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CWA: Caseworkers Unfairly Targeted in New Jersey's Child Welfare Crisis
After years of calling for reform in the badly broken Division of Youth and Family Services, CWA locals in New Jersey are outraged that the state is pointing fingers at caseworkers following the discovery of what officials say were four malnourished boys in their adopted home.
Seven CWA members and two managers have been suspended without pay in connection with the case and the state has given notice of intent to fire them pending departmental hearings.
Local leaders say caseworkers are as devastated as anyone else over the tragic case, which has made national news. But they say the state is deflecting blame by punishing grossly over-extended employees who don't have nearly the time or resources their jobs demand. Locals 1034, 1037 and 1039 represent 3,000 workers in the state's child welfare system.
"The workers at DYFS have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving children and families, and when they are characterized as 'incompetent, uncaring or indifferent,' as the commissioner of human services in New Jersey has done, the credibility of the entire workforce is damaged, their morale is devastated, and the work of protecting children is compromised," Local 1034 President Carla Katz said in testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means' Subcommittee on Human Resources on Nov. 7.
At CWA News press time, Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn Harris announced she would resign shortly.
Katz told lawmakers how the agency has been "consistently and grossly under-funded," with a "stone-age" computer system, inadequate training, high turnover and caseloads growing by a third over the last decade.
CWA has long fought for caps on caseloads for social workers. In Akron, Ohio, child welfare workers represented by Local 4546 have been on the picket line since July 14 over their county's refusal to limit the number of cases assigned.
Local 1037 President Hetty Rosenstein said CWA has aggressively lobbied the New Jersey Legislature for caseloads caps since 1996. They've succeeded in getting the legislature to provide extra money to the agency, "but every year, our money gets spent on things other than direct services to clients," she said.
The Child Welfare League of America says social workers supervising children should have no more than 15 cases at a time. The relatively inexperienced caseworker assigned to the Jackson home in New Jersey had more than twice that.
The caseworker's sole assignment in the home was the welfare of a 10-year-old foster girl, who Raymond and Vanessa Jackson wanted to adopt in addition to the four previously adopted boys and two children of their own. Officials described the foster girl as healthy and well fed.
Other caseworkers singled out for punishment in the case weren't required to visit the home or hadn't been there since mid-1992 at the latest, CWA attorney Steve Weissman said. Most hadn't been in the home for years.
"These are workers who quite frankly are devastated," Weissman said. "They don't understand why these charges have been brought against them. These are mostly long-term workers with outstanding records, no prior discipline."
As for the underweight boys, even neighbors and the family's friends at church didn't realize the extent of the problem, according to media reports. The parents, who now face criminal charges, told people the boys had an eating disorder and also said they suffered from fetal alcohol or crack baby syndromes.
Weissman said the state hasn't responded to CWA's requests for records involving all the caseworkers and children in the home. The union has requested the workers' hearings be scheduled before the holidays. If the state officially fires the workers, he said, CWA will proceed to arbitration.
"The state still has not provided any evidence to support a single charge brought against any of the seven workers represented by CWA," he said.
Katz, in her testimony before lawmakers, detailed the many holes in the system that make it virtually impossible for caseworkers to fully supervise and protect all the children in their charge. She laid out a series of solutions she called the "CWA Five Point Plan."
It includes hiring considerably more staff; setting up more substance-abuse services and treatment programs for families; reducing the foster care rolls; finding more quality foster homes; better training and technology for workers; and accountability and respect.
"Reacting to a crisis by firing people indiscriminately encourages the workforce to believe that there is no real accountability - there is merely retribution," Katz said.
Rosenstein said management "is focusing on the Jackson family in order to place blame and emphasis on the workforce instead of on themselves and on prior administrations that have allowed this system to be deliberately under-funded and understaffed for two decades."
Seven CWA members and two managers have been suspended without pay in connection with the case and the state has given notice of intent to fire them pending departmental hearings.
Local leaders say caseworkers are as devastated as anyone else over the tragic case, which has made national news. But they say the state is deflecting blame by punishing grossly over-extended employees who don't have nearly the time or resources their jobs demand. Locals 1034, 1037 and 1039 represent 3,000 workers in the state's child welfare system.
"The workers at DYFS have dedicated their lives to protecting and serving children and families, and when they are characterized as 'incompetent, uncaring or indifferent,' as the commissioner of human services in New Jersey has done, the credibility of the entire workforce is damaged, their morale is devastated, and the work of protecting children is compromised," Local 1034 President Carla Katz said in testimony before the U.S. House Ways and Means' Subcommittee on Human Resources on Nov. 7.
At CWA News press time, Human Services Commissioner Gwendolyn Harris announced she would resign shortly.
Katz told lawmakers how the agency has been "consistently and grossly under-funded," with a "stone-age" computer system, inadequate training, high turnover and caseloads growing by a third over the last decade.
CWA has long fought for caps on caseloads for social workers. In Akron, Ohio, child welfare workers represented by Local 4546 have been on the picket line since July 14 over their county's refusal to limit the number of cases assigned.
Local 1037 President Hetty Rosenstein said CWA has aggressively lobbied the New Jersey Legislature for caseloads caps since 1996. They've succeeded in getting the legislature to provide extra money to the agency, "but every year, our money gets spent on things other than direct services to clients," she said.
The Child Welfare League of America says social workers supervising children should have no more than 15 cases at a time. The relatively inexperienced caseworker assigned to the Jackson home in New Jersey had more than twice that.
The caseworker's sole assignment in the home was the welfare of a 10-year-old foster girl, who Raymond and Vanessa Jackson wanted to adopt in addition to the four previously adopted boys and two children of their own. Officials described the foster girl as healthy and well fed.
Other caseworkers singled out for punishment in the case weren't required to visit the home or hadn't been there since mid-1992 at the latest, CWA attorney Steve Weissman said. Most hadn't been in the home for years.
"These are workers who quite frankly are devastated," Weissman said. "They don't understand why these charges have been brought against them. These are mostly long-term workers with outstanding records, no prior discipline."
As for the underweight boys, even neighbors and the family's friends at church didn't realize the extent of the problem, according to media reports. The parents, who now face criminal charges, told people the boys had an eating disorder and also said they suffered from fetal alcohol or crack baby syndromes.
Weissman said the state hasn't responded to CWA's requests for records involving all the caseworkers and children in the home. The union has requested the workers' hearings be scheduled before the holidays. If the state officially fires the workers, he said, CWA will proceed to arbitration.
"The state still has not provided any evidence to support a single charge brought against any of the seven workers represented by CWA," he said.
Katz, in her testimony before lawmakers, detailed the many holes in the system that make it virtually impossible for caseworkers to fully supervise and protect all the children in their charge. She laid out a series of solutions she called the "CWA Five Point Plan."
It includes hiring considerably more staff; setting up more substance-abuse services and treatment programs for families; reducing the foster care rolls; finding more quality foster homes; better training and technology for workers; and accountability and respect.
"Reacting to a crisis by firing people indiscriminately encourages the workforce to believe that there is no real accountability - there is merely retribution," Katz said.
Rosenstein said management "is focusing on the Jackson family in order to place blame and emphasis on the workforce instead of on themselves and on prior administrations that have allowed this system to be deliberately under-funded and understaffed for two decades."