Child protection caseworkers who try to prevent abuse and neglect were the least surprised last week when the state auditor announced that Colorado needs 574 more of them.
It was vindication.
Caseworker reaction to the study was basically, “No, duh!” said Renee Rivera, executive director of the Colorado chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
“Finally, a hard, cold, scientific study that’s backing up what those in the field have known for a long time,” she said. “It was a sigh of relief.”
Relief, immediately followed by speculation about whether Colorado policymakers will use the unprecedented caseload study to make dramatic change in the state’s child welfare system.
“That’s the $64,000 question, and it’s going to cost a lot more than $64,000,” Rivera said.
Salaries alone for 574 new caseworkers could total about $23 million a year.
Several legislators vowed last week to push for change but said cost is a barrier. A caseload study requested by lawmakers after a Denver Post investigation into the child welfare system found caseworkers are overburdened and could use 574 more caseworkers, a 49 percent increase. The study also recommended hiring 122 additional supervisors.
Caseworkers should be spending 99 percent more time ensuring children removed from abusive homes receive proper care, the study said.
Child protection workers have complained for years that their workloads make it impossible to give every case of abuse and neglect the attention it requires.
“Talk to any caseworker and they will tell you they are drowning,” said Stephanie Brinks, who has been a caseworker in El Paso and Denver counties. “It’s hard to keep kids safe when you can barely get out of the water, and it’s hard to keep quality caseworkers when they are so stressed.”
Brinks, who mostly worked with teens with substance-abuse problems and juvenile probation, took calls in the middle of the night. Working overtime required preapproval from supervisors, which was “kind of ridiculous because when an emergency comes up on a Friday afternoon, you are not going to go, ‘Wait, wait, child who is in danger, let me go see if I can work overtime.’ “
More time
Brinks on average worked with 18 or so teens at a time. She often wished she had more time to spend meeting with youths and their parents, instead of worrying about weekly paperwork.
“I felt like I did a very thorough job. I really cared about these kids, but I know for a fact kids would be so much safer if our caseloads were lower,” she said.
Another caseworker, who worked in Jefferson County, said she received nine to 15 new cases per month — beyond the cases that carried over from previous months. Each case had an assigned time frame within which to make direct contact with the child or children involved: within one day, three days or five days.
If she had had more time, Priscilla Vitello said, she would have spent it making sure every family received the “undivided attention during their crisis that they deserve.” Besides talking to families and interviewing children, caseworkers must fit in court appearances, school visits, meetings with law enforcement and searches for relatives who could care for children in crisis.
“I do feel that families and kids suffer,” Vitello said. “You have to be an expert in multitasking. What has kept me sane through all of this is that I have a very empathetic nature. I always think, ‘What if this was me? What if someone knocked on my door? How would I want to be treated?’ ”
Caseworkers also feel rushed to finish paperwork within mandated time frames and sometimes don’t have time to include extensive details, she said.
Systemic change
“It’s often way too much for anyone to handle,” Vitello said. “I’ve never met a caseworker who has not taken work home with them. It is time to examine systemic change in Colorado, remembering that we all have the same goal: keeping our children safe.”
Rep. Jonathan Singer, a Longmont Democrat and a former child-protection caseworker, said he is planning to send a letter to the legislature’s budget committee seeking money to hire more caseworkers. Child protection workers want Colorado lawmakers to use the caseload study as a guide to create a five-year or 10-year plan to boost the number of workers in this state.
“The study is a wake-up call,” Rivera said. “It’s going to be hard for the state and the legislature to ignore it or brush it under the rug.”
Jennifer Brown: 303-954-1593, jenbrown@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jbrowndpost