JEFFERSON CITY — To meet national accreditation standards, Children’s Division caseworkers should work with no more than 15 children at one time. But in Missouri, that standard has long since fallen by the wayside.
“I’ve been all over the state, and I’ve not found one worker who actually had 15 cases, not one,” said Darrell Missey, the new director of the state’s Children’s Division, to a group of lawmakers Tuesday morning.
The former juvenile court judge on Tuesday reported on his first 90 days as director to the Joint Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect. Within the division, which oversees child welfare in the state, caseworkers are currently critically overworked, Missey said.
Former Jefferson County Circuit Judge Darrell Missey was announced as the new director of the Missouri Department of Social Services children’s division on Dec. 29, 2021
“I was in Liberty this week talking with a person (saying), ‘I don’t know how I get to stay. Because I can’t do my job. I can’t really take care of these people.’ Because she had 38 cases,” Missey said. “And she’s not the highest I’ve heard. She’s just the one who was crying with me this week.”
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The turnover for Children’s Division for the year is projected to be 37%, beating out other embattled public service professions’ recent rates, including Missouri teachers. Certain areas have fared far worse, said the Deputy Director Joanie Rogers, noting the turnover in the Kansas City region recently reached 88%.
At the same time, applicants are quickly dropping. Between March 2020 and October 2021, Rogers said, applicants for job postings decreased by 76%.
The division currently has hundreds of vacant positions. And to do more than narrowly meeting legal obligations, Missey said, they would need to go much further than just filling those vacancies.
“I would be shocked if I could find a case worker doing 40 hours of work with 15 (cases) who was meeting goals toward reunification or toward permanency,” said Rep. Keri Ingle, D-Lee’s Summit, a licensed social worker.
Though lawmakers have been at odds with child welfare officials over the past year following reports on missing kids and abuse and neglect within facilities, the committee welcomed collaboration with the new director on issues facing the division Tuesday. During the meeting, Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston, apologized on the behalf of lawmakers for “running our state like slumlords.”
The division is ramping up recruitment efforts and partnering with community organizations, Missey said, but a primary limiting factor is funding.
The starting salary for Missouri’s college-educated caseworkers, after a 5.5% pay increase for state employees instituted in February, is $34,666. This is thousands lower than surrounding states, including those which don’t require a degree.
“It’s past time for us to really put our money where our mouths are when we’re talking about protecting and looking after children,” said Rep. Raychel Proudie, D-Ferguson.
Originally posted at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday, April 5.
Grace Zokovitch
