Some of the workers from the local DCF office held an informational picket for more staffing to lower caseloads.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Jennifer Lathers is tasked with the well-being of 44 children in the county.

 

The social worker with the Department of Children and Families is assigned to 24 cases spanning the entire county and she believes it is too much. 

 

"One caseload can be anywhere from one child to six children. You have to see all of them. You have to work with all of the systems. You have to make sure the home is safe and there is no substance abuse or domestic violence, physical abuse, sexual abuse," she said.

 

"We have to make sure our children are safe."

 

Lathers joined with fellow DCF workers Monday to help spread that message in hopes the state Legislature will boost funding for staffing to lower those numbers. A piece of legislation called for workers to have no more than 15 cases but the funding hasn't made that possible.

 

"We would need $29 million to get us funded to the 15 to 1 contractual caseload standards. We know that is way off but we are asking them to put more into the social work budget so we can hire additional workers so caseloads can start to go down," said Ethel Everett, regional vice president of Service Employees International Union 509.

 

Lathers is now in her 21st year working with the department and her caseload continues to increase. She is mandated to visit with each family once a month and often those visits last 15 to 20 minutes because most of her energy is being focused on other crises.

 

"It puts us at risk all of the time. I have 44 children that I have to see every month. We go from one end of Berkshire County to the other, from the Vermont border to the Connecticut border. It takes us two hours to see families and there are just so many hours in the day. It puts all of the kids at risk because we can't spend the time with them that we need to," Lathers said.

 

Monday's informational picket is the start of protests that will be taking place across the state. The issue of excessive caseloads rose to prominence in 2014 with highly publicized case of Jeremiah Oliver, who was under DCF care when he was murdered. That led to numerous oversight hearings and analysis of the department and caseloads were cited as being too high. The Legislature voted to limit cases to 15:1 but hasn't provided funding to do so.

 

"We are carrying anywhere from 20 to 25. We have a contract which states we should have a caseload of 15 to 1. With a high caseload, we can't keep our kids this safe. This is about lowering caseloads so we can keep families and children safe and do what we are charged to do," Everett said.

 

It is that "broken promise" the workers lined up on the sidewalk of First Street were chanting about as caseloads continue to rise. 

 

According to union officials, the number of workers with more than 20 cases has more than doubled between December 2013, when Oliver went missing, to December 2014. In Pittsfield there are now 17 workers with more than 20 cases, which is up from December 2013. Statewide there are 736 workers with more than 20 cases.