Department of Social Services Employees are saying their administration isn’t representing their needs when it comes to requesting money for staff. Children’s Service Division case worker and President of the Missouri State Workers’ Union Bradley Harmon says there’s been a hiring freeze in the Division since 2009, and the number of case workers for the Family Support Division are dwindling. He says this puts more pressure on workers, and means a lesser quality of care for recipients. But he says the Department’s administration doesn’t see this as a problem.
But Harmon says the best practices standard for case workers is about 300 cases each. He says in recent hearings, caseworkers talked about having more than a thousand cases at a time in St. Louis and Kansas City. These case workers are helping people with services like food stamps and medicare.
AUDIO Allison Blood reports Mp3 [1:03]