DCF Hiring Social Workers To Reduce Caseloads

DCF Hiring Social Workers To Reduce Caseloads
October 20, 2003
By STEPHEN SINGER, Associated Press

The Department of Children and Families said it is hiring dozens of
social workers to reduce high caseloads that critics say hamper
the agency's efforts to protect children.

The agency said it has hired 132 social workers since late July, and
will hire 76 more in the coming weeks. The new employees will
bring the total number of social workers to 1,145.

The agency is seeking to reduce caseloads to no more than 20 per
worker, spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said.

"Many are at or under, but there are a significant number who are
over," he said. "The hiring will help that."

The troubled agency this month was placed under a joint federal and
state task force in an effort to get out from under a long-standing
federal court decree.

A court monitor has watched over DCF operations since 1992, following
a class-action lawsuit alleging the state violated federal laws
by not adequately protecting children.

Last year, a federal judge approved an 18-month plan that required
each agency social worker to handle no more than 20 cases of
children placed outside their homes.

A court monitor found in July that DCF was violating a federal court
order for failing to provide enough workers to properly serve
children and burdening social workers with heavy caseloads.

An official of a national child's advocacy group in New York offered
limited support for the hiring initiative.

"It's great, but it's just a start," said Ira Lustbader of Children's
Rights. "If the department is finally speeding up the hiring process
to
cure the last two years of staffing deficiencies, it's certainly a
good start."

Stephen Karp, executive director of the Connecticut chapter of the
National Association of Social Workers in Rocky Hill, said social
worker hirings are unusual as public agencies cut spending in a weak
economy.

DCF hiring is "the exception right now," he said.

Pay for social workers with two years of experience or with a master's
of social work degree start at $50,189. For trainees with a
bachelor's degree in a social service or human service field and with
no experience, salaries start at $38,456.

The agency also is hiring nurses, child care workers, psychiatrists
and psychologists, officials said.

Those hired must participate in an agency training program and will
take on cases within four months of their hiring, Kleeblatt said.

Kleeblatt said DCF has spent $100,000 for advertising its recruiting
efforts and has scheduled a job fair Tuesday in New Britain.
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