NEWS ANALYSIS : Child-Abuse Cases Overwhelm Social Workers

In just two days last week, the child-abuse investigator’s caseload doubled from 20 to 40, boosted by new reports of a sexually abused young girl and two children whose mother was deemed too unstable to care for them.

The number of cases was staggering and as a result, so was the social worker, who called in sick along with 28 of her colleagues to protest their desperate working conditions.

The one-day sickout by the San Fernando Valley’s entire emergency response team may well have been inspired by pending contract negotiations, as officials with the county Department of Children and Family Services contend.

But whether the protest in North Hollywood was labor-driven or not, both employees and department officials agree it highlighted the county’s grim and growing burden of abused and neglected children.

“We have never seen this kind of sustained growth in caseloads as we have this year,” said Paul Freedlund, the deputy director of the family services department. “It is unprecedented. It’s naturally going to take a toll.”

To the social workers themselves, that toll is already obvious. They say the workload is overwhelming, an ever-present threat to the children they are trying to protect. Indeed, some pointed to their demanding and unforgiving workload as a possible reason for the deaths of eight children last year--all of whom were being monitored by the Children and Family Services Department.

Last week’s sickout in the Valley--the only one among the department’s 19 offices--coincided with the one-year anniversary of the death of Lance Helms, the 2-year-old North Hollywood boy beaten to death by his father’s girlfriend despite repeated recommendations that he be kept away from the couple.

“There’s no way we can do the quality job we want to do in the conditions we’re under,” said Shirley Martin, one of the Valley social workers who called in sick Tuesday and a shop steward for the Service Employees International Union-Local 535. “We’re at a very critical stage and, in the end, it’s children’s lives that are in danger.”

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Department officials don’t deny the increased caseloads or their effect on employees’ morale, and they say they are actively hiring and training new caseworkers. The department has funding to hire 350 additional social workers, and officials said they already had 125 of those in place late last month.

Currently, the county is monitoring 70,000 cases of child abuse or neglect, up from 60,000 last year. The county has about 2,700 social workers this year.

In the Valley office, which officials say is fairly typical, child-abuse referrals have outpaced hiring. In the first three months of this year, for example, the office handled 3,956 cases, compared to 3,459 in the same period last year. The office also lost nearly a dozen social workers this year, with about a third taking mostly stress-related medical leaves.

“Every month has been high, even the months that typically are slower for us,” said Art Lieras, the regional administrator who oversees the North Hollywood office.

It’s not unusual then for social workers in the Valley to juggle 40, 50, even 60 cases a month. In other cities in the state, such as San Francisco, Alameda and San Diego, caseloads rarely climb past 25 per month, union officials said.

The social workers in the emergency response section, who are considered the front line in the county’s battle against child abuse, are expected to make home visits, take children to doctors for physical examinations, interview relatives and friends, and ultimately recommend how to resolve the case.

All within 30 days, and all while new cases constantly stream into the office.

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One day after the sickout last week, five social workers were on duty, waiting to respond to new emergency cases. A supervisor would review an incoming call and assign a social worker to handle it.

Next to a chart listing those on duty was a flier announcing a stress-reduction workshop. A foot away on the same wall was a handwritten note with the dark joke: “How can you tell a worker from a client? The client gets better.”

A social worker, who earns anywhere from $23,500 to $48,800 a year excluding overtime, frequently is the first “official” person on the scene of a suspected child-abuse case. Calls from teachers and administrators, as well as police, lead the social worker to the doorstep.

“Sometimes it’s real hard to make that cold knock on that door, not knowing what you’ll find inside,” said one social worker who did not want to be identified. “Other times it’s harder to leave, knowing a child could die at any time.”

The social worker whose caseload doubled last week said she believes the whole system needs to change, and that new policies typically translate into more paperwork.

Social workers frequently conduct their house visits during the day and spend many hours later, either at home or in the office, filling out forms. It’s not unusual to find social workers at their desks well beyond business hours.

Department officials say when the offices become computerized, the social workers’ tasks will be reduced. They say every office could receive computers this year.

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And, it appears likely that the new contract under negotiation will include the creation of a “workload reduction committee” to review the current requirements and see if any paperwork can be streamlined or eliminated. (County social workers have been working without a contract since February.)

Union officials are also pushing for an outside study of caseloads. They say the last time the department measured caseloads was in 1977--when the number of reported child abuse cases was substantially lower.

Despite their heavy caseloads and the emotional toll they take, the social workers receive high marks from police who deal with them on a regular basis.

Lt. Verne King, who oversees the Los Angeles Police Department’s child protection section at Parker Center, said he found last week’s sickout “alarming” but righteous.

“They are extremely busy,” King said. “But they have the best interest of the child first and foremost.”