Auditor general finds issues with Jefferson County CYS

Pennsylvania auditor general Timothy DeFoor has found a number of problems in a 2018 contract between Jefferson County commissioners and Service Access & Management of Berks County that was designed to mend the county’s Children & Youth Services department.

DeFoor on Wednesday released an audit that details the issues he has found in the agreement.

“During our routine audit of this agency, we were specifically asked to evaluate if an outside contract for case management services was functioning the way it should,” DeFoor said. “We were able to help the Jefferson County commissioners determine the contract was not meeting the needs of the community and county employees need to do this work in order to ensure vulnerable children are being protected. Protecting our children is our most important job,” he added.

DeFoor said the county had hired a contractor to administer most of its Children and Youth services functions because it was having trouble recruiting people to work for the agency.

In 2019, then-Jefferson County commissioner Jack Matson said the commissioners felt the CYS system in Jefferson County was “so broken we couldn’t break it anymore.”

Matson said that prior to outsourcing to SAM, Jefferson County’s CYS staffing rate was 35 percent. The rate rose 93.8 percent with SAM.

DeFoor also noted in the audit that the agency director moved from the county’s employment to the contractor’s payroll, leaving no county employee in charge of the agency.

“This presented potential conflicts of interest, the potential for gaps in service and did not comply with Pennsylvania Department of Human Services regulations,” the audit said.

“The work of children and youth agencies is vital to our communities, but is a difficult job,” DeFoor said. “This audit is a great example of why it is essential for counties to maintain internal controls, even if they seek to contract out for case management or other services.”

The audit also documented several other problems, and DeFoor recommends that if the county hires a management company again, internal controls should be implemented to ensure there is proper oversight and compliance with state regulations.