Big caseloads can burden new child welfare workers

Observers say DCF employees with little experience can become buried in an avalanche of potentially life-or-death cases.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 17, 2002

A year ago this month, Erica Jones was a 27-year-old woman with a bachelor's degree in political science. She had just enrolled in a two-month training program on how to become a state child welfare counselor.

By the time she was fired by the state Department of Children and Families last week, Jones was handling 50 child abuse investigations, even though she had been on the job less than a year and lacked full certification as an investigator.

Jones, eight months pregnant, carried a caseload two to three times higher than recommended by the Child Welfare League of America, said league official Pamela Day.

None of this would excuse Jones for writing false case notes, as she is now criminally charged in the case of 2-year-old Alfredo Montes, whose body was found last week along Interstate 75 in Hillsborough County.

But caseworkers and outside observers say her situation provides clear and troubling evidence of how DCF employees with little experience can become buried in an avalanche of potentially life-or-death cases.

"She was under a lot of pressure. When people are under a lot of pressure, they sometimes do bizarre things, something they would not normally do," said her attorney, Anthony LaSpada of Tampa, who said he was not implying she did anything wrong.

Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, said the system is asking "nearly the impossible of many dedicated, energetic and enthusiastic recruits."

"I fear that these individuals quickly lose their idealism and too many get chewed up and in a way become victims of their caseloads," he said.

DCF has come under fire once again in recent days. Agency officials acknowledge they failed to sufficiently investigate abuse claims against Alfredo's mother in Polk County. The mother left Alfredo with babysitters, one of whom now is accused of beating the child to death.

Jones was fired and arrested after investigators said she falsely claimed to have visited Alfredo on the day he was killed.

Statistics show how much Florida's overburdened child welfare system relies on new caseworkers.

A state report issued earlier this year said 46 percent of child abuse investigators had less than one year of experience. These are the workers who take calls from the state's abuse hotline and check out the claims.

The same report said 30 percent of the "protective services workers" had less than one year of experience. These counselors work with families who have been accused of abuse and neglect and help them get drug treatment, parenting classes and other services to ensure their children's safety.

More than 29 percent of the state's child welfare counselors left their jobs in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2001, far higher than the 7 percent turnover among general state employees.

New DCF hires go through a two-month training program at one of three Professional Development Centers, including one at the University of South Florida in Tampa. This includes time shadowing caseworkers in the field.

After passing a written test, the new employees begin working cases -- either as investigators or counselors. They are supposed to be kept under close supervision and work between two and five cases per week during the first two weeks.

But after that, they can be given up to 90 percent of the average number of cases for their unit.

Erin Mistretta, who spent four months as a DCF protective services worker in 2000, said she was given a full caseload immediately after completing her training.

"The day that I came back to the office . . . (I had) I want to say upward of about 20 cases on my desk," said Mistretta, of Winter Haven. Her husband, Bob, was one of two supervisors fired last week in the fallout of the Alfredo Montes case.

In some areas of the state, new employees find themselves assigned to units straining under crushing caseloads, which makes it impossible for them to take a slow and deliberate approach.

"The excessive caseload sizes and the turnover issues combine to make this a chronic critical safety issue," said Karen Gievers, a Tallahassee attorney who has sued DCF on behalf of foster children.

Investigators carried an average of 44 cases statewide, according to a report DCF issued in May. That's well above the recommendation of the Child Welfare League of America, a group of child care professionals who study and work on child abuse issues. The league says an investigatorideally should take no more than 12 active cases per month.

In the six-county DCF region that includes Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, investigators had caseloads of about 28, below the state average.

But in some regions, investigators endure brutal workloads -- 122 and 131 cases per investigator in DCF districts headquartered in Orlando and Fort Pierce, respectively.

John Mullins, who directs the Professional Development Center in Tampa where DCF recruits are trained, says new employees must be given small caseloads and strong supervision.

Gievers said "there have been situations where six (out of seven) of the people in a unit are new hires and there's 200 cases in that unit. So it's silly to think that the 200 cases are being handled by the one experienced worker."

Much of DCF's work with foster care and other children believed abused has now been transferred out of the department and into the hands of non-profit companies such as the Family Continuity Program in Pinellas and Pasco counties and Hillsborough Kids Inc. in Hillsborough County.

Increasingly, those are the agencies that will be scrutinized for their caseloads and performance, with DCF providing funding and monitoring.

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