Opinion: Get serious about child safety

The latest child-welfare tragedies have exposed, and worsened, the caseload and turnover crisis at Florida's Department of Children and Families. Overburdened and underappreciated, DCF workers can barely do their jobs, and many are deciding instead simply to leave them behind. State lawmakers responded appropriately last month by approving a shift of caseworkers to districts with the greatest needs. But that $2-million plan is no more than a temporary fix. The accelerating stream of tragedies will continue until Gov. Jeb Bush, DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney and lawmakers put finding and funding a long-term solution at the top of the state's priority list.

Caseloads and turnover at DCF have always been high, but they are getting worse by the day. In some parts of Florida, caseloads for DCF investigators are more than 10 times the maximum recommended by child-welfare experts, and the agency's turnover rate is the highest among state workers. In the wake of the Rilya Wilson and Alfredo Montes debacles -- and what many view as unfair scapegoating of DCF workers -- the stress has intensified. The number of vacant child-welfare positions has jumped from 500 to more than 750 in recent months, according to Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, who chairs the committee overseeing DCF.

"Who would want the job now?" Murman asked recently. "We're at a point where (DCF's) credibility is low and the public doesn't have a great deal of confidence in the system."

The DCF exodus comes at the worst possible time. The agency is not only struggling to clear an enormous backlog, but new abuse complaints are flooding in, as they often do following high-profile deaths. The state's abuse hotline has logged a record number of calls since April, according to Kearney.

Shifting staff to critical districts is fine in the short run, but reducing the escalating

caseloads and vacancies -- and boosting the safety of Florida's abused and neglected children -- will require a far more comprehensive strategy. Key to that strategy should be better salaries and training for front-line workers and supervisors, more incentives to attract and keep competent staff and more help for troubled families and service options for caseworkers. DCF says it plans to ask lawmakers next month for enough money to raise the average caseworker's starting salary by $4,000. If lawmakers are serious about child safety, they will be prepared to give that -- and far more -- next session.

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