Berks County Children & Youth Services

A look at the Berks County Children & Youth Services with Barb Jakubek, CYS Administrator, and Joe Rudderow, Berks County Controller.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back. I'm County Controller Joe Ruttero here for another episode of County Connections. Always great to be back in front of the viewers and talk about local government, specifically county government. Today I am joined by Barb Jakubic. She is the Administrator for Children and Youth Services for the County of Burks. Barb, welcome.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Thank you, Joe. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Absolutely. How are you doing today? Good?

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Doing well.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Good. I've been excited to talk to you about CYS as the shorter version of Children and Youth Services, or I guess our acronym. And so I'm really looking forward to talking today and learning more about your department. And it's a big department, I will say that.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

It is a big department.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

And um so but I generally you'll start out just trying to get a little gauge of history. Now some some of the row offices, we can trace that back to the founding of the county, and you know, so that's a little bit easier and a little bit more fun. Um with some of the departments, I try to get a gauge for when did this kind of come online in the county. Uh sometimes there's legislation behind it. I know that different um guests I've had on before, maybe you know, at some point some legislation was passed that started it. But uh I I would be remiss if I didn't ask you at least something about the history of children and youth services. So uh please share with the viewers what, if anything, that you might be able to uh that you were able to unearth uh for this this show.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Well, ironically, just a few years ago, we stumbled across a document that was typed by the former director of Berks County Children and Youth. Um actually, she wasn't the director of Children and Youth, she was the director of Children's Aid Society. And she had typed up um a little history of the agency. It actually began um in the 20s, the late 1920s, and was known as the Children's Aid Society. And their responsibility was to handle cases of children who had been abused or neglected.

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 2:25

It did not come under the auspice of the county government until about the 60s. Okay. And then it was the 70s when we started seeing a lot of legislation around how to investigate child abuse and neglect allegations. It's very likely that what was happening is with 67 different counties in the state of Pennsylvania, there were 67 different ways of doing things. So having state legislation standardized the approach. When I read her history, it's amazing how many things still ring true today. You know, they had little committees that talked about making sure that children were properly clothed and fed, and uh clothing committees to ensure that children had their needs met. The very first director of children and youth uh was a man by the name of James Octor. So he created a structure of the agency that still rings true today. We have three big departments under the umbrella of Berks County Children and Youth, and that's how the agency was structured initially: intake, in-home, and out-of-home care.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

So now do other counties share the same type of model like that?

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Some do, especially other third-class counties. Um it there's so much to know in the work of public child welfare that it's really hard to master all of it. And this model seems to have taken hold elsewhere that uh you kind of learn your area of expertise. So we have people in our agency that are investigators. They just go out into homes and investigate allegations of abuse or neglect. We have people who work in-home with children and families who are in their own home, but there's still some risk or concern for a child's safety. Then we have an out-of-home care unit, we call that our permanency unit, where we try to work towards achieving a permanent plan. First plan is always reunifying a child with their parents if they're not together. But the next plan might be adoption. So that model seems to be present in lots of the other Lancaster County, Children and Youth, for example, has that model, Chester County. Lots of the other third-class counties look very similar to us.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

So each of the counties does have its very own unique there's there is a children and youth services in all 67.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

It is now mandated by law to exist. So, yes, everybody must take reports of child abuse and neglect.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Do you um do you have an opportunity at any time through the year where the counties get together and so you do have conferences?

SPEAKER_01 5:13

We do. We have, we're part of CCAP, the County Commissioners Association. We fall under that umbrella. Our organization is called PCYA, the Pennsylvania Children and Youth Administrators. And we get together three times a year and talk about big picture issues, but we can also talk about how do you do it in your county, what seems to work, and share information, especially about new legislation. There's so many new pieces that come to our attention that we have to work on. So learning from other counties is Oh, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

And and you will learn that each of the county there's similar similarities, and then there's some different approaches. And some of those different approaches are are uh great because you might have been struggling, you know, with how do I want to do this, and then counties already kind of figured it's I kind of like that, you know. Is it part of CCAP, or is it uh like when when the CCAP has their conference, your conference is is at the same time, or is it just that you fall under CCAP but you have your conference at a different time than that's correct.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

The latter is correct. So we fall under the umbrella of CCAP, but we host our conferences happen at different different times.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

And they try to move those around the state?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

