Court Reports

Recently my caseload doubled at DCS. This has been a difficult transition. It feels like the more I try to climb from under the work, the more I get piled on me. Unfortunately, when I received the cases, many of them had court reports that were due around the same time. I did not think I would be able to get done with them in time for court, but I just took it one report at a time. Generally a court report should reach the judge 15 days prior to the court hearing, but because the cases were given to me at the last minute and many need reports completed, I was not able to send some to the judge until one day prior to court. This is not good practice. This means that the judges have less than a day to prepare for the court hearing.

The plan was that after I got through the court reports for the new cases, that I would make sure court reports were completed on time going further. I hate showing up to court with a late court report. Some judges really yell at DCS workers regarding late court reports. I was blessed because I did not get yelled at by any job for the late reports. Judges tend to remember certain things about some DCS workers, I did not want the late court report to be one of them. I think with time, some of the shock from the high caseload will wear off and I will feel more comfortable managing the caseloads.

Dependency Trial

I participated in my first dependency trial. It was pretty intense. Since I did not have the case long, I did not have to testify. Instead, an investigator from my office had to testify since she was the one who originally removed the child in question from his parents. Court can be very intimidating, especially when the parent’s attorneys are trying to prove that DCS removed a child in error even if that is not the case.

As a result of going to the dependency trial, I learned some very valuable information to help me when I may have to testify. The first thing that I learned was to always take good notes and make sure I post the notes in our system as timely as possible. If there is no note or record of what happened, it is like it never happened. I also learned to make sure I watch what I say to parents during conversations because what I say can be used against me later. Lastly, I learned that it is very important to always show up prepared for trials. Even if DCS feels that we have all the proof we need to uphold a dependency, if we are not prepared for trial, it can completely dismiss the whole case.  

Strengths of my Organization

The Department of Child Services (DCS) has some great strengths as an organization. One of their strengths is that management supports lower-level employees with the decisions they make. Management allows DCS workers a huge amount of discretion when it comes to making decisions on their cases. Management will stand behind decisions made while helping to resolve potential problems if need be. Another strength is that DCS has employees who really care about helping families stay together. There are people who endure the long hours and little pay just because they enjoy helping families. In public service, that quality is very important to have. If someone is looking to get rich in public service they are in the wrong field. There is also continued training so that employees can stay up-to-date on organizational policies and best practices.

If I was in charge of a similar organization I would look into ways to keep high employee turnovers down. Employee turnovers cause a lot of strain on existing DCS employees. Because of the high turnovers, employees have to take on extremely higher than normal caseloads. Perhaps a streamlining of some tasks may help to relieve some of the pressures of high caseloads off of DCS employees. DCS employees also have to see children on their caseloads once a month which causes extra stress, especially when DCS employees have court reports to write and have to appear in court proceedings. I would have employees that do nothing but visit kids all month and share their findings with the regular assigned case manager. This will also relieve strain on case managers.

Monthly Staffings

Each month I staff cases with my supervisor. During the monthly Staffing we talk about how cases are going and any new findings on the case. We also discuss services in place for parents and children. We also discuss how the parents and children are doing with the implemented services. This is a good time for me to have any case specific questions answered and get my supervisors opinion. As a DCS case manager, we get some discretion when it comes to making vital case decisions. This is why it is important for me to be on the same page as my supervisor so if I have to make split-second decisions, I already know how my supervisor would want me to proceed. Therefore, monthly staffings have really helped me get a better grasp on the DCS processes.

Demonstrating Public Service

My organization demonstrates public service by being committed to not only help children in need but also the parents of the children. In order for a child in DCS custody to be placed back in the care of their parents, the parents are required to complete services tailored to the parent’s needs. Our organization goes above and beyond many times to make sure the parents with children in our care are receiving everything they qualify for. Our organization also provides transportation for the parents to see their children and get to services such as counseling.

Anyway that we can help the parents, within our means of course, to achieve their goals, we will help. We realize that there are thousands of kids in DCS care and do not want to take any more kids in unless it is absolutely necessary. DCS tries to stay as unbiased as possible when making critical decision. DCS also probes parents to make sure that the programs they’re participating in actually fits the parents needs and not just some random program.

Turnovers affecting other workers

I previously discussed turnovers within the Department of Child Services. I would like to now discuss how the turnovers affect other employees. Due to a number of recent turnovers, many new employees have received a considerable amount of child abuse and neglect cases. High turnovers affect other employees negatively and can cause an enormous amount of employee stress. It seems like it’s a vicious cycle. For example, employees leave, and cause extra stress on other employees and then those employees leave and cause even more stress on the next employees that will inherit the cases.

I believe what needs to happen is that DCS needs to be evaluated as far as operations and efficiency. Improvements to the current system and improvements to the current processes should help stabilize employee turnovers. Right now training for a DCS case manager is 3 weeks field training, where you mainly observe, and 6 weeks classroom training. I believe new employees are thrown into case management way too prematurely. Part of the reason this occurs is because of the high turnover rate. If the turnover rate decreased, it would give new employees more time to adjust to their current positions. There are many suggestions that can help DCS improve its approach.

High Turn Overs

There is a huge problem throughout the Department of Child Services. The organization has a high employee turnover rate. According to exiting employees, one of the main reasons they are leaving DCS is due to not feeling supported by their supervisors. This is shocking because the first thing people think of when they think of DCS is that employees have too high caseloads and have to deal with some awful situations. However, these are not the main reasons why people leave DCS.

It is true that when you start working for DCS you are quickly thrown into the whirlwind of never ending work. However, when speaking to other DCS employees, they love their jobs. They love helping and interacting with children every day. Those that are leaving due to not feeling supported by their supervisors have unfortunately been placed in a unit where communication is not good. Communication is key for any successful organization. Without great communication it is hard for any organization to thrive.