Case Load Blues

An article in the Austin-American Statesman discusses the limit on the caseload for Child Protective Services (CPS) workers for the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FDLS) children recently removed El Dorado. The article informs the reader in depth about the situation in El Dorado where over four hundred children were recently removed from a religious sect where many underage girls were forced into polygamous unions with older men.

The article then returns to discussing the case load cap for these FDLS CPS workers and whether or not the difference in case loads between the FDLS CPS workers and average Texas CPS workers is fair. The average caseload for the FDLS workers is fifteen cases, while most Texas CPS workers have an average caseload of forty-three cases. There is a major point made in favor of the lower case loads for the FDLS CPS workers, which is that all of these cases are new and therefore require more investigative work than is required of a CPS worker who is with a long term case.

However, the point in this article that stood out the most to me was the point that was unfortunately least emphasized: The national average case load for CPS workers is about nineteen, while the average in Texas is forty-three cases. This is an unbelievable difference! According to the article, there is also a very high turnover rate for CPS workers in Texas because of these high case loads as well as a low starting salary of between $25,000 and $30,000 a year. These salaries are much too low for people who are working on what I think is one of the most important functions of the state, taking care of Texas children! I am personally horrified by these numbers.