Human Services Board recommends counsel change in child cases

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Hurley — The Iron County Human Services Board is recommending the county board pass a resolution changing who will handle certain legal processes involving children in the county.

The resolution — which the human services board passed at the end of June — would move children in need of protection and services, and termination of parental rights proceedings from the district attorney’s office to the responsibility of the county’s corporation counsel, Tim Dean.

Human Services Director Cally Kilger told the board the change was designed to resolve an issue the department had with the lack of progress being made in some cases.

“Our statutes say you have to file (Termination of Parental Rights) if the child has been in out-of-home care for 15 of the last 22 months, unless there is an allowable exception. There are some cases where we don’t have any allowable exception and it literally says in our system that the DA’s office refuses to file TPR because I don’t have a better justification than that and the state only gives us four or five options to check off,” Kilger said.

Although the nature of the cases mean they will likely always take some time to complete, Kilger said it can be hard to explain some of the delays to the state and they can be frustrating to the department staff as well.

“There’s always going to be delays in court, because of opposing attorneys or whatever else,” Kilger said, adding that hopefully the change reduces some of these delays to the minimum required.

Although the county would have to pay for Dean’s time handling the cases, Kilger said there is a cost either way and ending some of the more prolonged cases may result in a savings.

An example provided during the board meeting involved two kids who she said had been placed since June 2017, with the county paying $7,300-per-month for the placements.

Although the county may save money with the switch, several board members said the real concern was the negative impact the kids involved may be experiencing.

“(We aren’t) just dealing with dollars and cents, we’re dealing with people’s lives,” board member Tom Innes said.

If passed, the resolution would take effect Jan. 1, although Kilger said she intended to meet with Judge Tony Stella to discuss the possibility of appointing Dean as a special prosecutor to handle the cases through the end of the year.

In other action, the board:

—Voted to hire Mercedes Anderson as a children’s social worker. Anderson subsequently accepted the position.

—Approved the department’s 2019 annual report.

—Increased the number of people on the personnel subcommittee from three to five.