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* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…
In recent years, the volume of calls coming into DCFS’ hotline — 800-25-ABUSE — has risen precipitously, and hotline staffers have not been able to keep up with the increase in calls. A May audit from Auditor General Frank Mautino’s office found that timeliness for completing investigations declined significantly between 2015 and 2017, both the focus of the biennial audit and the timeframe in which the state went without an operating budget for two years. […]
In the wake of media attention and increased legislative scrutiny on the troubled agency throughout 2019, DCFS last month told lawmakers it plans to hire 20 more workers for the hotline as part of an overall plan to add dozens more people to DCFS’ payroll, including 71 more child protection investigators.
In order to hire the 20 additional hotline workers as fast as possible, a unit within AFSCME Council 31, the umbrella union that represents most state employees, has waived a provision in its contract that requires internal candidates — who are also covered by AFSCME’s contract — to get the first chance at those jobs.
The overarching AFSCME contract for state workers normally requires job vacancies to be first posted internally bidding for at least 10 working days to give internal candidates the first shot at openings.
AFSCME Council 31 spokesperson Anders Lindall said it’s not unusual for individual units within AFSCME Council 31, including the unit that covers DCFS workers in Springfield, where the hotline is located, to negotiate certain waivers in a supplemental agreement in order to achieve a goal — in this case, reducing call volumes for overwhelmed workers.
But there’s another potential contract-related issue, so go read the rest.
* More progress reported by Justin Carter at WICS TV…
A few weeks ago, we told you DCFS is struggling to hire bilingual employees.
It’s state law to have at least 194 on board.
As of July, there are 189 bilingual employees on DCFS staff. […]
In June 2018, under the Rauner administration, DCFS only had 158 bilingual employees on staff.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 10:51 am
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It is worth noting that Pro Publica broke the story back in June of recent federal hiring violations at DCFS under the Burgos consent decree, in an epic piece by Melissa Sanchez and Duaa Eldeib.
At the time, the spokesperson for DCFS suggested the department had been doing everything humanly possible to comply with the Burgos consent decree, stepping across the line to attack the department’s own watchdog, Lourdes Rodriguez, when he said “Lourdes’ opinion that she needs to have that notification (of the deaths of Latino children) is her own opinion.”
It’s amazing how much easier it got to hire bilingual social workers and how quickly once a major negative news story breaks, I hope Deputy Governor Sol Flores irons out the other Burgos violations quickly as well.
Comment by James McIntyre Fan Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 11:19 am
Hey, peeps, this post is kind of important. I thought for sure there’d be more comments.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 12:48 pm
Labor allowing a waiver for the common good and need at DCFS is critical towards those most in need and the goal in services can be met.
Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 12:56 pm
Some good progress…let’s keep it up. Would like to see the union continue to be flexible in order to address the greater challenges facing this agency and more funding to hire positions needed to address the demands it faces.
Comment by Shytown Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 3:21 pm
Good news indeed. I am pleased that everyone was able to prioritize children’s safety above all to get these positions filled ASAP.
Comment by pawn Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 3:31 pm
== I thought for sure there’d be more comments. ==
I’ve made my thoughts on DCFS known before. Burned out on it.
Family used to work there from way back when it was still part of Mental Health. As Rich has often noted, one of the hot seat agencies where you often can’t win.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Oct 1, 19 @ 6:06 pm