Lecerved - 6-918 To: — Cass County Social Services CFS Management Team (Linda Dorff, Rick VanCamp, Tami Anderson) & Director, Chip Ammerman From: CPS unit members (signed below) CC: Cass County Government Human Resources; Commissioner, Vern Bennett; and County Administrator, Robert Wilson Date: June 1, 2018 Re: CPS Caseload - This concern is being brought forward in the spirit and under the Policies of the Employee Relations & Fair Treatment Policy 101 and the Whistleblower Protections of 109 As Child Protection Specialist III’s and Licensed Social Workers/Licensed Certified Social Workers, we hold ourselves to the highest of standards, and value our role inthe agency and sponse community to protect children and families. It is our utmost priority to respond to reports of fica ~ abuse and neglect concerns, while adhering to our ethical responsibilities as licensed Resipued fo professionals and employees of Cass County Government, coutncbuyeluld We find it necessary to make a clear statement that—based on these standards of safety and ethical obligation—we are unable to maintain the enormously high volume of Child Protection Assessments, which has prevented us as professionals from providing the best possible services to our community. Child safety is paramount, although this priority has been impeded as timelines are not able to be achieved and the volume of cases has prevented us from assessing family safety to its fullest capacity, Due to the volume of cases assigned and the level of need within individual cases, safety concerns are being prioritized and addressed based on severity, as opposed to being assessed in a timely manner as incidents occur or as information is received. ‘This manner of operation has led to missed timelines and delayed contact with children and reporters, which could have a detrimental impact on the safety of children and families. whak dees this wacan’ Duties of a Child Protection Worker include assessing reports of abuse and neglect; reviewing ° comprehensive child protection, medical, criminal; Hental health, and chemical dependency "#7 elif history; conducting holistic interviews of reporters, children, family members, and other __ %4 4 ped “collateral contacts; assessing strengths and safety concerns of families, safety planning, Offering uses 9, GH mtvioes, and completing referrals; collaborating with law enforcement and medical personnel for “7/1 lus é h additional safety evaluations; completing comprehensive case notes and risk assessments; C2 consulting with the Child Protection Team to determine next steps with families; participating in % wo S eScre report writing, providing testimony, and representing the agency in trials; completing Cyt Ja) 'g emergency rotatio ent of urgent child protection concems¢standing in for the Family) Ars ~% p ih fervices Intake department as back-up to receive ad process reports of suspected abuse an Cra & le shopsie WM yr dele ee Grsutsa bl vs Has oad we Z woo Ts ere fond wees \nwa neglect; and engaging in additional committees “nd organizational groups within the agency to improve morale and sustainability. Due to the continued excess of assessments, the above tasks/duties have become unmanageable, and elements of the above requirements have grown to beneglected — ery What Hhis Wrens Each Child Protection Assessment Worker within Cass County Social Services has consistently been operating with between 30 to 40 cases at a given time, which is out of compliance with the Child Protection Services Manual 640 provided by the State of North Dakota, Caseload Standard for CPS Assessments 640-01-25-01 states the “standard for one full time social worker pons 12 new child abuse/neglect cases in a 31 day period” and “recognizing there may be séSsments in progress at no given time shall a combination of new assessments and assessments in progress exceed 15 in number per social worker.” Additionally, it states, “It is recognized that there may occasionally be situations, which place greater demands on agency resources than normal; for example, a greater than average number of reports during a particular period of time. If the caseload standard is exceeded, the regional CPS supervisor should be informed of the reason for the excess caseload. The caseload is expected to return to standard levels and not to be consistently exceeded.” Concems exist as the excess caseload has not returned to the standard level for several months, even years. C/reueps Child Protection Workers and their supervisors have made attempts at resolving the excess caseload volume by participating in “committees” to help develop a streamlined process for the assignment of reports, assessment processes, and the closing of cases. Unfortunately, these efforts have not proven effective at returning excessive caseloads back to the standard level ‘These committees are made up of Child Protection Assessment Workers and Supervisors, who 4) he do not have the autonomy or authority to implement significant changes, which are'so greatly a+ Fy needed. We believe this is a systems issue at Cass County Social Services, and must be eee addressed by upper management and director in a reevaluation of how caseloads have become peace excessive and what changes will be implemented to ensure safe practice, and most importantly, the safety of children and families in our community. In doing so, we believe a process should be created for the success of this system as a whole. We, the Child Protection Assessment Workers at Cass County Social Services, believe itis imperative that the processes and procedures of Child Protective Services in our agency be addressed to ensure that we are adequately and effectively meeting the needs of our community, while maintaining the success of employees. Ny Fach. Are SeenR ~ a er Bon MavnGescu ‘Unger