Gov. Nathan Deal approved the hiring of 100 new child protective service workers Wednesday to handle an influx of child abuse and neglect cases that has overwhelmed the system.
According to state officials, the number of investigations and family support cases has grown from 3,122 a year ago to 5,089. That, the governor’s office noted in a statement, is a 63 percent increase.
The statement attributed the surge to the creation of a central call-in line at the state Division of Family and Children Services. That line, 1-855-422-4453 (1-855-GACHILD), operates 24 hours a day and replaces the previous system, in which people had to call individual DFCS numbers in virtually every county.
The 100 workers, who will cost the state $4.3 million a year, are in addition to 175 new positions already included in this year’s state budget.
“No child welfare case should ever lack the attention it so greatly deserves,” Deal said.
Last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that almost half the state's child abuse and neglect investigations — more than 3,000 — were past the mandated 45 days for completion, raising concerns that children are being left in unsafe homes.
“Each of these overdue cases represents a potential risk for vulnerable children in our state, and this requires swift action on our part, ” Bobby Cagle, the interim head of DFCS, told the AJC at that time.
To whittle the backlog, Cagle ordered all agency investigators to work a minimum of eight hours of overtime a week until it’s eliminated.
DFCS has since completed 1,100 of those overdue investigations, but officials noted that, in the meantime, other, more recent investigations have exceeded the 45-day limit. The total number of overdue investigations stands at 2,700.
DFCS spokeswoman Ashley Fielding said the average caseload for DFCS workers now stands at about 22. They agency’s goal is to bring that number down to 15 by 2017. A rough benchmark among child welfare agencies is that 12 to 17 cases is a reasonable load for a single worker to handle.
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