The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette
Family case managers are arguably the most integral to the Indiana Department of Child Services’ mission to protect children’s safety. They’re the front line against child abuse and neglect.
Staffing levels of case managers presently meet 99% of the state’s need, according to the annual staffing and caseload report recently submitted by the department to the Indiana State Budget Committee.
DCS highlighted areas of improvement over the past year, including fewer families in need of formal intervention, and fewer children in residential care or who experienced repeated maltreatment. But caseworker turnover remains a problem area.
Last year’s successes might have been unrealized if not for a 2018 assessment of DCS, spurred by the resignation of its director in December 2017. In her resignation letter to Gov. Eric Holcomb, Mary Beth Bonaventura warned the governor his administration’s policies resulted in children “being systematically placed at risk.”
Within weeks of Bonaventura’s departure, Holcomb appointed the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group to assess the performance of the department. In June 2018, the panel recommended developing strategies to better train and retain family case managers and other staff, reduce the supervisor-to-caseworker ratio and focus on a “family-centered practice model,” along with 17 other goals.
By 2019, DCS appeared to have turned a corner. The number of cases plummeted by more than 3,500. Caseworker loads decreased. Children in foster care fell 12%, and the staff turnover rate dropped from 29.8% the year prior to 21.2%.
The staffing and caseload report recently shared with the State Budget Committee indicates caseworker turnover is again on the rise. DCS lost 739 of its more than 2,100 case managers in fiscal year 2023. Though the agency hired another 890 caseworkers, turnover last fiscal year was more than a third of its statewide staff.
In Region 4, which includes Allen, DeKalb, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben and Whitley counties, 139 caseworkers are meeting 99% of the area’s minimum needs. But DCS “strives to hire 120% of its six-month average need of family case managers during October, November and December of each year,” the staffing and caseload report said. Only LaGrange County had 120% of its needed caseworkers.
Compensation adjustments that took effect in October 2022 helped with recruitment of caseworkers, said Brian Heinemann, DCS deputy director of communications. Starting salaries for case managers rose from $40,092 to $47,320.
“The number of case managers has increased more than 10% across the agency (statewide) since 2022 as a result, which has helped improve staffing and caseload ratios,” Heinemann told The Journal Gazette Wednesday.
An effort potentially decreasing the number of children in the system is an increase in “kinship care” — or family members raising children when biological parents are unable to do so. In the new state budget, DCS advocated for and received funding to provide $300 per month per child for such family caregivers.
“Region 4 has made significant efforts to increase the use of kinship care in northeast Indiana,” Heinemann said. “As of October, 397 children — or 55.8% — were placed in kinship care in the region.”
Rachel Tobin-Smith, who has more than 30 years of experience in the child welfare system, said the nearly $7,000 raise in salaries for case managers has helped with the DCS mission. The next step in the evolution of the Department of Child Services should be reducing the turnover rate, she said. The agency must increase the average length of employment of its caseworkers and develop a strategy through interviews with present and former employees to extend their stays.
High turnover of case managers can result in longer foster care stays for children, delays in assessments of allegations of abuse and neglect, disruptions in child placements and increased rates of repeat abuse, the 2023 staffing and caseload report said. Supporting caseworkers is the best way to ensure the safety of children in state care.
Send comments to [email protected].
