The Children’s Agenda applauds Monroe County’s Department of Human Services for the time and thought that County staff put into developing the 2018-2023 Child & Family Services Plan. While expansive, multi-year plans can be burdensome to staff, they also offer an opportunity to engage in strategic planning, identify areas needing improvement, and help communicate the Department’s priorities to the community it serves.

We also commend the County for holding the public hearing at Monroe Community College on March 20^th and being open to comments, questions, and suggestions from different stakeholders in the community. Transparency can be challenging given the sensitive nature of much of DHS’s work, but County leadership were responsive to questions from The Children’s Agenda and others that day. The presentations from department heads were informative and reflected the thoughtful way staff approach their work. Broader community input, generated by greater County publicizing of this public hearing, would have helped create a more responsive plan and increased community trust and support for DHS.