Re: Request for BOCC Discussion Today – Documented DSS Programmatic and Fiduciary Failures

[Jean Hamilton]

Dear Krista Caraway,

 

On behalf of the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), I am writing to respond to your email.  The BOCC does not oversee DSS and by state law does not have authority over its board, director, or employees. The DSS Board is the governing body responsible for overseeing the agency. Fiscal matters of BOCC concern will be addressed through our usual procedures.  As shared with you by our county manager, a formal request for review of any case involving DSS is made by contacting NCDHHS constituent concerns at 919-527-6340. The BOCC plans to invite the DSS director this spring to inform us of their processes to ensure the safety and security of our most vulnerable residents.

 

Sincerely,

Jean

 

Jean Hamilton, Chair

Orange County Board of Commissioners

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From: Krista Caraway <kristaze...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2026 9:13 AM
To: ALL_BOCC_MANAGER_CLERK <OCB...@orangecountync.gov>
Subject: Request for BOCC Discussion Today – Documented DSS Programmatic and Fiduciary Failures

 

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Dear Commissioners,

I am writing to formally request that the Board of County Commissioners discuss today, during the BOCC retreat, a set of documented programmatic and fiduciary failures within the Orange County Department of Social Services (DSS) that materially contradict repeated statements that DSS “found no programmatic insufficiencies.”

This email consolidates my prior correspondence regarding meaningful repair following system failure involving a disabled ward and incorporates new, Board-level evidence contained in the County’s January 2026 audit materials, alongside established public records.

1. Audit-Confirmed Programmatic Failures (January 2026 BOCC Materials)

The County’s own auditors identify material deficiencies related to the DSS Payee Fund, including:

• failure to properly record revenues and expenditures for a special revenue fund;

• continued use of an outdated custodial accounting framework despite mandatory compliance with GASB Statement No. 84;

• insufficient internal controls;

• failure to adopt a legally required annual budget; and

• absence of formal budgetary oversight, increasing the risk of unauthorized or misdirected spending.

The auditors explicitly state that these deficiencies create risk of noncompliance with state law and County policy.

A DSS Payee Fund exists for one purpose: to receive, safeguard, and disburse funds on behalf of vulnerable individuals. Failures in accounting, controls, and budgeting are therefore programmatic deficiencies, not clerical errors.

2. Application to the Lexi Case

(Public Record, as a direct result of Orange County DSS failures to follow statutory duties and protective obligations)

In the Lexi case, the public record — which exists because required protections were not executed — establishes that:

• multiple mandated reporters raised concerns without timely protective intervention;

• required welfare checks and meaningful home-entry protocols were not executed;

• a disabled adult was returned to and left in an unsafe environment after arrest;

• public funds continued flowing to a caretaker later criminally convicted of neglect with injury;

• funds did not follow the disabled adult into safety; and

• the full cost of care was shifted to a private household that intervened to prevent further harm.

These outcomes directly implicate fiduciary responsibility, supervision, and program administration — the same risk areas identified in the County audit.

Confidentiality arguments now raised by DSS exist only because earlier statutory duties were not fulfilled.

3. Pattern, Foreseeability, and Repeat Leadership Failure

These failures do not exist in isolation. They align with:

• documented DHHS findings and public critiques involving Adult Services leadership in 2020;

• a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem report authored by a former Orange County judge;

• law enforcement action and a criminal conviction; and

• investigative journalism confirming systemic breakdowns.

Critically, the same or overlapping Adult Services leadership structures previously identified in 2020 are now implicated again, alongside additional supervisory leadership, in a case involving catastrophic harm to a disabled adult.

This establishes pattern and foreseeability, not anomaly.

4. Governance, Fiduciary, and Risk Implications

In any public or private organization, any one of the following would typically trigger immediate corrective action:

• failure to maintain required financial controls;

• failure to adopt a legally required budget;

• improper handling of fiduciary funds;

• failure to act on repeated mandated reports;

• exposure of a vulnerable person to preventable harm; or

• shifting institutional responsibility onto a private citizen without parity of support.

Here, all occurred.

Meanwhile, six-figure leadership salaries continue within Adult Services, and the County Attorney’s Office — at a reported $948,517 annual cost — has taken a posture that emphasizes insulation from disclosure rather than proactive correction, remediation, or risk mitigation.

This combination materially increases the County’s financial, legal, and reputational exposure.

5. Request for Today’s Retreat

Given the timing, documentation, and gravity, I respectfully request that the Board:

• discuss these findings today at the retreat; and

• determine appropriate next steps to ensure:

  • compliance with statutory and fiduciary duties,

  • protection of disabled adults,

  • proper stewardship of public funds,

  • accountability at the leadership level, and

  • restoration of public confidence.

This request is not to re-litigate facts already established.
It is to ensure that County leadership does not rely on assurances that are contradicted by public records and the County’s own audit findings.

Thank you for your attention and your service to Orange County.

Respectfully,

Krista Zelt Caraway
Legal Guardian and Private Citizen
Orange County, North Carolina