Staffing within the child welfare system can have direct impacts on the children and families within it.
As counties are seeing high turnover rates and losing experienced caseworkers, they’re quickly trying to onboard new ones. However, sometimes counties will have to bring in a large number of caseworkers with only years, or even months of experience.
Rachael Miller, policy director with Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (PPC), said caseworker turnover has significant impacts on the overall system.
She said caseworkers with not as much experience aren’t as fluent in navigating the system as more seasoned caseworkers. She said this can leave children in the system longer.
“When you have caseworkers that are not necessarily seasoned, you can see things like cases being open longer, having the agency involved longer,” Miller said.