The continuing influx of new families into Arizona is bringing with it growing workloads for Child Protective Services and possible “dangerous” situations, says David Berns, director of the Department of Economic Security.

“If workloads go up and up, we’ll never get ahead of the game,” he said.

In a May 31 interview with Arizona Capitol Times, Mr. Berns responded to an Auditor General’s report that a computer system that tracks investigations of reported child abuse and neglect often has spotty and inaccurate information, causing delays in working on cases.

He said caseworkers fall behind in entering information into the system, called CHILDS, because of their workloads in the field.

“It certainly is serious,” he said.

The report released last month made seven recommendations for improving the reliability of information provided by CHILDS, and Mr. Berns said all recommendations will be implemented.

The report recommended improved training for caseworkers and supervisors and a review to streamline CPS employees’ duties.

“Because the appropriateness of decisions made using case data is contingent on the data’s quality, inaccurate or incomplete information may lead to poor or dangerous decisions,” the auditor general wrote.

Paperwork Overloads Case Workers, Director Says

Mr. Berns said, “It’s not the workers’ fault. Safety is the top priority. They do an investigation, head back to input the data. As they sit down to do that, they have another investigation to go on. Sometimes the paperwork doesn’t get done.”

One CPS manager told auditors that addressing child safety issues comes first, and documenting the findings comes second.

“Therefore, if you have questions on my cases, don’t think you can get a picture from CHILDS,” the manager said. “However, we all know that if it is not documented, it didn’t happen, so this is a huge risk for the agency.”

CPS policy requires that findings from investigations into a child’s welfare be recorded in the computer system within 21 days of receiving a report of suspected abuse or neglect. Auditors found, however, that over a five-month period, an average of more than 5,000 of nearly 7,400 cases identified per month were missing the required findings one month after the investigation.

Forty-two per cent of case findings were still missing three months later, the report said.

And forty-two per cent of the staff that manages child cases told auditors that CHILDS data could not be relied upon for making good decisions.

“The system is a work in progress, even as we put in checks and balances [recommended by the auditor general],” Mr. Berns said.

Since 2002, CPS has requested 738 case management and support positions, and the Legislature approved 339. Most new caseworkers have been trained, he said, and there will be more positions to fill come July 1. —