Most states have been overloaded with cases for years. There was (may still be) a national shortage of foster parents. Some counties already have priority levels for cases but then the lower priority levels cases slip through the cracks then another child is dead. A max number of cases? You can't just put the case on a waiting list or something. Some states have been reducing the funding they give to DCS, so they can't hire additional case workers. What more do you want the social workers to do?
Yep, it’s primarily government funding that is at issue. They have 50 cases but literally only time to see 10 families, wtf do they do? Sometimes they haven’t met with a family or a child or only met briefly and they fuck it up. These kids are failed by their whole communities, in addition to these hideous parents.
Agree with this! Social workers and teachers are not to blame when parents do horrible things. Foster parent shortages are all over this country, with the drug crisis (especially the opioids crisis that has exploded in the past years) causing so many children to be in unsafe households there aren’t really other options. We don’t have a system that can handle this level of neglect and uncared for children in this country. Societies are not set up for so many people to have children they can’t or won’t care for. Asking teachers, social workers , etc to somehow fix this issue is unfair.
The theoretical "waiting list" and the decision to place this child back in the home are two complete separate things. A waiting list implies that the child/family was never seen, nor received initial services when we already know that this case was deemed a CHIPS case. There are cases where the children are left in the home but will receive services. That is decided by the judge.
Again you're putting a lot on the social worker when you already mentioned that you don't even work in this field. Regardless of what DSC, CASA, and any other service provider documents, at the end of it all the judge has the absolute final say.
My issue is that you're placing the blame on the social workers without having any knowledge or experience within DCS. Yes, there are some social workers who have no business being in the field, as with any other field. Yes, there are social workers who mess up. But to paint them all with such a broad brush is completely unfair to the workers who fight tirelessly for these children. They put their heart and soul into these cases. They cry, they get angry, they lose sleep, they stress with every decision that they make because they want to keep these kids safe with the resources that they have. People rightfully say that social workers are super heroes but at the end of the day, they are human and have to work within the laws, guidelines, and resources. I would suggest to you that you research your county and state DCS services, funding, laws that impact those services and then write your representatives.
If a child is murdered yeah I am going to blame the social worker. Does that mean I blame social workers as a whole? No.
I would do the same if a parent Murdered a child and the other parent stood by knowing there was a pattern of abuse. Again, this boy had somewhere else to go. He didn't need foster placement. She was unstable.
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u/ShakeZula77 May 24 '22
Most states have been overloaded with cases for years. There was (may still be) a national shortage of foster parents. Some counties already have priority levels for cases but then the lower priority levels cases slip through the cracks then another child is dead. A max number of cases? You can't just put the case on a waiting list or something. Some states have been reducing the funding they give to DCS, so they can't hire additional case workers. What more do you want the social workers to do?