Dauphin County says child protection division is improving

(Harrisburg) — Dauphin County’s Children and Youth Services faced a crisis after a nine-year old died while under its supervision and the state cited it for 84 violations. But now the agency is promising serious improvements to keep children safe.

The changes include assigning experienced workers to the most difficult cases, fully inspecting homes where problems have been reported, and working closely with the Dauphin County District Attorney’s office.

The county’s Children and Youth Services is also interviewing for 10 full-time caseworkers, and five part-timers. It has already hired one part-time worker.

Interim director Joe Dougher says the state now needs to do its part.

He says stronger child protection laws are swamping counties.

“When you have 100% more cases, its a little more difficult to engage families in a kind of way you want to,” says Dougher. “Once upon a time, caseworkers may have had more time and opportunity to work with families on a longer-term basis, other than spending a shorter period of time with them, trying to get as much information as possible in a short period of time.”

Dougher says caseworkers have a big workload, resulting in a lot of turnover.

“I hope that in a year we’re talking about a different issue with regard to caseworker retention and the number of people who are doing that job. I hope that what the commissioners were talking about today reaches the legislators’ ears and tells them that we do need more funding at the local level,” he adds.

Dougher says Dauphin County’s caseworkers each handle at least 15 cases at a time, sometimes more.

In the first seven months of the year reports to the agency have more than doubled.