Hiding behind confidentiality, misrepresenting large caseloads and retaliating against ombudsmen

Butler director given reprieve at child agency
Brooks-Higgins, Candice. Hamilton Journal News, April 16, 2007, pg. A2.

Friday was expected to be Jann Heffner's last day as executive director of Butler County Children Services. Staff and foster parents even gathered for a going away party at 11 a.m.

After a more than three-hour executive session that same afternoon, though, Heffner re-emerged as director -- at least until the agency's board decides her future in a meeting Thursday. In exchange, the agency's board was able to nix controversial agreements that would have made her special projects director until June 30 and also a consultant for the year that follows at a salary of $110,000.

Now, Butler County commissioners await the agency's next move in the saga sparked by the August death of foster child Marcus Fiesel, 3. They said Friday that Heffner's departure is necessary to restore public trust before taxpayers are asked to renew a children's services levy set to expire Dec. 31, 2008.

Though commissioners said accomplishments under Heffner's leadership since 2002 are undeniable, it's what she didn't do that seals their conviction that she must be replaced.

Heffner on Friday listed improvements at the agency under her leadership: From 2003 to 2005, the agency increased the number of children reunified with their families by 11 percent, increased legal custody to relatives by nearly 62 percent and dropped the median days a child spends in a foster placement by almost 59 percent, according to the Public Children Services Association of Ohio.

During the last levy campaign, the agency promised to open a Middletown office. In February, staff began serving 40 percent of its client families in Middletown.

To increase the probability of family reunifications, the agency last May opened the Family Connections visitation center in Hamilton. After Marcus' death in August in the home of his foster parents in Clermont County, Heffner promised several improvement efforts, and Children Services spokeswoman Denise Winkler said the following were done:

* A foster parents recruiting unit was expanded to include current and former foster and adoptive parents.

* Contracts with private foster care agencies like Lifeway for Youth, which selected the home where Marcus died, were renegotiated for more frequent foster parent background checks. They now require state, federal and driving record checks every year, local criminal checks every six months, and notification within 24 hours of criminal activity.

* Instead of every three months, caseworkers in September began checking private foster homes inside and outside the county each month. However, the agency could not confirm if out-of-state homes had been included.

Nevertheless, County Commissioner Michael Fox called Heffner's tenure "disappointing." He and former Children Services board chairman Hall Thompson have said Heffner failed to do what they recruited her to do.

They wanted an "open, honest consumer-friendly" agency, a reduction in caseload, and an independent ombudsman to handle parent grievances and ensure fairness. Instead, Thompson said the agency has hidden behind confidentiality, misrepresented high caseloads and retaliated against ombudsmen whenever they exposed problems. Since Heffner arrived, there have been five ombudsmen; the fifth is on administrative leave.

"The biggest difficulty that Jann had was being trustworthy," Fox said.

Fox said that issue contributed to a lack of trust in upper management demonstrated in a recent employee survey.

Key partner agencies -- like the Butler County Mental Health Board, the Family and Children First Council, and the county board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities -- have all publicly expressed frustration in working with Heffner and the agency.