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COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
ARKANSAS COMMISSION ON CHILD ABUSE, RAPE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
October 19, 2011
Members Present : Stephen Bingham, Carol Maxwell, Avis Lane, Mary Hartwig, David Reynolds, Lisa Channell, Merlin Leach, David R. Goodson, Jerry Jones, Robert Parker, Larry Rob Combs, Gracie Gonner, Charles Ellis, Pamela Davidson, Eddie Schmeckenbecher, Annette Watson, Suzanne Jessup, Karen Worley and Dorinda Edmisten.
Members Absent: Sharon Ashcraft, Cecile Blucker, Vicki S. Cook, Steven Oliver, Victor Rose, Sharon Schrantz, and Stacey McKeown.
Guest: Debbie Roark and Sandi Doherty
Others Present: Max Snowden, Candy Garland, Sandra Gilmore, Sherry Williamson, Lori Gardner, Kendra Koehler, Michelle Cline, Elizabeth Waldrum and Stasia Burk (ACCARDV).
Call To Order: Dorinda Edmisten
The meeting was called to order at 1:30 p.m. The meeting is being held in the Freeway Medical Building, 5800 W. 10th Street. Little Rock, Arkansas, 72204, Suite 906.
Dorinda Edmisten read designated proxies:
Vicky Cook designated Karen Worley.
Review of Minutes from Last Meeting - Dorinda Edmisten
Dr. Merlin Leach suggested a correction to the 2nd paragraph under Sherry Williamson’s report. Mary Hartwig moved that the minutes from April 21st, 2011 be approved with correction. Merlin Leach seconded and the motion carried.
Child Abuse Project/Committee Report - Sherry Williamson
For the 4th quarter of fiscal year 2011 and the 1st quarter of 2012 Sherry conducted 24 trainings with a total 1036 participants.
Sherry received confirmation for the Children’s Justice Act grant award. This is the first year that all 50 states and the territories applied and met the requirements to obtain this grant. It is the reason that we will not be receiving the additional stipend.
The past CJA grant cycle changes were made for content requirements of information requested. Max was approached about a month ago by our Federal Project Officer for approval to use our format as a sample to other applicants of what should be submitted. They will be placing that grant format on their website for future applicants.
The Arkansas Child Death Review Panel will be meeting tomorrow October 20th at 9:30. Dr. Mary Aitken will be reporting on the interest meeting which was held in Faulkner County. Dr. Leach provided a copy of the Standard Operating Procedures that was adopted by the panel in late August.
In the article “Burials Drop, Placing Onus on Coroners” dated October 10, 2011 from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Dr. Leach highlighted the 2nd paragraph concerning the increase in cremations that are performed.
In the article “Teams to Track Child Deaths in State” dated October 8, 2011 from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Dr. Leach drew attention to the 8th paragraph stating the Arkansas Child Death Review pilot teams will be looking for trends which might be more noticeable.
Rape Project/Committee Report- Lori Gardner
Quarterly Reports
Information provided includes program summary for the 1st three quarters of the grant year. Most of the programs have implemented the Media Literacy curriculum which has shown to be very successful.
Crisis Intervention Center has been using the Media Literacy instructions with great results. The Media violence program for Fort Smith Northside High School showed a 56% and 59 % increase in knowledge for the health and oral communications respectively.
“Give Respect, Get Respect” program has been used by Ozark Rape Crisis Center and Partners for Inclusive Communities to further the knowledge of the disabled, and professionals who work with the disabled.
The U of A – Zero Tolerance program has been having great success with their book club multi-sessions. They have implemented a program in which trained peer educators are presenting to high school students about sexual assault awareness. Afterward those students were appreciative about the opportunity to gain that knowledge.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducted a site visit here in July. Our new Federal Project Officer made recommendations related to programming. One suggestion was that, in our new grant application, we expand the use of the Media Literacy Program more into the community. Another recommendation is to reach students by grade level in an individual school system from grades 3 through 10.
Request for Proposal Review Process
The amount of grant funds available has been decreased by $50,000. Of the eleven programs that applied for the grant funds, the Rape Committee is recommending five for the Commission to approve for funding.
Lisa Channell noted that the requirements for obtaining federal grants are becoming more stringent, with grantees required to illustrate their purpose for the funds. The importance of applicants meeting those federal requirements is crucial for the program as a whole.
