Commissioner: More staff needed for county’s child protective services
NORWICH – The number of ongoing child protective services cases are exceeding the time limits mandated by New York State and could put Chenango County into a liable situation, according to Department of Social Services Commissioner Bette Osborne.
As a result, Osborne appeared before her department’s standing committee on Tuesday to request additional staff. She said 50 percent of the department’s open cases involving children have reporting deadlines that are overdue.
“Thank God nothing has happened; no child has died or something like that in Chenango County. But, we can’t afford for that to happen,” she said.
Turnover rates in DSS’s Child Protective Services unit are a “chronic” problem, one shared by 14 other counties in the state, Osborne said. Employees typically use county social services departments as a stepping stone for future jobs in the non-for-profit sector or in bigger cities where salaries and benefits are greater.
The unit’s 13-member staff is generally only 90 percent filled with a new employee in training or an opening, constantly. The training period per new employee is four months.
Five employees have left DSS since last July, including two who were promoted from within.
Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jeffrey B. Blanchard asked Osborne whether she could move a caseworker from another department into the Child Protective Services unit. Osborne said she had already been “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” She said the department paid out more than $1,000 in overtime last week.
“People are burning out,” she said. “I am concerned about this. People are putting in 40 and 50 hours a week at this kind of high intensity job.”
Committee member Richard Schlag, D-German, said, “Imagine what these people have to do. I respect them. Imagine them going into people’s homes and having to tell parents that they are not taking care of their child properly,” he said.
The caseworker position Osborne proposed to committee would pay an annual salary of $30,125 plus $15,153 in benefits. Supervisor Robert Briggs, R-Afton, suggested that the fringe payout rate was higher than in any other county department.
Reports of abuse or neglect of children must be investigated within a 60-day limit during which time safety and risk assessements must be completed continuously therafter, and mandated preventative intervention put in place, as necessary. Caseworkers are responsible for removal of children from their homes when factors could cause safety concerns or even death.
Osborne said the number and severity of child protective services cases investigated is on the rise. In the first half of 2007, there were 525 child protective services reports. The number has increased to 584 so far this year.
As a result, Osborne appeared before her department’s standing committee on Tuesday to request additional staff. She said 50 percent of the department’s open cases involving children have reporting deadlines that are overdue.
“Thank God nothing has happened; no child has died or something like that in Chenango County. But, we can’t afford for that to happen,” she said.
Turnover rates in DSS’s Child Protective Services unit are a “chronic” problem, one shared by 14 other counties in the state, Osborne said. Employees typically use county social services departments as a stepping stone for future jobs in the non-for-profit sector or in bigger cities where salaries and benefits are greater.
The unit’s 13-member staff is generally only 90 percent filled with a new employee in training or an opening, constantly. The training period per new employee is four months.
Five employees have left DSS since last July, including two who were promoted from within.
Health and Human Services Committee Chairman Jeffrey B. Blanchard asked Osborne whether she could move a caseworker from another department into the Child Protective Services unit. Osborne said she had already been “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” She said the department paid out more than $1,000 in overtime last week.
“People are burning out,” she said. “I am concerned about this. People are putting in 40 and 50 hours a week at this kind of high intensity job.”
Committee member Richard Schlag, D-German, said, “Imagine what these people have to do. I respect them. Imagine them going into people’s homes and having to tell parents that they are not taking care of their child properly,” he said.
The caseworker position Osborne proposed to committee would pay an annual salary of $30,125 plus $15,153 in benefits. Supervisor Robert Briggs, R-Afton, suggested that the fringe payout rate was higher than in any other county department.
Reports of abuse or neglect of children must be investigated within a 60-day limit during which time safety and risk assessements must be completed continuously therafter, and mandated preventative intervention put in place, as necessary. Caseworkers are responsible for removal of children from their homes when factors could cause safety concerns or even death.
Osborne said the number and severity of child protective services cases investigated is on the rise. In the first half of 2007, there were 525 child protective services reports. The number has increased to 584 so far this year.
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