Stahl
JOHNSTOWN — One thing jumped out at CSEA Fulton County Local activist Rick Stahl when he looked over a list of names of the 23 employees who have left the county’s Department of Social Services in the last three years.
All were caseworkers trained in the child protective services unit.
When the unit is fully staffed, a rare circumstance, according to employees, there are 14 caseworkers. With 23 workers gone over the past three years, staffing has turned over almost twice during that time. That turnover rate is an expensive proposition for the county, given the costly and intensive training for new staff, seven weeks at the state, 40 hours in-house training and annual requirements thereafter.
Why the extreme exodus?
Many reasons, said Stahl, a social welfare examiner. Among them, stress and extreme caseloads.
Some of the workers transferred to other county departments for better working conditions. Other workers pursued the more predictable hours and higher pay staffing the state’s central register, or hotline, as it is known.
Stahl and his co-workers agree that being a CPS caseworker is not for everyone. Effective time management plays a role, but even the most efficient caseworkers will struggle.
“You have days where it’s quiet and days when you get three cases in two hours and have to drive all over the county,” said Stahl.
The increase in mandated programs and associated paperwork make many social workers wish they could spend less time in front of a computer screen and more time in the field directly assisting those in need.
“We all wish we could have more time to be able to do the job more thoroughly to protect the children,” said Stahl.
Stahl said he is cautiously optimistic that state legislation limiting active caseloads per worker to 15 per month would help with turnover if the governor signs the bill.
Stahl and his co-workers wonder how some of the basic features of the legislation, if enacted, will translate citing the trickiness of sometimes defining a case.
“Sometimes the road from theory to practice is paved with reality,” said Stahl who agrees that more should be done to free workers’ caseloads.
Stahl, who has been in the trenches for 33 years and has even worked a second job since 1999, is eligible for retirement but he is dedicated to his work for the county. “I’m not going anywhere” he said. “This job, the work we do, is too important.”
— Therese Assalian
