Hearings stress improving Missouri's family services system

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State Sen. Bill Foster said legislation to reform Missouri's foster care system will need to focus on imposing accountability on state agencies and officials.

Foster, R-Poplar Bluff, chaired an interim committee that conducted four hearings around the state to gather information on the subject for the coming legislative session, which begins Jan. 8. During the well-attended hearings, including one Wednesday, people who have had experience with the foster care system testified, often tearfully, of cases ranging from state officials being too slow to protect children to instances of overzealous enforcement in which children were removed from their homes without sufficient due process.

But while greater accountability is needed, Foster said it wouldn't be fair to demand more from overworked case workers without supplying them with the resources needed to do the job.

"We should have some kind of limits on caseloads," Foster said. "We cannot expect case workers to work 50, 60 or even 90 cases at one time. It can't happen."

Reducing caseloads would require hiring and training more case workers, something that is difficult to accomplish given the state's continuing financial crisis. However, Foster said the state should prioritize necessary government functions and supply the funding needed to do them well.

"Definitely one of them has to be protecting our children," Foster said.

Step by Holden

Gov. Bob Holden took a step aimed at improving government service in that area on Tuesday by signing an executive order restructuring the Department of Social Services. The changes include abolishing the Division of Family Services and replacing it with two new agencies that each will have a more narrow focus.

While the new Division of Family Support would administer welfare programs, the new Division of Children's Services would oversee the foster care system and investigate allegations of child abuse.

Foster is skeptical of the ultimate impact of the restructuring.

"I think it is going to be more expensive for sure," Foster said. "By separating the agencies can we train the workers better? Maybe."

Beverly Long, director of DFS's Cape Girardeau-based district, which covers 24 Southeast Missouri counties, testified before Foster's committee on Wednesday. Long, a 30-year veteran of the agency, said there is a "crisis of confidence" within its ranks.

"Right now the staff is facing a great many challenges -- more than I've seen in all my years with the agency," Long said.

Many of the problems at DFS stem from woefully inadequate resources, she said. As a result, too few workers are handling too many cases and in many instances aren't sufficiently trained to do the job.

"Managers and case workers don't feel they are getting the support they need," Long said.

While DFS has detailed policies as how to handle a variety of situations, overworked division employees are often forced to cut corners in order keep up with growing caseloads.

One case worker from Cole County testified that on any given day she and her colleagues are each managing an average of 30 cases involving 35 children while the staff in that office is at 57 percent of full strength.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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