spend above the amount covered by state and federal dollars.”
Clay County commissioners sent a letter dated July 12 to Cherokee County commissioners stating the Clay County Department of Social Services will no longer accept CVA conflict cases from this jurisdiction. The letter states that Clay County has provided assistance on 15 of these cases from Cherokee County since May 2018, dedicating more than 1,250 hours of social work time to those families.
“Clay County does not have the human resources or the financial resources to continue to assist Cherokee County with the CVA conflict cases for an indeterminate amount of time,” the letter states. It adds that Clay County officials have asked the state and Cherokee County to find an alternate solution that “does not place the burden of these ongoing cases on the surrounding counties.”
McGee said the letter is misleading.
“Even though we are reimbursing 100 percent of the costs to the other counties, I offered to give them money for a part-time worker, a part-time supervisor, contract attorneys, laptops and cars. I told them I will do whatever they want me to do to help them manage the cases without cost to them,” McGee said. “They didn't want to do it. Any rational person would understand that we cannot work these cases and investigate somebody who is suing us for wrongdoing. It makes no sense.”
McGee said Cherokee County has paid Clay County $54,000 since 2018 to cover costs associated with handling CVA conflict cases. Her department was unable to provide the amount paid to the other five counties before the Cherokee Scout’s press time Tuesday morning.
“The neighboring counties simply are not in agreement with the mandate and reject any proposal I have come up with,” McGee said. “The state should have put better procedures in place when they took control. At this point, the state Department of Health & Human Services is the only entity that can resolve the issues.”
McGee said she suggested that state officials provide oversight to Cherokee County and allow local workers to handle the case. However, attorneys have told her that it’s not a good enough solution because someone could still claim their kid was placed in foster care because they sued the department regarding the use of CVAs.
“This is an untenable situation. We cannot and will not leave children at risk due to administrative problems,” McGee said. “The state must step in and determine a solution and inform the DSS agencies what it is and enforce it. I scheduled at least two meetings with all partners and the state to discuss the issues. It is very sad to me that it has gotten to the point of needing state intervention.”