Two important Georgia Foster Care Reports have been published over the last 8 months. Each shows some progress for the more than 14,000 foster care children in this state, but both show that the Division of Family and Children Services Commissioner needs some critical resources to avoid another death crisis like the ones from 2013 and 2014. In 2013, 180 children died and in 2014, 169 children died in Georgia who had reported histories with DFCS at some point within a five year period prior to those years.
To their credit, Governor Nathan Deal and the state Legislature addressed certain critical recommendations from a knowledgeable commission. However, the problem is not solved, and caseloads could be rising again for Child Protective Service Workers.
One of the largest problems is the ability to retain coveted CPS workers. These critical workers are responsible for the intake, screening, assessment and investigation of child abuse and neglect reports in the state and for providing safe alternative placements for vulnerable children upon receipt of reports of abuse and neglect.
The Georgia Annual Progress and Services Report of June 2018 shows that Georgia has a 27% turnover rate for front-line associate case CPS managers and a 30% turnover rate for CPS social services specialists. The minimum pay for these case workers are $24,771 and $29,973 respectively while average pay for these case workers are higher at around $35,387 and $42,819 respectively. Associate case managers must have a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited college with a preference for a behavioral science degree with one year of experience or a master’s degree in social work. The social services specialist must have a master’s degree in social work plus one year of experience or one year of law enforcement work.
Turnover results in higher caseloads and thus less ability to supervise dangerous family settings for imperiled children. Such concerns are confirmed in the Monitoring Report filed in January 2019 for the US District Court in the Kenny A Lawsuit against the state in relation to Fulton and DeKalb Counties’ DFCS services. As of June 30, 2108, 56% of Fulton Case Managers’ caseloads were higher than the expectations set by the Court in its order. In DeKalb County, 32% of DeKalb Case Managers’ caseloads exceeded agreed upon caseload limits as of June 30, 2018. From Jan. 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018, more caseworkers left both of these county departments than were hired, resulting in lower permanency placements for children in need and increasing caseloads for the remaining CPS workers.
These CPS workers are to be applauded for their perseverance and courage. We ask them to go into dangerous homes without a gun or a badge and to protect children in homes where there may be drug abuse, violence, family trauma and a lack of financial, medical and mental health resources among other problems. The turnover rate within CPS builds on the stress of these critical men and women and endangers children’s lives. Former DFCS Director Bobby Cagle explained in 2016 that high caseloads and a 36% annual turnover rate among its caseworkers was a “recipe for disaster.”
While the state has dedicated some important resources to the department, it is frankly not enough and we cannot return to high caseloads and large turnover rates. We have to ensure stability in this critical work force with sufficient compensation, mentoring support, and more positions to safeguard against burgeoning caseloads. We have to provide sufficient support to foster care families in terms of stipends and to provide critical counseling and wrap around services for traumatized children moved often in foster care, without which foster care parents are left with no support for to deal with understandable but difficult behavioral problems from children who have suffered abuse and great separation.
We are blessed to have a commissioner with longstanding experience in the child welfare arena, who is in place after the loss of the prior commissioner after less than 12 months in the position. However, we have to give this commissioner the resources he needs to combat this critical problem. Child abuse, neglect, severe injuries and child deaths will go up when CPS worker caseloads go up and less workers are available to check on vulnerable children. The Governor and the Legislature must never forget past crises and must continue to look ahead. We can’t wait for the next shoes to drop, because those shoes are filled by 14,000 children who we owe a duty to protect.
Greg Hecht, an adoptive father and former State Senator, is on the National Advisory Council of Children’s Rights and is Chair of its Southern Steering Committee.
