On March 27, 2024, UPE reconvened the meet and confer with the County to further discuss the new duties they propose to place upon the Family Service Worker (FSW) classification.
UPE asked the County if they had the information requested at the previous meeting (a copy of the UC Davis study and a copy of the FTC training materials), but the department did not. What was provided was a handout with an overview of what the FTC training would consist of. The County then expressed the need to slow down the implementation of FTC until they have more FSW vacancies filled, but they could not identify how many of those vacancies needed to be filled before the FTC pilot could begin. Keep in mind that the training takes place in the later part of June.
We wanted to know where the youth will be during the “coaching” from the FSW, before and after the visit, and if Hop, Skip, Drive (HSD) will be expanded to handle transporting the youth either to and/or from the visit. Where the youth will be has not yet been “figured out” by the department, and they will investigate the expansion of the HSD contract; right now, they are only utilized for school runs. The department brought forth information about a new scheduling system for FSWs. This system would include an app for your phone, to which the union responded that we would like to meet about that and be provided with a demonstration of said system/app.
All parties agreed to reconvene in May, and UPE requested the department provide FTC training materials, a copy of the UC Davis study, updated FSW standards, and visitation transportation.
Thank you to the advocates for their participation,
Priscilla Navarra-Cochran, Gayla Green, and Jovonne Copeland-Newsome