Commissioners seek JFS reforms

Hamilton County's Department of Job and Family Services will have some new priorities under its new interim director Moira Weir.


Weir's promotion to interim director of the county's largest department is now in effect following the retirement of former director Rick Roberts June 30.


That leaves her free to begin on the laundry list of reforms proposed last month by Hamilton County Commissioners Todd Portune and David Pepper. The department, which oversees everything from child support to foster care to food stamps, has gained recent attention, not all of it flattering, for its abysmal adoption rate (which it has since hired new staff to correct) and for running background checks for foster parents following the death of Marcus Fiesel in Clermont County at the hands of his foster parents.




Some of the tasks include:

-Reviewing and dealing with the too-high worker turnover rate and worker caseloads

-Investigating the perception that JFS workers aren't paid fairly compared to workers in other county departments and in other counties

-Improving enforcement in child support and other types of cases

-Becoming more efficient

-Improving accountability. Perhaps setting up a complaint/suggestion box or web site

-Pushing forward on initiatives like Medicaid Outreach and background checks on foster parents. The latter woudl be expanded to the entire state, rather than just Hamilton County.