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CYS swamped with cases, outgrows offices

By Christine Haines chaines@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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Roberto M. Esquivel|Herald-Standard

Gina D’Auria, director of Fayette County’s Children and Youth Services, talks about the increased caseload following the state mandated change as to how suspected child abuse is reported.

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John Fritts, case work manager at Children and Youth Services, is surrounded by files stacked upon cabinets due to a lack of space. The Uniontown facility recently held a groundbreaking ceremony that will allow for construction of new offices at the current facility.

File cabinets crowd the hallways with boxes stacked high above them; desks are crammed into spaces at the end of aisles and the small lunch room now houses four paralegals.

Fayette County Children and Youth Services (FCCYS) had outgrown its current office space even before changes in the child abuse law increased the caseload by at least 50 percent.

“We just got approved to hire a new supervisor and four caseworkers,” said John Fritts, casework manager for FCCYS.

Those new hires will be tasked with handling the increase in investigations and assessments related to changes in the child abuse law this year.

“The majority of Children and Youth Services agencies have seen an increase of 50 to 80 percent,” said Tina Phillips, the director of training for the Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance, which provides the mandated reporter training for organizations across the state.

The new law adds new categories to those who are required to report suspected child abuse, including for the first time volunteers with direct supervisory contact with children on a regular basis, including scout and youth group leaders, coaches and others.

“This is a huge change, because volunteers had never been mandated reporters,” Phillips said.

The mandate doesn’t apply only to the time volunteers are engaged in the volunteer work. Just like other mandatory reporters such as teachers, healthcare professionals and childcare workers, the mandate applies 24/7, Phillips said.

“If someone makes a specific disclosure to a mandated reporter and there’s something to identify the child, that’s a mandatory report, 24/7, not just while they are volunteering,” Phillips said.

That means they must make a report to ChildLine, 800-932-0313, the service set up to handle child abuse reports 24 hours a day.

All paid and volunteer mandated reporters must also obtain clearances, now termed certifications, that they do not have a history of abuse. Those certifications must be obtained every five years and cost $8 for each Pennsylvania child abuse certification and Pennsylvania State Police certification and $27.50 for FBI certification. The state fees are waived for volunteers.

The law has also changed regarding the manner in which reports are to be made. A person who suspects abuse is now required to contact ChildLine directly, then make a report to his or her superior within the organization so the organization may make the necessary internal changes to protect children. Under the previous law an individual contacted his or her superior and that person contacted ChildLine.

Mandatory reporters also face increased penalties for willfully failing to report abuse, Phillips said. In the past, failure to report was considered a misdemeanor under the law. Now, Phillips said, if that failure results in additional abuse to a child, it may be considered a third degree felony, with the possibility of jail time.

Other changes in the law also have led to an increase in reports to CYS agencies and more founded cases, Fritts said.

“They’ve expanded the definition of what a perpetrator is and lowered the threshold,” Fritts said.

In the past, CYS only handled cases involving parents, guardians or other household members.

Gina D’Auria, the FCCYS administrator, said in the past abuse cases involving someone in the child’s immediate household were handled by CYS as well as by police if warranted, while cases involving all other perpetrators were handled only by police as a criminal matter. Now CYS is called in for most all cases of child abuse, regardless of whether the perpetrator is known.

“The change in the law has increased our workload 45 to 50 percent,” D’Auria said.

In addition to the new investigatory staff, the Fayette County Commissioner have approved the hiring of four new caseworkers.

With the current facility already at capacity, the county has also approved construction of a 3,400 square foot addition to the current FCCYS office. The ceremonial groundbreaking for the addition was held Thursday. The $779,500 addition is scheduled to be completed within six months.

“There will be room for 15 more people,” Fritts said of the new construction. “This exhausts every square footage we have available on this site.”

The addition will provide the agency with a second conference room and will allow it to bring six employees currently in a satellite office in Hopwood back into the main office, Fritts said, savign the money currently spent on rent. Modifications will also be made to the current building, Fritts said.

Meanwhile, the county is dealing with the lack of a state budget, since funding for CYS comes from the state and continuing its services is not discretionary.

“We’ve gone through this before during the last state budget impasse,” said County Commissioner Vince Zapotosky. “We’re still waiting for our fourth quarter reimbursement from the state from the 2014-15 budget year.”

Zapotosky said the county will provide money from the general fund to cover necessary expenses at FCCYS such as payroll, foster care and court expenses, until the state budget is approved and funds are released.

“Fortunately we have great providers who understand these things happen and are beyond our control,” Zapotosky said. “If it would continue into October/November, then it would be problematic.”

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