An increase of investigations of child neglect and child abuse—there were 21 cases in June alone—have spurred Oconto County to hire an additional employee in the Department of Health and Human Services.
The County Board on Thursday approved hiring a third initial assessment worker for the department. The estimated annual salary for the position is $42,330 to $44,760; benefits will bring the cost close to $70,000.
Misty Hommerding, Child Protective Services supervisor, said the two current workers struggle to keep up with the caseload.
The office investigated 99 reports in 2011, 124 in 2012 and 154 in 2013, according to Hommerding, and is on pace to receive 160 reports in 2014.
In an e-mail to the Times Herald, Hommerding said she wasn’t sure why cases have increased, although it’s a trend many counties are experiencing.
“We are about two years behind this trend,” she said.
According to Hommerding, staff training has made counties better at standardizing intake and making screening decisions.
“This means that even though report numbers may have been similar from year to year, the number of investigations has increased,” she said.
Mandated reporters, such as child care providers and teachers, have also received more training, which may have led to more reports being filed, she said.
Hommerding said workers in surrounding counties carry a case load of four investigations per month. Oconto County averages 6.6 cases, but some months, employees have handled eight or nine cases.
Hommerding said the department has enlisted the help of staff members in the Health and Human Services Department to perform investigations.
“We have tried for the past two years to spread out the investigations to other staff who are adequately trained to do so. However, this takes away from the job they were hired to do and impacts the services they can provide,” Hommerding wrote in an e-mail. “We have interns help as much as they can, and I myself take investigations when I can as well. The hiring of a new IA worker will help alleviate this load.”
She said an investigation takes an average of 60 days to complete and includes interviewing all people in a household and gathering information from collateral sources such as doctors, police departments and school officials.
The gathered information must be documented and then reviewed by Hommerding, all within that 60 days.
Child Protective Services employed three initial assessment workers until 2009, when a retirement led to a restructuring of the department. The third position was left vacant, and a supervisor was hired to meet the department’s changing needs.
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