The New York State Office of Child and Family Services has been tracking turnover rates of Child Protective Services caseworkers since 2000, in order to find a way to improve retention.
Statistics from 2000-2008* show that Saratoga County has a 39% average turnover rate. Only Cortland and Tioga counties have higher rates. Saratoga County's worst year was 2001 when its rate was 51%, which means that half of the caseworkers left that year. Its best year was 2003 when the turnover rate was 29%.
Sheila Poole, Associate Commissioner of the Office of Child and Family Services, has stated that “Instability in the child welfare workforce has a direct impact on the quality of services provided to families."
When you combine the high turnover rate of caseworkers in Saratoga County over the past decade with the unethical conduct of Family Court judge, Gilbert Abramson, and the alleged false credentials of a psychologist who did evaluations for Child Protective Services and family court, it is understandable why many people in Saratoga County, who have had to deal with CPS and family court, believe that they did not receive justice.
Judge Abramson is gone. The psychologist is gone. Now Saratoga County needs to make sure it hires qualified caseworkers and find a means to retain them. Meanwhile the county should do its own investigation into why four out of ten caseworkers leave every year.
*Statistics for 2009 and 2010 are not yet available.
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