Not for Women Only -- Securing a Safety Net for At-Risk Kids
Social workers struggle with heavy caseloads and crime as they try to rescue kids from abuse and neglect.
The deaths of two children and serious beating of another in Hawaii’s child welfare system has Jeanette Matsumoto worried that other children in the system may be in grave danger.
Matsumoto, president of the Hawaii Government Employees Association/AFSCME Local 152, recounted the three tragedies — all involving toddlers — that occurred in late 1997. Two of the three victims were girls who died from injuries inflicted by their mothers, and the third is a 6-year-old boy who remains in a coma after his mother beat him severely and fractured his skull.
“One child dying is one child too many,” says Matsumoto, a veteran of more than 30 years of fighting for at-risk kids. “And when a death occurs, the horrible news spreads like wildfire among the 500 caseworkers in our local.”
OWNING UP. Although social workers take much of the heat whenever there is a tragedy, heavy caseloads are in part to blame, Matsumoto says. Despite 11 years of lobbying by Local 152, state lawmakers have failed to pass legislation to reduce excessive caseloads, she adds.
Matsumoto says the average caseload for in-home protective services workers in her unit is about 30 per month, twice the caseload of 15-17 recommended by the Child Welfare League of America. “We’ve never been in compliance with any standard number of caseloads in either our in-home services or investigations unit. For too long, the added responsibility has hindered us from safeguarding each and every at-risk child in the system,” she stresses.
DANGER LURKS. “We’ve also told officials time and time again that if caseloads continue to rise and resources keep dwindling, the situation can only get worse,” she says. Since 1991, Matsumoto has been training professionals in the child protective services program of the state’s Department of Human Services. Prior to that she was a supervisor and front-line worker in the program.
“Resolving the caseload issue was one of the reasons I became more involved in the union in the first place,” says Matsumoto. “The other reason was to tighten the safety net so that at-risk children — who come to us already abused and neglected — could have a chance for a decent life.”
Workers like Matsumoto are not alone. A new AFSCME survey — the first that reports on conditions in the child welfare system from the perspective of caseworkers — finds that shortcomings in the system have a tremendous impact on workers’ ability to perform their jobs.
The report, titled “Double Jeopardy: Caseworkers at Risk Helping At-Risk Kids,” reveals startling statistics on the rise of caseloads and on-the-job violence — issues critical to child welfare workers.
Average caseloads in well over half of the agencies surveyed exceeded recommended guidelines. Workers in a few agencies had as many as 50 cases assigned to them.
NO SAFE HAVEN. Over 70 percent of the affiliates said their front-line workers have been victims of violence or threats of violence on the job.
More than half of the affiliates reported that their members had received threats of serious physical harm and over 30 percent reported physical assaults, some requiring hospitalization. Other incidents included vandalism, stalking, attempted rape and kidnapping.
Twenty-nine AFSCME affiliates representing about 13,380 child welfare workers in 10 states were surveyed for the report. Nationwide, AFSCME represents over 100,000 social service workers.
GOOD NEWS. Vikki Warren, president of AFSCME Delaware Local 3365 (Council 81), says the union was instrumental in passing a child welfare and child care caseload reduction law.
Approved last June, the law forces Delaware to hire more staff and directs the state Division of Family Services and the state Budget Office to project the number of child abuse and neglect cases each year. It also commits sufficient funding to ensure staffing levels close to those recommended by the CWLA.
Warren hopes the new AFSCME report will focus attention on the issue of excessive caseloads.
“While we’re making progress in reducing the number of active cases, there is still much to be done on behalf of other AFSCME caseworkers in counties throughout the state who continue to be engulfed with high caseloads,” she cautions.
By Venida RaMar Marshall
- Read "Double Jeopardy: Caseworkers at Risk Helping At-Risk Kids".
