By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI — As the Delaware County Department of Social Services struggles with a high rate of caseworker turnover, the number of children in the county’s foster-care system continues to climb, DSS Commissioner William Moon said Wednesday.
In 2000, there were 40 foster-care cases, with admissions and discharges to the program running at fairly steady rates, but in 2003, foster-care cases began to rise into the 90s as discharges went down.
Moon said the problem of too few caseworkers has nagged the department since 2003, when five positions were eliminated to help alleviate the county’s budget problems.
Moon told the Delaware County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday that he has not been able to come up with a solution to retain ca
seworkers, so he is requesting that the board reinstate four of the positions.
"As of today, we have 99 children in foster care," Moon said. "The last five children that entered foster care were because the parents were abusing drugs, and two of the children were the result of the parents abusing prescription drugs."
Moon said the intensity of the cases being handled by the caseworkers, combined with the inexperience of most of the new hires, results in many people leaving the positions in a year or less because of the stress.
In 2005, the Delaware County Social Services Department experienced the worst attrition it had ever had, Moon said. He said 13 caseworkers left, leaving cases with no one to monitor them.
"A new caseworker has to complete 10 weeks of state training," Moon said. "Then they also have to absorb the caseload that was abandoned three months earlier by the caseworker who left. That leaves too many cases out there floating and not getting enough attention."
Moon said federal funding guidelines for the foster-care program results in 32 percent of the cases not being eligible for federal funding, so the county is responsible for the entire cost.
However, the funding mechanism in place to supplement the caseworker salaries results in the state covering 25 percent of the cost, and federal funding covers 50 percent.
Moon said he could hire four additional caseworkers without increasing his budget.
"More people in the department are cheaper than taking care of the kids," Moon said. "We have too many cases, too many children and the costs are accelerating. We need to slow down the intake of foster kids and speed up the discharge."
Colchester Supervisor Bob Homovich questioned whether Moon had ever considered dividing his workers into two shifts to cover weekend and nights, which would cut down on overtime.
"When workers are already stressed, the last thing they need is overtime," Homovich said.
Moon said he has considered altering work schedules but said spilt shifts don’t work effectively because the caseworkers depend on backup from other departments and from support workers within the Department of Social Services.
Moon said a resolution requesting four positions will be on the agenda at the May 10 meeting.
Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 and at stardelhi@stny.rr.com.
