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November
20, 2002
Dear
Governor-elect:
As
a newly elected Governor, you will soon be making decisions
about allocating scarce resources. Empowering your state’s
child welfare system to protect vulnerable children and
combat child abuse and neglect should be a top priority. The Child Welfare League of America
and the National Association of Social Workers urge you
to pay close attention to the struggles your state’s child
welfare system faces in its efforts to care for abused and
neglected children and their families, and provide the resources
necessary to ensure that the needs of your state’s most
vulnerable children are met.
Public
child welfare agencies make life and death decisions for
children and families with complex needs while striving
to meet extensive legal mandates. Unfortunately, there are
limited resources allocated for achieving mandates and strict
federal penalties and law suits awaiting agencies that do
not.
In
recent years, there have been a number of high profile reports
of child fatalities and other tragedies for children and
families involved with the child welfare system. Often,
these high profile tragedies resulted in litigation and
increased public scrutiny of the system. The persistence
of preventable child fatalities, reports that children have
been lost while in custody of the state, and continuing
difficulties finding permanent living arrangements for children
and youth within reasonable timeframes, are all indicators
that this nation has not yet made an adequate investment
in protecting children and youth. Vulnerable children and
families should not suffer the consequences of limited resources
devoted to their futures.
Society
has high expectations for frontline human service workers,
yet severe labor shortages make it difficult for child welfare
agencies to hire and maintain an adequate workforce. Child
welfare positions are particularly demanding and stressful,
often involving unreasonable workloads and low pay in comparison
to jobs in other sectors that require comparable amounts
of education and responsibility. Consequently, it is difficult
to attract the most qualified employees with professional
training and experience, and turnover and vacancy rates
among child welfare agencies are often alarmingly high.
State
public agencies across the country report:
- An
average vacancy rate of 12.9% for state agency child welfare
workers, with one state reporting a maximum vacancy rate
of 91.3%. The average turnover rate is 11.5% for child
welfare workers in state agencies, with one state reporting
turnover as high as 28.6%.
- An
average vacancy rate of 8.5% for Child Protective Services
Investigators, with one state reporting a maximum vacancy
rate of 45.5%. The average turnover rate is 15.6% for
Child Protective Service Investigators, with one state
reporting a turnover as high as 54.5%.
- An
average vacancy rate of 4.1% for supervisory positions,
with one state reporting a maximum vacancy rate of 32.6%.
The average turnover rate is 8.4% for supervisory positions,
with one state reporting turnover as high as 30.8%.
Many
public child welfare agencies have responded by entering into
contracts that transfer responsibility for providing some,
or all, services to private nonprofit child welfare agencies.
These private agencies, however, are facing similar workforce
issues and often are unable to match the salaries and benefits
offered by public agencies. Consequently, private agencies
report even higher vacancy and turnover rates than public
agencies.
Where
does this leave the children state and county child welfare
agencies are charged with protecting? Excessive caseloads
that average twice the number of cases recommended by recognized
national standards of practice and insufficient supervision
and training, make it difficult to adequately investigate
allegations of child abuse and neglect, make placement decisions
insuring permanency and safety in children’s lives, and provide
the treatment and monitoring required to protect these children.
As a result, child welfare systems face the crisis of child
deaths and children “lost” within the system with more frequency
and become preoccupied with addressing these crises rather
than striving to improve a struggling system.
As
Governor, you have the power to improve this situation. Take
the steps needed to insure that children in your state’s child
welfare system are cared for as you would provide for your
own children. Commit to hire an adequate number of social
workers and other child welfare professionals to ensure that
the children and families involved in the child welfare system
receive the attention and services they deserve. Commit to
reasonable caseloads and workloads, with adequate compensation.
Compensate workers for formal education and reward them for
valuable experience or participation in continuing education
or certification programs designed to improve job performance.
Make a long term, state-wide commitment to meet national standards
of service.
We
encourage you to make child welfare one of the first areas
of focus of your new administration. Both CWLA and NASW stand
ready to support you as you take on this challenge.
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Shay
Bilchik
President/CEO
Child Welfare League of America
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Elizabeth
J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers |
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