They do. We meet usually once in uh Penn State in Center County, makes it easy for everybody to get there. And we meet another time in Gettysburg, and then our third meeting is usually in Lancaster.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Okay. Similar to what the the Um Controllers uh Association is doing. Yeah, we have a uh a spring, a summer, and a fall conference and try to, you know, move it around. The summer conference, interestingly enough, is is a little bit more geared toward showcasing a county that belongs to the association. Um and so uh, you know, we this year, uh this summer we'll be going up to Monroe County for our summer conference. Um and so they like to move it around. Last year it was out in Erie. Uh so we were out there. And the the uh hot off the press news is that uh next year Burks County will be hosting it for our 275th uh county birthday.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Mm-hmm. That's wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah, so uh the State Association of County Controllers will be coming here to Burks, and uh your host here is hosting that is from the Yeah, so we have to uh we're working it on that those plans now. So um but it's good to know I I get a lot of value going to those conferences. Um of course in ours there's an educational component of it for the majority of it. Uh and then there is some networking that takes place, and of course, uh and that's sometimes some of the the the best place to get new ideas and information is sitting around where you're just kind of relaxing and talking and say, hey, how do you deal with this? And so agreed.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

We're fortunate to have the Office of Children, Youth and Families join us as well. Um, so we can learn from them and meet with them and hear what's upcoming and you know learn uh what's going to be expected of us in the future.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

So um kind of talking about in in your let's go back a little bit, we'll do a little bit of structure on your your department. So you're the administrator. Do you have a deputy uh administrator?

SPEAKER_01 8:48

I do. Her name is Jennifer O'Neill.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

She came to us from the solicitor's office, actually. So she has experienced the agency work uh in two different capacities now. So yes, we do have a deputy.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

And and then, and I I know it's a big department, so then about what you know, how does it fall from there? Well, why don't we do this? Approximately how many fall under the youth uh children and youth services umbrella as far as employees that that you are responsible for?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

So we probably have about 150 employees right now. We are allocated for more. We've had some turnovers, so we're hiring right now. If any of your viewers are interested or know people who are graduating, we are conducting interviews right now.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

Well, that this is a great time for me to give my plug. If if anyone's interested in in uh career opportunities at the County of Burks, uh please go to BurksPA.gov, click on Career Opportunities. If you're interested in child and youth services, uh just search in in the uh available jobs area and you will see what's available in Barb's area. So um and and you know, I I try to let the viewer know uh the county is a great place, uh a lot of great employees, great place to be. And if you really want to work and give back and serve your community, I you know the county is is certainly very rewarding for doing that. And we see that with the number of of people who hit milestones on their service. Right. And it is pretty amazing. Um I'm amazed every time that we have workers that are here for you know 30, 40 years.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

In fact, we have one coming up. She'll be with us for 30 years.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Yeah, pretty amazing in today's day and age, right?

SPEAKER_01 10:41

It is.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

So um so now out of those 150, about how many other categories I'll say categories, because I'm sure you have different roles in in um CYS, and so um from a managerial point of view, maybe just name a couple of the positions that kind of maybe oversee or who what their function is? Sure.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

So we have three managers of the three different departments that we have, the child serving departments. So we have an intake manager, she oversees nine supervisors. Okay. Um and that's our front door. Just like a screen door, we have a screening unit that they take calls or walk-ins from people who want to report an incident of child maltreatment. So she has two screening units and then seven investigatory units. And they are the caseworkers who are out in the field going to schools, going to families' homes, talking to families.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

They're trying to really assess what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Uh to determine if if uh if there's an issue here or not. And and you know, I I would imagine that they they will find stuff, and at other times they might find that.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

And just to kind of give you a big picture number, last year in 2025, we had received almost 10,000 reports of child maltreatment. We brought in about a third of them. So some don't even meet the bar to come in and participate in an investigation. Sometimes people just need to be connected to other services in the community, whether it's parenting or mental health or drug and alcohol, we're able to help them navigate that a bit. Um, but for those that we do need to look at in terms of a of a report of child maltreatment, our seven units, then you know, take a look at that. Um and we have areas of specialization within intake as well. They have about 60 days to um make a decision about what's happened on that case. We close a lot of cases because it just doesn't meet the bar. Um, but for those that there's some concerns, we can do one of two things. We can open the case for service in in-home, and that's a whole department as well. There's about five, there's six supervisors in the in-home department. They each supervise about five caseworkers each. So these are big, these are big departments. Um, and they're working to keep kids in their own home. That is really our goal, Joe, is whenever possible, to keep children with their family. Um, the other thing that can happen out of from the intake department is if we're really concerned about a child's safety, we can petition the court and ask the court to remove the child. I know a lot of people think children and youth, they take people's children away.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Well, I was thinking like it that's got to be a challenge, right? And I'm sure that that that creates some resistance from the very beginning, but I think I would I would be I would imagine that as the process unfolds, then you know, there's probably more cooperation that comes along.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Right. And I think people learn that we are just one party at the proceeding that goes before the court. So we may get a report of an abandoned child and we will file a petition. But if a parent shows up, the parent is entitled to an attorney, the child is entitled to an attorney, each parent can have their own attorney. We we bring it to the court's attention, and the court makes that decision. And hopefully we're all doing our part to help them make a fully informed decision so they have all the information they need. Um so that's our last department, and that that department also includes an adoption unit as well, because there are times when children cannot return safely home, and then we have a process to advance to orphans court to ask the court to terminate parental rights and place that child for adoption.

