LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Lackawanna County's majority commissioners announced a new plan to restructure the services available to help the families and children who need it most. During a news conference in Scranton, they said the plan calls for getting rid of the county's Department of Health and finding ways to take some of the load off of the Office of Youth and Family Services.
"It just is unsustainable. The system right now doesn't work, and we can either plot along and pretend that, you know, it doesn't exist, or we can actually focus on it and try to fix it, and that's what we're doing," said Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan.
Earlier this year, the commissioners brought in a consultant to help come up with a plan to get the social services organization back on track. That move came after five workers at the office were accused of failing to protect several children in Scranton.
"Those charges were dismissed by Lackawanna County Judge James Gibbins, but the district attorney's office has filed an appeal, so we cannot comment further on those cases as they remain under litigation," said Lackawanna County Commissioner Matt McGloin.
As part of the reorganization, the county is dismantling its health department and proposing to put more money into a program called "Family First Community Pathways."
"This model allows us to redirect and refocus resources that were allocated for a freestanding health department to address crucial public health prerogatives affecting families and children. Including violence prevention, child maltreatment, housing, maternal and infant health and safety, and more," added Commissioner Gaughan.
The idea is to help families before their cases reach the Office of Youth and Family Services and provide adequate resources for cases that do.
"Since January 2nd, we have added five new full-time caseworkers and have approved six part-time positions to help relieve parts of their workload, allowing caseworkers to spend more time on providing direct services," added Commissioner McGloin.
The commissioners said they expect the "Family First Community Pathways" program to save the county millions of dollars in taxpayer money.