The Rutland district office of the Department for Children and Families has come under intense scrutiny following the death of a Poultney toddler in February.
The office now has a new interim director, Lynne Klamm, who says keeping kids in the community safe is her number one priority.
But with several investigations pending, she says providing stability to her staff and rebuilding trust within the community are also vital in moving the troubled agency forward.
Klamm had been working as a Field Director for the Agency of Human Services when she was tapped three weeks ago to replace John Zalenski as interim director of Rutland’s DCF office. She admits she’s not sure how long she’ll be in the position. “This is a job that I’ve done before,” said Klamm. “Granted it was 10 years ago or so and things have changed since then, but the idea was to try and bring somebody in who could bring some stability in the office as we try to move forward.”
"This is a job that I've done before. Granted it was 10 years ago or so and things have changed since then, but the idea was to try and bring somebody in who could bring some stability in the office as we try to move forward." - Lynne Klamm, Rutland DCF interim director
But it won’t be easy. A report issued last month by the Attorney General following an investigation into the death of 2-year-old Dezirae Sheldon of Poultney found serious gaps in communications and other errors in DCF’s Rutland office. And while the state found no criminal conduct, the Attorney General reported striking examples of flaws in how the case was handled.
Lynne Klamm says those are issues she’s working to address, starting with making sure her staff understands all policies and procedures. “Part of it is supervision; part of it is asking the questions; part of it is creating the expectation that that is the kind of work we do in this office,” says Klamm.
Workload may also be part of the problem. According to federal best practice guidelines, the worker to case ratio should be one to 12. In Rutland, Klamm says each case worker handles between 16 and 20 cases. “This Work is stressful. Is staff stressed? I think they are,” she says. “Are they stressed in a way that prevents them from doing their best work? No, I don’t think they are.” Klamm says, “It’s my understanding that Rutland did not get any of the 18 social workers that were recently authorized. I would like at least two positions and I will advocate for that.”
Klamm says her office will also try to bolster training and support for case workers who she says are dealing with increasingly complex and difficult situations.
"It's my understanding that Rutland did not get any of the 18 social workers that were recently authorized. I would like at least two positions and I will advocate for that."
Besides the internal workings of her staff, Klamm says she’ll also spend a lot of time networking. “Right now I attend the Rutland City Police data meetings that they have. I also attend a lot of meetings in the community - Children’s Integrated Services, the Building Bright Futures meetings, the local interagency team meetings. The list goes on and on,” says Klamm. “And while I don’t like meetings for the sake of going to meetings, I do think this work is about relationships and I think that’s partly how you build relationships, by making connections.”
Dan Boyce hopes Klamm will also strengthen DCF’s relationship with local foster parents.
Boyce is President of the Vermont Foster and Adoptive Families Association. He says under Rutland’s previous director, John Zalenski, that relationship suffered. “When it came to the level of working with the supervisors, sometimes it was hard to feel like there was much of a connection between ourselves as foster parents and the district director, particularly in Rutland,” says Boyce.
Lynne Klamm wouldn’t comment on her predecessor, but agrees strong ties with foster parents are essential and says she’ll work hard to improve them.
Even harder than winning over foster parents, may be winning over the public. Klamm says with so much of their work shrouded in confidentiality there are a lot of misconceptions about DCF that she’d like to see corrected. ”For me I think it can happen both formally and informally. We can set up some informational forums, but also informally as we go about our business, working in schools or working in doctor’s offices or I’m at a project Vision meeting ... I think it’s my responsibility to talk about our work and talk about what we can do and what we can’t do and what we want to do and how we want to collaborate as we move forward.”
Brandon foster parent Dan Boyce thinks all the media attention and scrutiny of DCF will help educate the public as well. “I think it’s really important for this not to go away. That there be regular conversations and articles on this aspect or that aspect with the idea of trying to convey the whole picture.
Boyce says if the public understands how the system works and what the goals are, they’ll be more able to make it better.