SPEAKER_00 14:53

So adoption being a little bit different than fostering, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

So maybe for the viewer's sake, if in case they don't use that synonymous, um, there would be a case for fostering. So that would be give maybe if do you have an example where that would be applicable versus adoption?

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Sure. So when children enter out-of home care, our first choice goal is always to place them in a foster home whenever possible. It's best for kids to live with families and to understand that working. Most children who enter out-of home care end up having families themselves. So you want them to be able to experience a functional family and to know how to make things work. We do have other options, group home options, residential treatment facilities, depending on the need of the child. And we have a lot of provider agencies in our own community. Berks County is a provider-rich community. We have a number of agencies that provide foster care. We have several that provide group home care and residential care.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

For the purposes of our uh for the viewer, when we when we say children, let can you give a range because I don't know at a certain point does it does it move to a different a different agency or a different um I guess agency.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Right, right. So for a report to come in, the child needs to be between the ages of zero and seventeen. Okay. 18-year-olds are legally considered an adult. What I will say, the caveat to that, is that if a child is in out-of-home care and they turn 18, used to be back in probably 1927 when everything started under the Children's Aid Society, that they were discharged from care. Now we recognize that sometimes children need more help and support. My children would never have been in a position to leave home at the age of 18. I don't know about your kids, but you know, they need us a little bit longer. And so children now can stay in care until the age of 21 and receive ongoing support and guidance, both financial and in other ways, services that they might need.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

So after 21, they would go into some other social program if they need additional.

SPEAKER_01 17:13

Right. Now we we're able to help kids with aftercare services up until the age of 23. And again, for young adults that don't have adequate partners in the community, they might need to rely on us. One of the things we do is try to work with them to identify who are your supports, who are the people that can help you as you're, you know, in the middle of the night you have a plumbing emergency. You know, who do you call? How do you do that? Teaching them those independent living skills so they can launch successfully into that phase of their life.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

You know, it it is probably uh in in today's day and age, you're absolutely right. You know, 18 seems a little young. What it does amaze me is, and you go back to 1920 when that started, it were before that. Right. And you think of the number of of um people that came from Europe that in the outbreak of war and everything else, that were 16, 17, 18, and their family put them on a boat and sent them to Ellis Island, right? And so you you'd think like, you know, I guess they had to grow up a little quicker back then. Um but you know, it's it's good to see that it's no longer, you know, you're hitting a date and saying, or an age and saying, oh, sorry, we're all done. Uh so that's that's good to see that that there's care available up through at least 21.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

And we work well with our partners at the county and the mental health and IDD, where we're staffing cases early so that if there is a child with intellectual disabilities or autism and they may need long-term care, that we all know and have a good handoff so that when they have to exit our system, we know where they're gonna go, where they're gonna live.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

The um under the supervisors, what what do you you have caseworkers? We do.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

So the managers each have a number of supervisors and the supervisors supervise caseworkers. So we're we're a bureaucracy, to be sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Um and then you have a fiscal component.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

So we do. We have uh a fiscal uh section of our agency that now is kind of falling under the umbrella of the budget office, and then we have a contracting coordinator who helps both our agency and the juvenile probation office, and they fall under the umbrella now of the purchasing department. So we've had some changes recently that are good and and kind of have us look a little more like a human service model, you know, where we're teaming with other county departments.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Well, my my um uh experience early on was I came down, I know you and we're I'm gonna ask you about this shortly, about uh but you had a board meeting.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Oh, the advisory board, right.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

And uh, you know, that was my first real exposure sitting in, and I uh really sat was there to observe and kind of understand it a little bit better. And I walked out of there and just realizing that um care and well-being of children was everyone's number one. And you know, of course, in the controller's office, I mean, you know, our number one is dollars and cents, right? Um and it became clear to me that that the the passion of your your department is to be there to help people. Uh and and so uh those changes that have happened, uh it sounds like they were good changes because that allows you to focus more on really what what your calling is and and your department's calling, and not necessarily get caught in the uh in the ledger books, if you will, right of uh of the department. And you know, to speak on that, and I realize that it that it's a big department, and you have multiple funding streams, which only complicates the financial picture i in in in terms of a from an accounting point of view, budget point of view, controller's office point of view.

SPEAKER_01 21:07

Right. I've had someone say you have to give yourself about two or three years to really understand the funding streams and how they work together or don't. And we I mean we have funds that come from the federal government, the state government, the county has a kick-in, we have special grants, we collect child support in some cases when children are in out-of-home care. It's it's overwhelming.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

Yeah, it is definitely a a big operation. Um and the um and the office is located where?

