To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Cheryl Ternes, Director, Human Services
Prepared By:
prepared
Michelle Dossey, Child & Adult Protection Services (CAPS) Division Manager, Human Services
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presenter
Presenter:
Cheryl Ternes, Director, Human Services; Michelle Dossey, Child/Adult Protection Services Division Manager, Human Services; Suzanna Dobbins, Finance Division Manager, Human Services
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Subject:
title
2:00 PM *Approval of Assessment/Case Cap Stipend for Child Welfare Caseworkers
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
Colorado County Departments of Human Services are statutorily required to respond and intervene on child protection assessments and cases, regardless of the available number of caseworkers to manage these caseloads. As a result of significant vacancies within the CAPS Division, an Assessment/Case Cap Stipend policy has been drafted to mitigate these concerns. Approval by the Board of County Commissioners is being sought to implement the proposed Assessment/Case Cap Stipend policy.
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Background and Discussion: To ensure that children and families receive the highest quality of service in safety, permanency and wellbeing, the National Child Welfare best practice standards recommend that each Intake and Permanency Caseworker carry no more than 10-12 assessments or cases. Child welfare agencies are required to ensure that each assessment or case has an assigned caseworker to conduct case work, despite the number of caseworkers available to take those assessments or cases. Since early 2023, the CAPS Division has struggled to hire and retain, as well as certify caseworkers. As a result, our Intake Caseworkers have been carrying on average 20-30 assessments each, and Permanency Caseworkers have been carrying on average 16-21 cases each.
We have implemented a number of strategies to increase retention in order to stabilize our workforce. We have also consulted with the other large 11 counties to consider ot...
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