St. Lawrence County legislators get 1st look at foster care report

CANTON, New York (WWNY) - The law firm St. Lawrence County hired to investigate its Department of Social Services presented some of its findings to lawmakers Monday night.

This comes in response to allegations of the county paying DSS workers more for fostering children and retaliating against foster families.

A representative from the Bonadio Group said the caseload for DSS workers was in line with state recommendations.

There was, however, unsatisfactory documentation. Some notes weren’t reported in a timely fashion while others were unclear on where children were being placed.

“I have absolutely no trepidations about anything in the report. I think that there is constructive criticism by the Bonadio Group, but there were also some appreciative remarks lauding members of the department for some exceptional work,” said Service Committee Chairman Joe Lightfoot.

The firm recommended creating a conflict-of-interest policy -- because of the small, rural population across the large county -- and putting policies and procedures in writing that all workers must follow.

New DSS Commissioner Joseph Seeber says there’s always room for improvement and they’re already working to implement some of these changes.

The law firm’s full report should be released at the county’s operations committee meeting in July.

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