SPEAKER_01 21:38

So we're in the services center at 633 Court Street. Okay. Um so we're right next door to the courthouse, which makes it easy for when we're going to court. We literally can walk across the the catwalk or go down to another floor, depending on where the judge is that's hearing our case. So that is our location.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Okay. Uh now you're not limited though to one floor. I don't think, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:01

We're not. We're actually on two floors. Our main office is on the 11th floor, but we also have the entire ninth floor as well. We're big. We have a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah, I I I've noticed. I've noticed. Now, um, as the administrator, you know, just kind of give the viewers, share with the viewers, you know, what um what are what's occupying your day other than obviously overseeing and managing? Anything in particular you'd like to share? Um you know, you've talked about your supervisors and your caseworkers and everything.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

What tends to be, you know, um, what tends to take a lot of your time during a day?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

So I work well with Jen, who oversees the managers, who oversee the supervisors and caseworkers, and so we're we're often dealing with um issues around caseworkers. We also um really work hard to to be good problem solvers at the agency and to look at what our needs are and develop programming for that. So I'll give you an example. Uh we have an incredible need for transportation services in our county and with our clients. And so working on figuring that out. How do we recruit more people to our we have a side program called Partners in Parenting? I don't know if any of your viewers received the um Burke's first magazine, but a side feature of Partners in Parenting is our Life House that was featured in the magazine. It's and Jonathan did a wonderful job writing about it. Um, but that program helps us with some transportation needs. Okay. We certainly have a greater need than what we're able to do. And so I work on program development ideas such as how are we going to increase our our transportation supports. Um we write in the summer months, we write what's called the needs-based plan and budget, and we really try to take a holistic view of the agency and say what's going well, what's not going well, and how do we ask the state for funds in order to help us do a good job of meeting the needs of kids and families.

SPEAKER_00 24:15

So um this ties in probably with your advisory board, right? Right. And and why don't we just take a minute or two to talk about your advisory board and what what they're doing and how big is it, and maybe just share with the viewers, you know, kind of give them an idea of the number of folks that are that are there and maybe some of their um backgrounds, you know, fields they come from.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

So the county commissioners appoint advisory board members, and um there are folks that they know from the community, folks that live in Berks County. We have a physician on our advisory board, we have someone that our advisory board um chair, owns her own business, she owns a salon. Um we have folks that come from different uh child serving agencies that work with us. We have somebody from the Hispanic Center. We really like to have representation of everyone's voice. We have somebody from the BCIU, the educational services. Typically, those meetings uh happen on a Thursday, they last for about an hour. We feed lunch because if you feed them, they will come and they listen. Um they're just a great group of people. We typically try to um have a small presentation based on what their needs are, what is it they want to learn about tall welfare, either our agency directly or in a big picture way.

SPEAKER_00 25:41

So is it a board that's got 10 members or 12? I think we're at twelve.

SPEAKER_01 25:46

I think we're at twelve in the case.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

So it's a good representation. And and you have cross-sectioned different um professions, I would it sounds like, right?

SPEAKER_01 25:55

Mm-hmm. We do.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

And and so that that's good because you sometimes that outside advice is maybe just a different way to look at it, and you didn't think of that. And and uh all you needed was just that that little idea to kind of say or perspective.

SPEAKER_01 26:10

Right. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah, that's great. And how how uh long do they serve? Is it a five-year term, four-year term?

SPEAKER_01 26:20

I don't have the answer to that question. I think it's two. Two years. I'll now have to go back and double check that. And many of them enjoy serving on the board and can be reappointed. So we've had some members uh on the board with us for many, many years. Right? Their commissioner will simply reappoint them for another term.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

Well, Barb, I am I can't believe we're just about out of time again. Okay so I definitely will have you back because I don't even think we got through. We didn't didn't get too far, but it was very interesting and very informative for the viewers, and and uh, you know, um I I look forward to circling back with you and getting you back in and we can talk about maybe a specific area, um maybe something that you're working on or will be working on or anything. Um Thank you for having us. I wanted to thank you very much for that and for joining me today. Uh at this time I just want to go ahead and remind the viewers that uh uh we're we're always trying to reunite you with unclaimed checks. So the county has uh on our website, on the controllers page, uh we have an area where it says unclaimed checks, and please click on that and and look through. We have about three years worth of names, uh three different lists of names, and if your name appears on there, there's a way to reclaim that money. If we don't hear from you, eventually we're gonna send it to the state and you'll get another bite at the apple, but uh it gets a little bit more difficult. So we always encourage people if you have a few minutes, look through the list, see if you know uh any of the names on the list or if your name appears, uh, we would certainly love to reunite you with your money. I want to thank you again. Uh, this is Joe Ruttero, your county controller, and until next time.