Officials are considering contracting out work for its youth services following the departure of its staff and volunteers.
Five employees left the agency earlier this month over a controversy involving the accessing of confidential files. Another employee quit to go into a private practice.
Also earlier this month, the 15 student volunteers of the service’s Youth Commission resigned.
Orland Township has been contacted by two south suburban agencies to operate their counseling program. After the new director of Youth Services, Laura Salzman, begins her position Monday, a decision will be made as to which agency the township will use. Township Supervisor Michael Brennan hopes to bring the matter for a vote by Tuesday’s Board of Trustees meeting.
By using an outside agency, the township hopes to serve many more families, in addition to the 15 to 20 currently in counseling, at a savings.
“These are professionals with advanced degrees in counseling that will do a better job and offer more services than we were able to offer before,” Brennan said Tuesday. “We have a waiting list of people that can be turned over to an outside agency.”
The township does not plan to hire any part-time counselors. The only full-time counseling position will be held by Salzman. One other full-time person, Ellen Taylor-Sink, is now running the service’s youth program. “This savings in personnel will save $80,000 to $100,000 a year and we will be able to increase the people we service tenfold,” said Brennan.
In addition to family and youth counseling, the township hopes to work with the police counseling abuse victims and others in need. “We’re not experts in this, and it’s better to leave it to the people that are,” Brennan noted.
