Page 3 - Work Force October 2016

Fighting to give at-risk children a better life
Thousands of children across
the state are facing abuse or neglect every day, and it’s our moral responsibility to help them.
That is why CSEA has launched
a statewide campaign to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign the Child Protective Services Safety Act, which the Assembly and Senate approved in June.
This legislation (A.10506/ Lupardo/S.2691/
Golden) would limit
child protective
services caseloads
to 15 active cases
per month, which
would give workers
more time to
devote to cases for
the children most
at risk. While it
would take about
two years for the
legislation to fully take effect, it’s a big step toward helping these children and their families, the workers who provide the services and the communities as a whole.
Child protective services workers are faced with heavy caseloads that can run as high as 70 per month,
understaffing, and insufficient time to truly help the most at-risk children.
“Many of the decisions child protective services must make every day can literally mean life or death for the children in their care,” CSEA President Danny Donohue. “These workers see horrific cases of abuse every day; the stress over agonizing about the choices they must make is unimaginable. Signing this legislation
into law won’t
just help alleviate caseloads for workers who are already stretched too thin, but will save lives.”
TV ads are airing across the state, and we are raising the urgent need for this bill’s passage through other activities such as news conferences
and letter-writing efforts.
While child protective services
workers have long seen heavy caseloads, a sluggish economy
and ongoing heroin epidemic are overwhelming child protective caseloads and threatening the social safety net.
A screenshot from our campaign ad.
Across the state, child protective services workers are increasingly seeing cases of abuse and neglect that are tied to heroin and opiate use. (See more, pages 5 and 6).
Not only are children living in circumstances that dramatically increase their risk for abuse and neglect, but it feeds into a vicious circle of the children themselves having potential substance abuse problems, violent behavior or other social issues.
Nassau County Local activist and CPS case supervisor Glen Tuifel said caseworkers in his county have seen increased numbers of abuse and neglect cases in which children’s parents and guardians are addicted to heroin or opiates.
“This epidemic is taxing the
limited resources of
the dedicated staff
assigned to protect
these vulnerable
children, and
additional staffing,
training, and
treatment options
for those addicted
would be welcomed
by child protective
services caseworkers,” he said. “It
is our sincerest hope that these serious concerns for the health and safety of our community’s children is addressed through more resources and funding to combat this problem.”
Limiting the caseloads would give the workers a chance to truly help children and families facing this epidemic.
“Every night,
child protective
workers go to
sleep worrying
about the children
they saw that day.
They wish they
could do more,”
said CSEA Capital
Region President
Ron Briggs, a
former child protective services worker in Fulton County. “This legislation will afford CPS workers the opportunity to do more to help the most vulnerable children in our communities.”
October 2016
The Work Force 3
“Signing this legislation into law won’t just help alleviate caseloads for workers
who are already stretched too thin, but will save lives.”
Tuifel
New state legislation combats opioid crisis
New state legislation takes a big step toward fighting the ongoing heroin and opioid epidemic.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed
in late June a package of bills to address the growing heroin and opioid abuse crisis. CSEA helped fight to enact the legislation, which includes measures that will make it harder for insurance companies to deny coverage for required treatments, increase training for
doctors and other professionals prescribing opioids, limit opioid prescriptions from 30 to seven days, increase substance abuse treatment program options and increase access to overdose reversal medication, including naloxone, also known as Narcan.
For communities across the state — and the thousands of
CSEA members whose jobs include dealing with the heroin epidemic —
help can’t come soon enough. “Our members have been
playing a major role in fighting heroin and opioid abuse in our state and for many people, this issue
has dominated their work,” CSEA President Danny Donohue said. “This legislation will not only help our members provide services that will save lives, but will go a long way toward helping New Yorkers get the help they need.”
Briggs