The sub-committee recommends funding contingent upon a number of circumstances. One element is how many counties the applicants are requesting funds for. Past awards were for between $35,000 and $50,000, based on the number of counties in each project.
Lisa thanked Larry Gant for his efforts and involvement in the grant review process.
Lisa moved that the Commission accept the sub-committee’s recommended amounts for the 5 Rape Prevention Education grant applicants. Commission members approved the motion for amounts requested.
Sexual Violence Comprehensive Planning Process
Lori recently had a meeting with the Federal Project Officer with concerns about the possibility of losing the Block Grant, a portion of which is being used to support the Comprehensive Plan. As a result of that meeting, it was decided that the Mentors and Violence Program will be cut, due to the loss of that funding source.
Domestic Violence Project/Committee Report - Kendra Koehler
Trainings Conducted
Kendra conducted 11 trainings with a total of 221 individuals.
Other
The Arkansas Victims Assistance Academy was co-hosted by the Commission on Child Abuse, Rape and Domestic Violence which was held on July 25th through 29th at the Criminal Justice Institute. The evaluations by the 43 participants were very good.
The Commission has received a scholarship to attend the Responding to Crime Victims with Disability Conference. The meeting will be held in Orlando, Florida December 13-15. Focusing on Mental Health Needs of Crime Victims with Disabilities will be the theme the team will be working with. Elizabeth will be attending and will focus on the needs of children with disabilities and convey the training to the Children’s Advocacy Centers throughout Arkansas.
Rural Project Report - Michelle Cline
Preventive Health Block Grant
The annual report was submitted last week. All of the goals and objectives were met or exceeded.
The Media Literacy, Train the Trainer presentation that was held on February 23rd is now being implemented by all of our Rape Prevention Education Coordinators.
After speaking at the AR Department of Education Coordinated Health conference, contacts were received from some of those schools attending regarding the bullying curriculum. The Commission purchased that plan for the Cabot Schools. They will be implementing the plan in their 4th and 5th grade health classes.
Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)
The Commission was able to submit 3 questions for the sexual violence module for the 2010 survey. We recently received the results from that survey from the Department of Health. The answers from those questions were combined with the demographic information to produce the draft. The Arkansas results closely mirror national data.
Public Health Block Grant Impact Update
In April we were informed that the Public Health Block Grant was not in the President’s budget. At that time the Arkansas Health Department asked that we write an impact statement supporting the Block Grant. Last week Michelle went before the Block Grant committee at the Health Department to present that information, along with the application for next year.
At that time, Michelle was informed that the grant was being considered and it was in committee in Congress. Arkansas congressional district impact data was requested. She submitted the number of reported rapes and sexual assaults, as well as provided data stating the impact on Arkansas if we would not receive funding.
Domestic Violence Shelter Program Block Grant
This is a competitive 2 year grant, which ended on June 30th. Request for Proposals were sent out in April. Nineteen applications were received in our office for this funding. From those applications the selection committee met and funded 2 shelters from each of the five Social Services Block Grant regions in Arkansas.
Information received from the first quarter reports shows the shelters providing services for 284 adults and 232 children. Funds expected to be disbursed for these shelters is $42,000 for this quarter.
MDT Project Report- Stasia Burk
Currently there are 60 Multi-Disciplinary Teams in Arkansas.
An interest meeting will be held in Independence County on the 28th of this month. Three other counties are in the development stage.
State Protocol/Implementing New Teams
Criminal Justice Institute is soliciting the MDT coordinators involvement in their Drug Endangered Children Response program. The CJI is working to coordinate the death responses from each county.
MDT Monthly Database Report
The results of this report are from January 1 to August 31, 2011.
DHS/CACD requested to have included a category for each county showing which agency’s representative was not attending MDT meetings.
David Goodson questioned the results of Greene County for which only 2 cases were interviewed at a CAC of the approximate 60 cases that were substantiated. Stasia stated that some interviews occur in a “courtesy” county. In this instance, Greene County is a courtesy county to the Jonesboro CAC. In the case of a possible in-home offender, there may not be someone to take the child to a CAC for an interview. Pam stated an assessment interview has to be completed within 24 hours of the time the report is received. CACD is trained to perform forensic interviews.
