JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - The new head of Mississippi’s troubled foster care system has a simple message for current and aspiring social workers - Come work for him.
Speaking Thursday at the Mississippi Child Welfare Institute Conference, former state Supreme Court Justice David Chandler said his agency needs to hire nearly 250 social workers and supervisors in coming months. He’s encouraging the leaders of social work education programs to steer applicants to the agency, saying a projected pay raise could make the jobs more attractive.
“My agency is facing the challenge of its history,” said Chandler, who leads the Division of Family and Children’s Services. “Our capability to care for the children we are responsible for is insufficient. We need lots of help and we’re willing to pay.”
U.S. District Judge Tom Lee has ordered the state to show improvement by May 15 in the long-running Olivia Y lawsuit or risk the judge taking over child welfare operations. The case is named after a then-young girl who was one of eight children who lawyers said had been abused because of the state’s failures.
Chandler, who took over in December, says he thinks more workers will help improve things, but a court monitor also recently criticized “demonstrable shortcomings” in management and accountability, saying in some cases, there appeared to be no systematic procedures in place to protect foster children. That report found that performance declined in all but one of 13 regions statewide in the year ended June 30, and none met even half the standards set under a previous court order.
Gov. Phil Bryant is asking the Legislature to add $34.5 million to the division’s budget to pay for more people and increase salaries, which would boost state spending by 43 percent. The starting salary for social workers, who typically need college degrees, is less than $28,000 a year according to the Department of Human Services website. Chandler said the division believes it needs to boost salaries by around $3,000 a year for social workers, and by more for supervisors.
Bryant has also promised Lee he will make the division a separate department, moving it out from under the Department of Human Services.
“I am concerned if we cannot make some aggressive commitments to foster care in the state, then the courts will do so for us,” Bryant said in his State of the State speech Tuesday.
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