LEGISLATURE STUFF - Marching to a Commendable Social Services Drum

CATSKILL - Greene County Department of Social Services commissioner Kira Pospesel is a woman respectfully known for shooting from the hip.

A year or so ago, Pospesel informed Greene County Legislature members that New York State would be passing millions of dollars in vital Medicaid costs down to counties over the next three years.

She wasn’t especially pleased to be delivering the message, calling the State funding shift “the biggest robbery since the Brinks job.”

Pospesel was referring to the famous 1950’s “crime of the century” when a gang of small time thieves became bigtime, making off with $2.7 million in cash, checks and other loot from a Boston securities company.

The pilferers were ultimately busted but Greene County and we mules of taxation won’t be so lucky, trying to get the State to cough up the dough.

Greene County is being forced to bite the bullet but is fortunately in good fiscal shape, tapping reserve accounts to foot the bill.

Pospesel was clearly disgruntled with the situation but she was in a much better state of mind one recent night, bringing lawmakers up to speed on federal and State audits done on her department.

One might even say, based on her off-the-cuff comments, that she was in the mood for some celebratory John Phillip Sousa marching music.

Everyone knows auditors are infamous for finding fault, regardless of how deep they have to dig to find it. Not so fast on this occasion.

Pospesel shared a Closeout Letter” from the Social Security Administration, based in Baltimore, Maryland, stating, “on May 16, 2023, Disability Rights New York met with you to conduct a review of your service as a representative payee.

The results of the review are that the feds, “determined you fulfill your duties as representative payee. Your review is now complete.”

Pospesel was visibly thrilled with the findings which involved visiting clients in the community, telling lawmakers, “oh my, I need a band for this.”

But the DSS Commissioner was not finished. She also offered a “Program Quality Improvement Review” from the State Office of Children & Family Services, a division of Child Welfare and Community Services.

“This document presents the findings of the Program Quality Improvement Review (PQI) for Greene,” the document states, listing its purposes.

“PQI reviews enable the Office of Children and Family Services to ensure conformity with certain State and federal child welfare requirements,” the document states.

Further, the PQI reviews help, “determine what is happening to children and families as they are engaged in child welfare services and assist districts in enhancing their capacity to help children and families achieve positive outcomes,” the document states

“PQI reviews are structured to help districts identify strengths and areas needing improvement in their child welfare practices and programs as well as institute systemic changes that will improve child and family outcomes.”

Pospesel’s fancy was most tickled by conclusions reached in the review which focused on 5 Preventive/Protective Service cases, stating;

“Significant improvements were observed in Preventive/Protective practice compared to the previous review in 2020.

“All areas improved in Gathering Case Related Information, Case Planning Skills and Service Provision,” the document stated.

“A particular note of strengths was the district’s involvement with ensuring children were attending school and the efforts provided to assist with this happening.”

“Greene County scored above rest of the State in all areas in this review,” the document stated, sending Pospesel into a tizzy.

But there was more. The review also cited 5 Foster Care cases, stating, “performance improved in all areas compared with the previous review,

and Greene continues to demonstrate strong foster care practice.

“Again, Greene County scored better than the rest of State in all sections and is to be commended.

“Of particular note, safety management, child and family involvement in case planning, caseworker visits with children and parents, preserving

connections and providing services to address identified needs all scored 100%,” the document stated.

Pospesel was characteristically unabashed, exclaiming to lawmakers, “I almost fell out of my chair with that one,” noting the perfect scores are “something I’ve never seen.”

Legislature chairman Patrick Linger, in a followup interview, added a cherry on top, saying, “Kira’s department already has a difficult job that is compounded by mandates from the State.

“I’m glad Kira brought this forward so everybody could see what they’ve accomplished, even while working short-staffed,” Linger said.