CAC Project Report- Elizabeth Waldrum
2011-2012 Child Safety Center Funding
The seven member sub-committee met on May 18th. Funding recommendations made by that committee for the 13 CACs were approved by the Commission’s Executive Committee for amounts listed. Merlin Leach made a motion to approve the funding recommendations. Dr. Suzanne Jessup seconded the motion and the motion was approved.
Update
CAC Interest
An interest presentation to Clark County has been completed. They are in the development stages of establishing a Child Safety Center. They have trained SANE nurses and plans for a facility and staff have begun.
Elizabeth, Stasia and Melissa Shell, President for the Arkansas Chapter of CAC’s, will be traveling to El Dorado in Union County on November 7th to hold an interest presentation for creation of a Children’s Advocacy Center there.
Human Trafficking Task Force
Sherry Funk of the FBI and Roberta Sick of Partners for Inclusive Communities have been instrumental in leading the Task Force which was recently developed in Arkansas. CAC’s could be useful for children rescued from a human trafficking environment. Elizabeth has been attending the Task Force meetings.
MDT/CAC Statewide Survey
The need for feedback from the CAC staff, MDT coordinators and members has come to the attention of Elizabeth and Stasia since being in their position for a few years. They are working together with CACD, MDT coordinators and 3 CAC directors as the steering committee to create a feedback survey.
Financial Report- Candy Garland
Funding listed below reflects financial activity since the April 20, 2011 meeting:
2011 – 2012
DIVISION ON AGING STATE DHS
On May 5, 2011 ACCARDV received official notification of award for our 2011-2012 Division on Aging and Adult Services Grant from DHS.Total award is $161,066. Funds will be used to support our 10 state domestic violence shelters for client services ($144,959) and salary/fringe of staff ($16,107).
2011 – 2012
SOCIAL SERVICES BLOCK GRANT STATE DHS
On July 11, 2011 ACCARDV received official notification of award for our 2011-2012 Social Services Block grant from DHS. Total award is $35,000. Funds will be used to train social workers and other professionals in helping children who have been exposed to abuse and/or neglect. Funds will also be used to support salary/fringe of staff.
2011 – 2012
DOMESTIC PEACE FUND STATE APPROPRIATION
On July 5, 2011 ACCARDV received notification that our 2011-2012 Bail Bond revenue was $363,847.25, down $211,194 from the previous year. Reason for reduction was that many individuals were bonded out using own recognizance bonds, which reduced overall revenue available. Last year’s total award to the 34 active domestic violence shelters was $930,000. This year, it has been reduced to $718,806 or $21,141 to each shelter. This was the first year that there was a significant reduction in funding for this grant. The new grant year began July 1, 2011 and will continue through June 30, 2012.
Since July 1, 2011 we have distributed $359,380 to 34 domestic violence shelters. Each shelter received a total of $10,570. No shelters were out of compliance for the first two reporting quarters. Anticipated disbursement to all 34 shelters through June 30, 2012 is $718,806.
2011 – 2012
CHILD SAFETY CENTER STATE APPROPRIATION
Effective July 1, 2011 ACCARDV will receive $1,455,588 for our Child Safety Center Appropriation. Funds will be used to support 13 active Child Safety Centers across the state as well as 60 multi-disciplinary teams (MDTs). Funds will also be used to support the Child First Training component, as well as operations expenses of ACCARDV and salary/staff expenses of personnel involved in this project.
2011 – 2013
CHILDREN’S JUSTICE ACT GRANT FEDERAL DHHS
On September 7, 2011 ACCARDV received notice of award for $183,286, for our 2011-2013 CJA Grant. Funds will be used to provide additional training to helping professionals on recognizing and reporting of child maltreatment, along with MDT scholarships for training. Additionally, funds will be used for operations expenses associated with this grant, along with salaries and fringe of staff.
2011 Commissioner Updates
Other reappointments not listed are:
Stephen Bingham
Eddie Schmeckenbecher
Pam Davidson will be retiring from the Arkansas State Police. Pam will continue to serve on the Commission until a replacement can be named.
Christina Carr has resigned from the Commission.
Other Business
Max spoke on the article concerning the reintroduction of the federal Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs legislation.
Information on Kids Count data that is specific to Arkansas that has been collected for a number of years.
Max thanked the commissioners for their cards and flowers in the loss of his mother Claris Snowden.
Dr. Merlin Leach will start his term as Chair of the Commission in January, as Dorinda’s term will be ending.
Meeting was adjourned.