This may not be the place to post this one...but during my time in the crimes against children unit and since, I have worked closely with many diligent and caring CPS investigators and ongoing workers. I understand the need to hire more staff but I hope that the new brass there will concentrate equally on retention. There will be an immediate benefit in savings on training costs and an uptick in morale.I have seen far too many hardworking and conscientious people leave the agency.

The agency at times seems almost soviet in its bureaucracy. Low pay, high caseloads, stupifying responsibility and a contemptuous condescension from upper management conspire to run off the best and brightest. Above all, I hope that Kerry Cockrell,our former director of juvenile services here in Tarrant County, will convert the agency to a meritocracy. For now, those who work hardest get more work, those who produce least get less and everyone's paycheck looks the same.

I completely agree with your assessments. I would only add my fear that, unless more of a premimum is placed on merit and experience, the current pressure cooker in which the agency finds itself will result in a focus on quantity rather than quality. Inescapably, that leaves those of us in CA/DA offices to be (stealing and paraphrasing from Monty Python) the Knights Who Say No. Interagency relations do not flourish under those conditions.

The biggest problem that I see with CPS is in keeping their good people. Lets face it, being a CPS worker is not easy - you're underpaid, underappreciated, and see the worst side of our society (sounds a lot like what we frequently do!). Despite all of this, to my understanding, they get paid worse than teachers and still have to have a comparable or greater level of education (and they have to be on call some nights and weekends and don't get summers off!). A pay raise or some kind of improved pay scale certainly won't solve all of the problems CPS is going through, but it sure would be a start and a big morale booster.

Some sort of internal accountability requirements that focus on consistency would also be a vast improvement.