On a recent February afternoon, John Hudson carefully sifted through a three-inch Department of Family Services file.

He examined various reports and documents concerning Danielle Poole, the file's subject. Hudson then spent almost three hours interviewing Poole, who had temporarily lost custody of her daughter, and others connected to the case.

Hudson is a manager at the Wyoming Department of Family Services, but isn't Poole's caseworker. He doesn't work in her area, nor had he even seen her file until that day. His teammate in the effort, a Gillette woman named Melissa Hayes, doesn't even work for Family Services.

The two were taking part in a random review of the department's Child Protective Services cases. Case reviews themselves aren't out of the ordinary; child protection agencies in other states perform them internally. What makes Wyoming's program unique are the citizen reviewers who assist in the process.

Wyoming is the only state in the country that uses laypeople to help review Department of Family Services cases. Because they don't work for Family Services, the citizen reviewers add transparency and an outsider's perspective to the process, according to those who run the annual review.

"This process holds a mirror up to the system so the system can see how it's doing," said Kelly Hamilton, executive director of Wyoming Citizen Review Panel, a nonprofit group that coordinates reviews of the state's child protection system.

Since the program began three years ago, more than 260 cases have been reviewed.

The program wasn't prompted by a problem with the old system. Rather, former Family Services Director Rodger McDaniel suggested using citizen reviewers as a way to gain input form the community, and give the public a better understanding of the system.

Wyoming's review system is gaining attention elsewhere. Texas wants to adopt a similar program, Hamilton said. And later this month, he will make a presentation on the program to the Child Welfare League of America in Washington D.C.

Individual cases aren't the focus of the program - many cases are already closed - nor is the Department of Family Services. Instead, the goal is a review of the state's entire child protection system.

"It's not about pointing fingers, but improving the system," said Glennda Lacey, the agency's social services quality assurance manager.

The reviews have led to changes. For example, Family Services has improved how it documents its cases since the program's inception, she said. The review process also found that the state's Child Protective Services and Juvenile Services needed to better communicate with one another.

This week in Gillette, a group of about 20 Family Services employees and community members met to review cases. The citizen reviewers received a morning of training - where Hamilton told them to assess the system "through the eyes of a child" - and were then paired with a family services worker to examine cases.

To protect the privacy of those involved in the cases, all the reviewers signed confidentiality agreements.

The teams studied thick files of paperwork, then interviewed - either by phone or in person - children, parents, therapists and caseworkers. They asked questions on all aspects of the case: how quickly did a caseworker respond to an incident, were parents involved in decision making, was the mental health of the child looked after?

The reviewers used the information to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each case. They filled out a 66-page booklet that rates each case by specific criteria, such as whether caseworkers made face-to-face contact with children within the time frames laid out by the state.

There are 70 to 80 reviewers in the state. Some volunteer for the job. Others are recruited. Practically anyone can participate, provided they don't have a relationship to the case.

Some of the citizen reviewers came from fields related to Family Services. Others, like Cheyenne's Chelsey McManus, just wanted to do good.

During a chance meeting with Hamilton, McManus told him of her desire to one day start a ranch for foster children. He suggested she might enjoy serving on a review panel.

After her first day, she found the process interesting, but was surprised by how in-depth the reviews were.

"My first though was, 'Where do I start?'" she said. "Once we got going, it was a little less intimidating."

Despite the hard work, McManus expects to participate in the program again.

"Hopefully it adds a fresh perspective from an average citizen," she said.

Meanwhile, Hudson, and Hayes, who helps young adults transition out of foster care, were going over the case of Danielle Poole, the 26-year-old woman who lost custody of her daughter and last year served five months in jail.

They began by reading through her file. Hudson, the DFS manager, carefully wrote down each incident on a white notepad to create a chronology of her case.

"I've got to figure out what the story is," he said.

Pausing for a moment, Hudson said that, as a Family Services manager, he finds feedback from the review useful.

"I don't look at this as a pass-fail," he said. "I look at the reviews as a way to improve."

As the afternoon went by, Hudson and Hayes interviewed a therapist, the little girl's father and finally Poole herself.

Poole is now at a drug treatment center in Pine Bluffs and recently regained custody of her five-year-old daughter. Her Family Services caseworker kept her informed and involved in decisions about her daughter during the experience, she told reviewers.

"It makes me feel like I'm still the mom … and I'm still involved, whether she is in the state's custody or not," Poole said.

Poole, who plans to move to Cheyenne following treatment, didn't mind that DFS workers and a woman she had never met before were going through her file.

"It is good to know things are being double-checked because people make mistakes," she said. "I feel it is a good thing."

Reach Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or josh.wolfson@casperstartribune.net.