Sunday, October 5, 2008By Matt Murphymmurphy@lowellsun.com BOSTON -- Some days Melissa Geoffroy can spend more time driving in her car than meeting with families or catching up on office work.
Her schedule can take her from Lowell to Baldwinville all in a day as she meets with children, parents, teachers, doctors, foster families and court officers to provide the services needed to the clients under her supervision.
Geoffroy is a social worker in the Lowell office of the Department of Children and Families, formerly the Department of Social Services. Since she started five years ago, her case load has increased from about 17 or 18 families to 26.
The same can be said for the other 93 case workers in the Lowell office, serving Lowell, Chelmsford, Dracut, Tyngsboro, Tewksbury, Billerica and Dunstable.
Tida Keat, another social worker in the Lowell office on East Merrimack Street, manages 27 cases, often requiring her to work late into the night or on weekends to keep up.
“We go crazy. No, seriously. It’s very tough, but you learn how to juggle,” said Keat, who is required to meet at least once a month with all her clients and their extended network of family, teachers and doctors.
As the worsening economy takes its toll on families throughout Massachusetts, the number of reports of possible child abuse or families in need of state services has exploded. That puts more pressure on a limited number of social workers to help those in distress.
“It neglects families on our part by not having the time to do what we need to do,” Geoffroy said. “You deal with crises first and try to manage the families that aren’t in crisis in between.”
The Department of Children and Families reports that the average annual increase in requests for services or investigations into potential child abuse, going back 10 years, is 2 percent. This year that number is expected to grow as much as 8 percent.
Though the DCF reports an average caseload across the state of 18 to 1, the volume in each office can vary. Cities like Lowell, Fitchburg and Springfield are hit the hardest.
The Child Welfare League of America recommends, on average, 12 to 15 cases per worker. Lowell’s official caseload in July was listed at 20 to 1, but as evidenced by the work being done by Keat and Geoffroy, numbers can deceive.
Gov. Deval Patrick, recognizing the need to put more case workers on the beat, allocated $5 million in his budget this year for hiring new social workers to reduce caseload. The Legislature moved that money into DCF Commissioner Angelo McLain’s general fund, giving him the discretion to spend it how he sees fit.
DCF spokeswoman Alison Goodwin said McLain’s goal is to use that money to reduce caseloads. Some union representatives said they have seen little movement to hire new case workers during the first few months of the fiscal year.
“We have been hiring and continue to add additional positions in an effort to approach caseloads of 18 or 17 to 1 across the state,” Goodwin said.
All new hiring appears to be in jeopardy. The Patrick administration is preparing to make potentially deep cuts across state government to balance the budget that has been hit hard by diminishing tax revenues, as the depressed economy takes its toll on businesses and residents across the country.
Patrick has slowed all non-essential hiring and asked the Legislature, cabinet secretaries and constitutional officers to cut as much as 7 percent from their budgets.
Those providing human services hope they will be spared.
“Our concern right now is not asking for pay raises. No one gets into this for the money. Our concern is the families we’re trying to take care of,” said Zevorah Ortéga-Bagni, the DCF investigations supervisor in Lowell and president of the local Service Employees International Union representing DCF workers.
Keat spends a good amount of her time working with Southeast Asian families in Lowell, translating for parents who speak little English and trying to keep them informed with what is happening in their children’s lives. She said she too often sees children under her care come home with gang-related tattoos or wearing gang colors, and their parents are oblivious to the significance.
“I’ve seen a sharp increase in gang activity and violence in the neighborhoods,” Keat said. “There’s a lot of stress on teenagers these days.”
Hard economic times also mean more stress on families, which leads to increased substance abuse, child abuse and neglect.
“It’s a domino effect,” said Ortéga-Bagni. “These folks are hit absolutely the hardest.”
Give yourselves a resounding round of applause! The
"All Areas Rally for Kids" in June was a great success. Nearly 900 social workers demonstrated for caseloads to be lowered! The message was ”We can’t protect children if we can’t see them! Caseloads must be lowered to save children!” (
more on the rally)
On July 21st, we learned that Commissioner McClain allocated
additional social worker positions for a increase of 89 social worker A/Bs, Cs, and Ds. At the August Statewide Labor Management Meeting, we will get a final list of which offices will receive additional workers. Deputy Commissioner Roche has assured the DCF Leadership Team that the first allocations will be to those area offices that have suffered with high caseloads for months.
The Leadership Team met with the Commissioner seeking
Alternative Working Solutions. I asked for this meeting in response to the rising cost of gasoline. While we appreciate the recent raise in the travel reimbursement rate, we all know that DCF social workers travel more and use more gasoline than any other state employees. We asked the Commissioner to consider:
• Telecommuting
• Job-sharing
• Pooling for long-distance trips to attend to children in group homes
• Four–day work weeks
We expect some response at the August SWLM meeting.
Please check this page often for additional updates from me and the rest of the Leadership Team.
Take care of yourselves as you take care of the Commonwealth’s children,
Zevorah
President of the DCF Chapter of SEIU Local 509
Vol. 1, Issue 4
August 2008
Christine Crean, Central Region Vice President
Peter MacKinnon, Northeast Region Vice President
Co-Chairs
Group 2: What Happened? By now most of you are aware that the Group 2 bill did not pass the legislative session by the July 31 deadline (most bills do not pass after this deadline).
The good news is that we were able to earn the support of the Joint Committee on Public Service, the House Committee on Ways and Means, and the Treasurer/Retirement Board. Because of this support, we are encouraged that when we re-file the bill, it will move more quickly though the committee process. And, as always, when we re-file the bill,
our version will include ALL DCF titles represented by Local 509.
A factor that might have lead to the bill’s demise included bad press around people who have taken advantage of retirement loopholes and disability benefits. There was also negative press when the legislators approved an increase in the cost of living for retirees.
In preparation for December, 2008, when we will re-file the bill (bills are filed at that time), the DCF Chapter Political Review Committee has already begun a number of steps to work towards its.
Stay tuned to the Political Review Newsletter for more updates.
It is important to remember that the DSS Chapter Leadership has been actively working on this bill for close to ten years now. We have made progress and have come too far to give up now, and we won’t give up fighting until we get what we deserve for all of our members.
We Want You! To join the Political Review Committee!
The DSS Chapter Political Review Committee was formed earlier this year by authorization of the DSS Chapter Executive Board with the task of reviewing legislation and political issues that affect our members. While only a few months old, the Committee has been busy working on the Group 2 bill. But there are several other bills and political issues that impact our members, and we need your help!
What would I do? Given the access we all have to email, the committee is essentially a “virtual committee,” with most of our communicating done via email. Text of bills is available electronically and our feedback and thoughts and suggestions can be transmitted electronically as well. We know everyone is very busy and we respect your time. But member involvement is important for us all to speak loudly, with one voice, on the issues that affect us directly. So get involved! Join! To sign up, send an email to Peter MacKinnon at dsslawrence@509seiu.com or Christine Crean at dssworcester@509seiu.com.
Questions? Comments? Contact either Christine Crean 508-234-1027 or Peter MacKinnon at 978-275-6816.