Phone: (904) 743-1883 Fax: (904) 743-5109 mhrcflorida.com TO: All MHRC and RBHS staff members FROM: Robert Sommers, Ph.D. President and CEO DATE: June 29, 2016 SUBJECT: Child Welfare Services It saddens me to inform you that, sometime between now and September 30th, MHRC will be transitioning all of its child welfare programs to other agencies. We are currently working with Family Support Services of North Florida (FSSNF) which funds these programs to develop a transition plan. Although MHRC will be laying off its child welfare staff, it is expected that all, or almost all, of these employees will obtain comparable positions with the other agencies, and will even take their current caseloads with them to the new agencies, so that there will be no gap in their employment and no disruption to services. Why is this happening? About one month ago, FSSNF informed us that, for fiscal year 20162017, they would be reducing the funding to MHRC by approximately $564,000. We explained to FSSNF that their action would jeopardize our child welfare services and we offered an alternative plan to maintain the financial viability of these services, but this plan was not accepted. When we prepared our child welfare department budget for next fiscal year, including the revenue reduction of $564,000, we saw that this department would produce a substantial financial loss, a loss that MHRC cannot afford. We notified FSSNF that we would need to either provide a different array of services to maintain our child welfare department or we would need to transition our current services to other agencies. FSSNF chose the transition path. Therefore, we will be contracting with FSSNF to continue our child welfare services for the period of July 1, 2016 through September 30, 2016, during which time, we will transition services to other agencies chosen by FSSNF. The MHRC child welfare program began in 2003 with 13 employees, and grew to 83 employees currently. During the past 13 years, new, innovative services were added and our program developed a reputation for excellence. For three years in a row 2012, 2013 and 2014 the MHRC child welfare program was named by FSSNF as Case Management Organization of the Year. These accomplishments were the result of the diligent, dedicated work performed by our child welfare staff members. In closing, I want to especially recognize and thank Debbie ONeal, Vice President-Community Support Services, who built the child welfare program from the ground up, and who exercised superb judgment in recruiting Gwen Tennant-Evans to be Director of the program. Gwen and our child welfare supervisors Lindsey Hackford, Emily Foltz-Holland, Jennifer Wirz, Ashlea Wesley, Marka Kyle, Amy Travis, Stephanie Metzger, Lesley Ann Vickerie, Amber Savidge, Brittany Humes-Cox, Precious Delancy, and Debra Coppola and all of our child welfare staff have done a remarkable job helping and supporting children and families who are experiencing difficult and stressful situations. They have provided services to many in need, and have demonstrated compassion, commitment and professionalism. These employees have been excellent representatives of MHRC in the Jacksonville community and we have been proud to have them as part of our organization. We wish them continued success in all their future endeavors.