Tulsa, OK- The Department of Human Services will be reducing it's workforce to under 1,000 child welfare workers. This includes case workers and investigative workers.
These reductions come at a time when the department is under fire for alleged abuse on the part of workers.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against the agency and a report calls DHS "pathetically deficient" when it comes to the care of children in its custody.
DHS says this latest announcement has nothing to do with this lawsuit.
"No one wants to see a child hurt and no one wants to endanger a child's safety," said Desiree Doherty, who knows from experience as the Executive Director of the Parent/Child Center of Tulsa that the likelihood is children could fall through the cracks of what she calls a "fragmented" child welfare system.
"I'm very concerned about the manageability of caseloads," she said. "It's so important for DHS case workers to have manageable case loads so they truly can focus time and energy on providing services for their children in their home or working hard to reunify them with their families."
Spokesperson for DHS, Lauri Monetti, tells us when it comes to the reduction in child welfare workers "DHS believes children will not be impacted" and some of the positions could be refilled wherever there's a need for caseworkers or investigative workers.
The reason behind the reduction is a dwindling state budget that's forced the department to look at cutting back on staff because of fewer children in state custody.
One of the reasons why there are fewer Oklahoma children in state custody, Doherty and Monetti say- is a new program that mandates 24-hour response of caseworkers whenever a child has to be taken out of the home.
In the past, police would take a child directly to a shelter and the agency would get involved days later.
While the elimination of child welfare worker positions may be a necessary evil, child welfare advocates like Doherty say they're worried worsening economic conditions force more children to get help from the state with disastrous results.
"If the number of clients they're expected to serve goes back up and rises, then certainly it becomes almost an impossible task."
