Background
Child Protective Services (CPS) caseworkers can juggle up to an average of 68 cases at any given time, and the national standard recommends no more than 12 active cases for initial assessment, and 17 ongoing cases. Caseloads have increased because domestic violence impacting children has reached epidemic proportions. Child abuse is reported every ten seconds, in the United States, affecting six million children. Domestic violence puts children in danger and the CPS caseworker needs to spend less time on paperwork to be able to focus on the children and their welfare.
The Challenges:
Paperwork overload for CPS caseworkers is a fact:
According to a study by Tiffany Taylor at Kent State University, caseworkers estimate they spend 50-60% of their time doing paperwork. This doesn’t include time caseworkers also spend documenting their hours for each case they are responsible for.
Manual, paper based processes are getting in the way of child welfare:
Cumbersome, repetitive and manual tasks detract caseworkers from their primary purpose—to support the children in their care. In fact, CPS field workers, on average, are only able to spend approximately 26% of their time with families. That number alone should be alarming. Efficiency and liability are also part of the challenge, cases can’t be closed as quickly as they should be.
CPS job turnover rates are extremely high due to high stress and burnout
The average caseworker turnover rate is between 30-40%.
Overtime payout to case workers skyrockets
States nationwide are paying astounding numbers in overtime. In Texas, caseworkers’ overtime pay increased 298 percent from $1,754,474 in fiscal year 2004 to $6,982,650 in fiscal year 2007. To add to this, 61.6 percent of CPS caseworkers in Texas agreed with the statement: “Even working overtime I cannot finish all of my work.” The result can be caseworker burnout.
The Solution
We want to help change this landscape. We’ve partnered with Zebra Technologies to create a simple in the field mobile reporting solution that streamlines the reporting process for CPS caseworkers, while also increasing accuracy and accountability.
In short, the ChildFirst Mobile Solution reduces caseworkers’ paperwork burdens. When you spend less time on paperwork and more time on cases, the result is a better outcome!
If you’d like to learn more about the ChildFirst Solution, we encourage you to read our next article titled ‘ChildFirst Solution: Purpose Built for DSS and CPS Caseworkers.’
Questions?
Call 800-830-9523 or 
Email info@L-Tron.com
