It seems that in Texas they are experiencing many of the problems we in Britain have come to associate with troubled local authority child protection services in places like Birmingham.
A report prepared for the Texas Department of Family and
Protective Services found that caseworkers spent only 26 percent of their time
working directly with children and families, because of ‘burdensome policies
and procedures’. It also found that staff turnover was as high as 40 percent
among frontline caseworkers in some areas.
The report’s author, John Stephen, comments that the
department "is filled with talented people who are utterly committed to
the children and families” and concludes, “It is time to let them do their jobs
with the tools and the empowerment they need.”
Maybe those trying to turn Birmingham services around should also focus
on the talents of the people who work there and on how to give them the freedom
and power to do a good job.
