Report 2021-113 Recommendation 32 Responses
Report 2021-113: Batterer Intervention Programs: State Guidance and Oversight Are Needed to Effectively Reduce Domestic Violence (Release Date: October 2022)
Recommendation #32 To: San Joaquin County Probation Department
To ensure that program providers comply with the probation department's standards and state law, San Joaquin Probation should develop and follow formalized policies and procedures for approving, renewing, and conducting comprehensive ongoing monitoring of program providers by April 2023. These policies should specify the frequency of monitoring, the documentation the department will require of program providers to demonstrate compliance, and the specific actions the department will take when a provider is noncompliant.
1-Year Agency Response
We have updated our Program providers' expectations, certifications, reporting, and monitoring. Along with updating our officers' procedure manual, we have added strict oversight and guidelines for our providers. The program providers are given the certification guidelines as well as our DV Standards for Clients, Programs, and Certification document. These documents outline exactly what is to be expected from cost, penal codes to be in compliance with, unannounced program group visits, recertification deadlines, sliding scale, document reporting, and retention. These also come with an expected format for how certifications should look, as the department can be suspended and revoked.
- Completion Date: April 2023
- Response Date: August 2025
California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Pending
San Joaquin Probation did not provide documentation for us to assess the sufficiency of the procedures it claims to have updated.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
6-Month Agency Response
The department has updated standards for client programs and certificatiions for renewing and conducting comprehensive ongoing monitoring of program providers.
- Completion Date: April 2023
- Response Date: April 2023
California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending
We do not agree with San Joaquin's assertion that it has fully implemented comprehensive procedures for approving, renewing, and conducting ongoing monitoring of program providers. Specifically, the policies San Joaquin provided to support its assertion are from 2019, which was before this audit and its related findings. To comply, we would expect San Joaquin to revise its policies and procedures to provide its staff guidance on items such as the frequency of ongoing monitoring, a method to ensure that providers report program violations, including, but not limited to, excessive or unexcused absences , and a method to review program's fee schedules and ensure that providers follow those schedules in compliance with state law. Until it does so, we will continue to report this recommendation as not fully implemented.
- Auditee did not substantiate its claim of full implementation
- Auditee did not address all aspects of the recommendation
60-Day Agency Response
The San Joaquin County Probation Department is currently developing a detailed, comprehensive polices for certifying, approving, renewing and monitoring of program providers
- Estimated Completion Date: April 2023
- Response Date: December 2022
California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending
All Recommendations in 2021-113
Agency responses received are posted verbatim.