House Health and Social Services committee hears testimony on proposed split of DHSS Sydney Kurle | Jan 13, 2021
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On Wednesday the House Health and Social Services committee heard testimony from multiple experts on Governor Mike Dunleavy’s proposed bifurcation of the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS). The overwhelming sentiment from these experts was that the proposed split would do more harm than good to the people who rely on DHSS.
In late December 2020, Dunleavy announced his intention to split DHSS into two separate departments, the Alaska Department of Health and the Alaska Department of Family and Community Services. This split was aimed at streamlining and improving service delivery while creating more flexibility in departments.
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, which focuses on the stories of vulnerable communities. The first story explored how COVID-19 has affected young adults aging out of the foster care system; the second focused on grandparents raising kin; and the third was on how the pandemic impacted parents and reunification efforts.
The pandemic, its associated isolation, and economic challenges prompted child welfare to sound the alarm: COVID-19 will likely result in a spike in child abuse.
But whether such a trend is certain fact or educated intuition is still open to question. Complete data won t be available until mid-2021, at the earliest.
Some experts fear that at-risk children won t be seen because stay-at-home orders are keeping them away from the watchful gaze of mandated reporters, especially teachers, who report one in five cases of suspected abuse and neglect to hotlines and responsible agencies.