Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/about_us/sacbeemail.html Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Forum: http://www.sacbee.com/voices/voices_forum.html CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES STILL OVERWHELMED BY CASES Despite millions of new dollars and the addition of 114 social worker positions, Sacramento County's Child Protective Services remains overwhelmed by a heightened volume of cases, delaying children's moves into permanent homes and increasing the chance they will be irrepa rably harmed in the process. The number of children living outside their homes in the system has nearly doubled -- to more than 6,000 -- since a policy change 18 months ago toward zero tolerance of drug use by parents. But many of the new CPS positions created to handle the influx have gone unfilled. Officials said they are desperate to hire social workers, but stymied by an especially flush statewide job market. Sacramento County's high caseload, almost twice the state standard for each employee, makes it less desirable than other agencies. "They just can't do the quality or the amount of work necessary to ensure the best outcome," said Jim Hunt, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes CPS. "Many times, social workers are just going through the legally required process to get to the next step" and move the files off their desks. Meanwhile, the oversight of vulnerable children continues to bog down, and attorneys for parents and children are raising serious questions about social worker qualifications. Many new hires have come straight from college and were trained on the job. Some attorneys say these workers are ill-qualified to decide whether a parent is capable of caring for children. "What they're neglecting to realize is that it's all about these kids," said a mother of three, whose children are in foster care because officials say they saw their father beat their mom and because he used drugs. "The longer they keep the kids from me, the more they're hurting them." But the county has had little choice. In May 1997, after Adrian Conway and Rebecca Meza were killed by drug-addicted parents under CPS monitoring, the agency began mandating that children living with drug abusers be removed. That policy shift doubled the number of new children entering the system from roughly 200 a month to about 400. The volume most affects family reunification caseworkers, who have the delicate job of deciding whether parents can be rehabilitated and reunited with their children or whether those ties should be severed. Some oversee more than 50 cases, nearly twice the state recommendation of 27, forcing them to run from deadline to deadline, skimp on quality care and keep children in the system longer, according to an advocate for children, attorneys for their parents and social workers themselves. The pressure is so great that employee turnover has been at least 50 percent in the last 18 months, according to Geri Wilson, the family reunification manager. Her unit houses 100 of CPS' 419 social worker positions. "You don't know how frustrating it is to work in this environment," Wilson said. "People become social workers because they want to do a good job. They want to be able to make a difference, and there isn't the opportunity to do that here right now." For nearly two years, social workers have struggled to keep afloat amid wave after wave of new children. Now, the monthly CPS intake has leveled off at about 300, according to Wilson. But a bulk of the influx remains lodged in family reunification, where parents typically are given 18 months to prove they are fit or lose their children permanently. "At 30 cases, we could take care of individual issues," said social worker Barbara Patten, a 16-month veteran of the family reunification unit. Of 21 people who were hired with Patten, only eight remain. Currently, she has 42 cases; at one time, she had 53. "At 42, we put out fires. At 53, you shuffle paper," she said. "You must be very organized and very flexible. A lot of people can't keep it together." Ideally, a caseworker evaluates each child's housing options -- all the relatives and foster homes available -- and chooses one that best supports the child. Instead, many children are placed in the first available home, and some end up in foster care because relatives aren't immediately available. Some have been placed with foster parents who don't speak their language. More and more cases force siblings to live apart, which social workers say can further traumatize displaced children. In a perfect world, social workers could visit children twice or more a month, see parents at home to discuss progress in drug treatment and therapy, and be available to approve special visits for birthdays or holidays. They would be familiar enough with parents to realize they were faltering and to intervene. Patten said many noncompliant parents likely could eventually regain their children if they had more one-on-one contact with social workers. But that is not possible. Harried workers say they are hard-pressed to visit their clients more than an hour each month. They don't have time to visit children outside foster homes, draw them into personal conversation or get beyond a basic list of questions. They barely have time to review files to see if parents are attending drug testing, parenting classes and other mandated programs before writing recommendations to judges about reunification. It used to be rare that cases were extended in court because services had not yet been provided to parents within the first six months. No longer, according to attorney Mike Hansell, who oversees Sacramento Child Advocates, a nonprofit agency that represents children who are placed into protective custody. He estimated half the cases in court are somehow stalled. "Ultimately it delays getting the families back together," he said. "Or, if they can't get back together, it delays the adoption process." The effect on children, he said, is continued disruption as they are bounced from temporary home to temporary home. "It's very destructive," Hansell said. "They can't attach to a caretaker. And it sets up a lot of false expectations for the children who think it's going to be a fairly short time until their parents can get back together with them. There's a lot of disappointment for them." Attorney Scott Castillo, who represents parents, said clients often complain that social workers do not return phone calls. When Castillo has followed up, he's found their voice mail systems are full. When social workers are ill or on vacation, he said, nobody checks their calls or monitors their cases. But Castillo's biggest concern, and that of his colleagues, is that the constant churn of family reunification workers virtually ensures some clients will face setbacks even if they go to therapy and parenting classes. The mother who lost her children after allegations that they witnessed spousal abuse is frantic that she will not satisfy her new social worker. Her efforts have included leaving her husband. The mother said the social worker was reluctant to approve a special Christmas visit because it involved extra work. "Maybe she's just overwhelmed by this whole thing," said the mother, who said her youngest daughter asked recently if she was going to be adopted by a new mommy and daddy. Lawyer Stephen Nelson, who also represents parents, cites a case in which a mother was a longtime methamphetamine user. Her children were taken away and her husband arrested. In the 11 months it took his case to come to trial, the woman quit using drugs and began working toward getting her children back. But her case was transferred to four different social workers in that time. In each instance, she had to build a rapport and prove she was complying. "A lot of the new ones have no familiarity with the court system," said Nelson. He expressed frustration with social workers who are afraid to follow their own judgment. While judges give caseworkers discretion to increase the number or length of parental visits -- expecting that parents who are following court orders will be rewarded -- many social workers refuse to modify the schedule until a judge OKs it, typically at a hearing scheduled after six months. Hunt, Sacramento County's Department of Health and Human Services director, said he is acutely aware of the problems. But despite the additional $14 million and 114 new social worker positions, he still has 72 vacancies, 17 percent of the entire CPS staff. Twenty-nine social workers are in the hiring process. Hunt said he has been unable to attract master's degree graduates because most of California's other counties also have huge needs for social workers, as do mental health agencies and private social service providers or drug rehabilitation programs. Many qualified candidates, and many of Sacramento's new hires who have fled, are choosing agencies with smaller caseloads even if they pay far less than the county's entry-level $37,000 annually. "There's just not enough (candidates) to go around," said Hunt. At this point, he hopes county supervisors will let him fill the vacancies with bachelor's degree holders and then require them to attend an accelerated master's program. "If we had those positions filled, it would be manageable," Hunt said. "But now, the social workers are trying to do what's expeditious instead of doing what's in the best interest of the child. "We find things (done poorly) every time we dig: 'Oh geez, that's what's happening?' People say, 'There are three emergencies on my desk and I have to get through it.' So we push them through as fast as we can. "It's horrible." - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry