INDIANAPOLIS — A new report from the Indiana Department of Child Services shows a third of the state is not meeting caseload standards meant to protect children from abuse and neglect.
As WRTV Investigates reported in Kids In Our Care: Pressing for Change, high caseloads result in burnout and turnover among family case managers and can lengthen the amount of time children spend in the child welfare system.
According to DCS, high turnover can result in:
- Longer stays for children in foster care
- Delays in timely assessments of allegations of abuse and neglect
- Disruptions in child placements
- Increased rates of repeat maltreatment
In fiscal year 2024, the turnover rate was 37% among family case managers, up from 33% in 2023.
The DCS annual staffing and caseload report shows 6 out of 19 regions were out of compliance, including regions 3, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 16, which are shaded in orange and red in the map below.
Indiana law currently requires DCS to abide by the 12/12/13 standard.
The 12/12/13 standard requires each region to have enough family case managers to allow caseloads to be no more than:
- 12 active cases relating to initial assessments, including investigations of an allegation of child abuse or neglect; or
- 12 families monitored and supervised in active cases relating to ongoing in-home services; or
- 13 children monitored and supervised in active cases relating to ongoing services who are in out-of-home placements.
“Instead of being discouraged, we should be motivated to do better,” said State Senator David Niezgodski. “DCS needs to work closely with the legislature to attract and retain family case managers, especially after losing 789 staff members even while gaining 967 new hires.”
Niezgodski emphasized the importance of supporting family case managers to ensure children across Indiana are protected and families receive the help they need.
“In Region 3, which includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, Kosciusko and Marshall counties, DCS is short about 40 family case managers,” said Niezgodski. “These individuals are on the front lines. We need to support them and build a strong pipeline to ensure every county is staffed and meeting statutory requirements.”
Former DCS caseworker Moriah Coons said at times she worked 60 hours a week, juggling as many as 29 kids at once— children who were victims of horrific child abuse and neglect.
"It created so much depression and anxiety in me; it was a constant battle," said Coons. “These people are at the hardest point in their entire lives, and I have to be the person to help pick up the pieces.”
DCS launched a new Worker2Worker hotline, which allows current employees to talk to retired caseworkers.
New DCS director Adam Krupp says he’s working to change the culture for the 4,000 workers at DCS, many of whom experience stress and burnout.
WRTV Investigates asked Krupp what the current turnover numbers are.
“Our turnover rate is still in the same range,” said Krupp. “We simply haven’t had enough time to make a meaningful impact on that."
Krupp said he’s been working to improve retention and turnover by meeting with family case managers across the state.
“I’ve been to 54 offices and sat down with our staff, and I have many more to go,” said Krupp.
Krupp says since he took office, they’ve filled more than 100 family case manager positions.
As part of Project Awaken, DCS whittled its 18 geographic regions down to 5.
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"We removed layers of upper management,” said Krupp. “We eliminated some things from the back office so we could focus our efforts and our resources to the front office. I’m much closer to the family case managers who are working on the front lines than I was in January, by several layers of management.”
