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Human services agency under scrutiny

Reports of abuse and death mar state department

DENVER – Colorado lawmakers are frustrated with the response from human services officials after the majority of the Legislature sent a letter of no-confidence earlier this month.

Several lawmakers who organized the letter to Gov. John Hickenlooper, and who were early supporters of the communication, worry that the Department of Human Services is missing the point. That point, they say, was to highlight systemic failures in the hopes of spurring a change in leadership and direction.

The department’s embattled leader, Reggie Bicha, said on Tuesday that he believes he is capable of continuing to oversee the massive and complicated department, and he has the support of his boss, Hickenlooper.

Only a day after their first public remarks on the subject since the letter was drafted May 4, a report by The Denver Post highlighted ongoing problems within the department, this time focused on possibly having to repay the federal government nearly $1 million after the department spent money on a food-assistance program without receiving federal approval. The state is appealing the order and negotiating the total amount.

Eighty-four of the Legislature’s 100 lawmakers signed the rare bipartisan letter of no-confidence, pointing to “numerous accounts of disturbing issues” over the last 18 months.

Alicia Caldwell, spokeswoman for the Department of Human Services, said the letter highlighted only isolated incidents, including allegations of “physical abuse, verbal abuse and unwanted sexual contact” at the Pueblo Regional Center, not within the entire child-welfare, mental-health, youth-incarceration and developmental-disabilities systems.

“It raises concerns about physical, verbal and sexual abuse within the Pueblo Regional Center – one facility – not four major systems run by CDHS,” Caldwell said.

But the letter also references lack of oversight by the state over county-delivered human services, which is “encroaching on the safety of children,” according to lawmakers. Children in the Denver Human Services system died without the state taking action against the county, according to the letter. Critics of the department say this highlights more systemic issues.

Earlier state audits – including one from October 2014 – pointed to deficiencies with investigations conducted by the department, with many of those concerns playing out during hearings this year in the Legislature. Lawmakers raised questions concerning oversight of screening and assessing child abuse and neglect allegations.

“Those were specific examples, but they were examples. They were not intended to minimize the scope of some of these problems that we’ve already identified,” Sen. Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs, who signed the letter and investigated many of the issues as chairman of the Joint Budget Committee, said of the intent of the scathing dispatch. “The problems go back years.”

Lawmakers who drafted the letter described the department as being a “pervasive hostile work environment; being a driven-from-the-top culture of fear, retaliation, secrecy and self-protectionism.”

The department’s response worries Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, an early signer of the letter.

“I realize it was a litany of isolated events, but the point wasn’t to look at them in isolation,” Steadman said. “I’m watching ... something needs to be done, to draw a line here and say, ‘Enough is enough, let’s get this under control.’ I’d like to see evidence that that’s happening.”

The Durango Herald asked Caldwell whether the department believes there are systemic issues to be addressed. She stopped short of addressing any pervasive problems but responded: “We are taking the May 4, 2015, letter from lawmakers very seriously. Leadership has carefully looked at the concerns outlined and has begun individual meetings with lawmakers to address any and all concerns they may have. That is an ongoing process, and Executive Director Reggie Bicha is keen to hear the exact nature of issues legislators have with the department, whether they are in the letter or not. That process is intended to better define concerns and come to conclusions about how to address them in a collaborative fashion.”

Bicha and Hickenlooper said the issue is more about communication. In a May 14 response to lawmakers, Hickenlooper said most of the concerns raised by lawmakers have been identified and addressed already.

“Maybe Reggie hasn’t spent enough time talking to legislators and resolving their doubts,” the governor said Tuesday.

For his part, Bicha added: “In some of the cases ... they didn’t have information that was up to date or current. I own responsibility for not getting that information to them in the right fashion, in the right way.”

But Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, a former caseworker for Boulder County, said the issue is greater than a lack of communication.

“This wasn’t one or two lawmakers stepping up to say that they’re worried about a situation; it’s the full force of the vast majority of the Legislature,” Singer said. “There needs to be some major systemic shifts that really get to the heart of how we take care of our most vulnerable citizens.”

Sen. Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, an early signer of the letter, was stern, adding: “All the communications in the world with the Legislature isn’t going to solve the challenges going on within the department right now. This is exactly the concern I have with the department – they are failing to recognize the importance of real problems coming forward.”

pmarcus@durangoherald.com



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