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Bethel Residents Recommend More Support, More Training, And Smaller Case Loads For OCS Workers

Rep. Zach Fansler of Bethel and Rep. Tammie Wilson of North Pole listen to public testimony on the state of the Office of Children Services at the Bethel Legislative Information Office on February 11, 2017.
Anna Rose MacArthur
/
KYUK

On Saturday, Bethel residents weighed in on child welfare issues. Republican State Representative Tammie Wilson of North Pole has long been concerned about the state of the Office of Children's Services. Back when she was in the majority, Wilson called for a grand jury probe of OCS. KYUK reports that Bethel residents meeting with Wilson did not have much to recommend about criminal charges against OCS, but they did recommend more support, more training, and smaller case loads.

Anny Cochrane is an emergency foster parent and asked that the state spare the foster program as it’s looking for areas to cut spending this legislative session.

“I strongly believe that if you cut funding or reduce funding in the foster care industry, then what’s going to happen is we’re going to be paying more in the long run," Cochrane said, "and we’re going to be looking at the state funding it with the corrections program."

Cochrane’s husband, Jon Cochrane, who’s also an emergency foster parent, asked for OCS case managers to receive more training and more support. With the overloaded system, he says, the managers are set up to fail.

“They have a hard job,” he said. “About 50 to 60 kids to a case worker. We’re talking about guardian ad litems with 75 to 100 cases. You’re set an impossible task.”

Heather Sia is one of those guardian ad litems, an attorney who advocates for the children in OCS. She says that one of the main problems with the system is a lack of reasonable effort to provide regular visits for the children and parents to maintain a family bond.

“If you’re in region, which means if you’re in Bethel or a surrounding community,” Sia said, “you generally get to see your kid once a month. If your kid is placed in Anchorage, the Valley, Fairbanks, Juneau, you get to see your kid once a quarter. It’s just cruel. It’s cruel to the kids, and it’s incredibly demoralizing to the parents.”

Kristin Palkki is a school social worker in Bethel. Every day she deals with OCS workers and the children affected by OCS, a system she says that is unsustainable and hurting everyone involved: workers, families, and children.

“I’ve worked with exceptional workers that go above and beyond and do make sure children have contact with their families,” Palkki said. “but in my experience, I have not seen OCS workers be able to successfully do that unless they put in extensive overtime hours and evenings and weekends, because their caseloads are so large.”

Daisy May Barrera, who has a social work degree, says that OCS protects women and children. But problems arise, she says, when the system does not understand and respect Yup’ik culture. For the system to improve, she says, the state, tribes, and social services will have to come together to understand and help one another.

“Together, I tell you,” said Barrera, “it doesn’t take that many dollars. It takes team building, team work to be productive and to progress for the sake of every child and every woman in any region.”

Anna Rose MacArthur served as KYUK's News Director from 2015-2022.