Counties across Colorado, urban and rural, struggle to hire and keep child protection caseworkers, a high-stress, sometimes traumatic job with low pay. Solving this problem is the target of new legislation from a state lawmaker who is a former caseworker.
from Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, would create caseworker “resiliency programs” to help them handle the “secondary trauma” brought on by their jobs. Secondary trauma is the indirect exposure to trauma through a firsthand account, such as investigating and interviewing children about abuse and neglect.
The plan is for the task force to come up with ways that caseworkers could take time off to recover from stress and trauma, and could get therapy to deal with the “grotesque things that they are exposed to,” said Singer, who said he has lingering issues with certain power tools and even giving his own child a bath because of cases involving torture and drowning.
Some counties in the Denver area might hire their own mental health professional, while rural counties could use telemedicine to provide regular therapy to caseworkers, he said.
The national average for a caseworker’s employment is less than two years, with annual turnover rates climbing as high as 60 percent. One study found that children whose caseworkers quit stay in foster care an average of eight months longer than they would have otherwise, Singer said. “Think of the gut-wrenching effects to the kid, and that family and the community when that kid can’t be back with their family,” he said.
Sabrina Burbidge, deputy state child protection ombudsman and a former caseworker, testified in favor of the bill at its first hearing Tuesday, telling lawmakers that caseworkers often arrive at crime scenes involving children alongside law enforcement. “These caseworkers walk into homes every day that are riddled with addiction, domestic violence,” she said. “They take a piece of that home with them every night.”
Task force members would include caseworkers, county officials, child advocates and other professionals, according to House Bill 1283. Metropolitan State University has offered to organize the task force’s work.
The bill passed its first hearing with a 10-3 vote in the House Public Health Care & Human Services.