CPS Monroe County Disarray Part II

YOU'RE TERRIFIED

Detective. Confidante. Enforcer.

As a child protective services investigator and case manager — both jobs commonly called "caseworker" — with Monroe County for more than 5 years, Jessica Lucas filled those roles and more.

"I'm that caseworker, the kind who really digs," said Lucas, who left her job at CPS last August when the pressures of paperwork, mounting caseloads and fear of what she might miss became too much to bear.

Lucas said she often found herself poised at her home computer in the wee morning hours, building a case by scouring sex sites looking for heroin-addicted mothers she believed were prostitutes. "Sometimes I felt like that was the only way I could get a kid out of a bad house." Following up on allegations of abuse or neglect made to the state-run hotline or other referrals can entail home visits, observation, parent interviews, talking to family members, talking to children, to doctors, to teachers, daycare providers and anyone else who might have pertinent information about the allegations.

If there are multiple children in a home, a caseworker needs to talk to them all. If there are multiple parents of those multiple children, the caseworker needs to track them all down.

Then, the caseworker needs to decide what should be done. In most cases, the honest answer is nothing.

Typically, only about 25 percent of allegations pan out as "indicated," meaning the caseworker found enough evidence of abuse or neglect to push the case further, setting up families with services or other assistance. If the problems are serious enough, an investigation could lead to immediately removing the child from the home.

"The things I've seen are disgusting," said Lucas. "The condition of the homes, people living in there, domestic violence, drug use."

And worse.

Too many times, she said, she wanted to simply get children out of their troubled homes, but was stymiedby a court system that aims to keep families intact and administrators who didn't support all of her recommendations for removal.

"I felt like I wasn't being supported, my decisions weren't being respected," she said.

BY THE NUMBERS

Monroe County has about 205 caseworkers investigating those reports.

That’s 18 more than last year at this time.

There are still 30 vacancies.

STAY TUNED FOR PART III

NOT DOCUMENTED, NOT DONE

In human services there's a mantra that goes: If it isn't documented, it isn't done.

Corinda Crossdale, who has led Monroe County's Department of Human Services since early 2016, acknowledged there have been longstanding issues within CPS. But she disputed the state's findings, saying that the real sticking point hasn't been that the safety assessments and other cited work wasn't getting done; but rather that it hasn't been consistently documented. Some national estimates show for every hour of contact a CPS worker has with a child or his/her family, nearly three hours of paperwork must be done. Others show that there can be as many as 400 pages of documentation required to complete a case.

And when staff is short, that paperwork falls through the cracks.

That's happening here, too,as Crossdale said caseworkers have been opting to keep their eyes on the children, working out in the field rather than logging into the antiquated, cumbersome state computer system to document every interview, every contact. Crossdale said each time a caseworker needs to log notes, they must toggle through six different screens for each different note they enter.

More than 200 hand-held tablet computers were given to local caseworkers this year, The hope is that documentation and efficiency will improve when staff can finish up paperwork in the field, or during downtime waiting to testify in family court. Crossdale said putting off the paperwork isn't excusable, but is sometimes understandable when the choice can be between making one more family contact or filling out a form.

The struggle of keeping forms updated while juggling heavy caseloads is an issue echoed by Lucas.

"The amount of paperwork is unbelievable," she said. "And if you're dealing with safety issues in the home, and doing assessments, the safety of these kids is way more important than doing paperwork.

"There's just not time to get the job done."

BY THE NUMBERS

Experts say caseworkers should have no more than 15 cases on their desks at any time. More than a third of Monroe County’s workers have more.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2018/05/04/cps-monroe-county-disarray-brook-stagles-child-protective-services-child-abuse/525508002/

STAY TUNE FOR PART III