Deb Farrell, Senior Project Manager at Care Solutions, Inc., has been named to the National Citizen Review Panel (CRP) Advisory Panel.   In her role as Senior Project Manager for the company, Ms. Farrell has been the Senior Technical Advisor for Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) since 2000, providing consultation, design, development and implementation of systems to improve the operational and administrative functions associated with the state’s oversight and management of this federally-funded program.  In 2006, she assumed the role of Project Coordinator for Georgia’s Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) citizen review panel program.

“We are especially proud of Deb for her work with PSSF and now with the CAPTA CRP in Georgia,” said Carla S. Rogg, president of Care Solutions.  “On a national level, they have recognized the great contributions she can make because of the depth of experience she has had statewide.  Over the past nine years, she has worked with multiple groups of stakeholders involved in the state’s child welfare system, with the ultimate goal of strengthening families to create a safer environment for children.”  Farrell was invited to join the National Advisory Panel following the 2009 National CRP Conference, in Jackson Hole, WY in May 2009.   The national advisory group was established to promote citizen review panels and the value of community engagement; coordinate inter-state communication among the panels and share promising practices to facilitate both the development and the work of CRPs.

The establishment of citizen review panels for all state Child Protective Services (CPS)

systems was mandated by the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) reauthorization of 1996 for all states receiving a CAPTA grant. Georgia designated three existing committees to serve as CAPTA citizen review panels to fulfill this requirement: Child Protective Services Advisory Committee, Children’s Justice Act Advisory Committee, and Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel.

CAPTA citizen review panels are groups of citizen volunteers who are federally mandated to conduct an evaluation of their state’s child protective services agency.  As project coordinator for Georgia’s CRP, Ms. Farrell coordinates the work of the steering committee and three sub-committees.

The purpose of CAPTA citizen review panels is: 1) to examine the policies, procedures, and practices of state and local child protective service (CPS) agencies; 2) to provide feedback on the effectiveness of the agency’s child abuse prevention and treatment strategies in producing the desired child and family outcomes; and 3) to determine whether they (CPS) are effectively discharging their child protection responsibilities.  Each of the three existing panels had a child welfare vision and mission that would support meeting these objectives and satisfy the CAPTA requirement.

These panels provide opportunities for community members to play an integral role in ensuring that states are meeting their goals of protecting children from child abuse and neglect.