Charlie Johns, Butler County Children and Youth Services director, said he agrees with a report on challenges facing child welfare agencies across the state, but he is glad the county agency doesn’t have the employee turnover problems cited in the report.

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale briefed the House Children and Youth Committee Monday about his “State of the Child” report, which was released in September.

The result of a yearlong review of CYS agencies across the state, the 80-page report makes observations and recommendations for improvement.

DePasquale said $1.8 billion in state, county and federal dollars were spent on CYS operations in Pennsylvania last year. Still, dozens of children died or suffered severe injuries from abuse.

“We spent nearly $2 billion in 2016, yet 46 children died and 79 nearly died from abuse that year. What really disturbs me is that nearly half of the children who died were in families that were already known to CYS,” DePasquale said.

The report highlights five challenges that DePasquale says severely impact caseworkers’ ability to do their jobs effectively.

“I can’t find anything in it that I disagree with him on,” Johns said. He called the report well-researched and well-presented.

The challenges that CYS agencies face are difficulty finding enough qualified professionals, inadequate training, heavy caseloads and burdensome paperwork, low pay and high turnover rates, according to the report. But Johns said the county’s CYS office doesn’t suffer from many of the problems.

“Turnover is not a problem in Butler County, but a lot of my colleagues have that problem. That’s almost unique to us. Our case workers are dedicated and are compensated what I would call rather well,” Johns said. “We have a great staff.”

He said the last time a caseworker was hired was a year and a half ago and only two and half positions have been added since 2014 in response to increased case assignments.

The county agency employs 27.5 case workers, six case work supervisors, two case work managers, six clerical workers and their supervisor, three fiscal workers and John.

The case workers’ experience ranges from two to 25 years, he said. In some counties, a case worker with two years experience would be the most tenured staff member.

“In a lot of counties that would put them at the top of the list,” said Johns, who has been with the county agency for 17 years.

Intake workers receive at least 12 assignments a month, but not all of those cases require additional services, and each case worker has 10 to 14 cases, Johns said.

He said the positions added since 2014 were the result of revisions the Legislature made to the Child Protective Services Law in 2015 in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky juvenile abuse cases.

The revisions increase the number of people required to report suspected abuse, expand the definition of abuse and increase paperwork for CYS agencies.

DePasquale’s report says those changes have resulted in more cases and more stress on CYS staff.

“I would agree with him on both counts. Locally, our abuse allegations have doubled since 2014 if not more,” Johns said. “It all adds up to lot more paperwork. They aren’t seeing kids when they’re doing paperwork.”

The report, which is on the auditor general’s website, includes 17 recommendations for the Department of Human Services, General Assembly, county governments, CYS agencies and the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work to improve child welfare services.

State Rep. Tedd Nesbit, R-8th, said he agrees with most of DePasquale’s report and said changes are needed

“I agree with most of what he’s come up with. I’ve represented the agency and parents in Mercer County. The situation is not ideal,” Nesbit said.

CYS case worker isn’t a job many people would want and many people who case workers deal with don’t want to see them, he said.

“Turnover of case workers is a problem. It’s not just a matter of spending more money. It’s a matter of improving the system so they don’t have the high rate of turnover they have now. We’re putting them in very difficult situations,” Nesbit said. “Improvements are needed because we’re losing too many kids.”

Johns said he would like to see more support for CYS agencies from all levels of government and to see the Legislature re-evaluate laws and best practices.

“We can respond to a lot of things, but, at home and in court, our intervention can be cut or eliminated. There are times we would like to do what’s in our heart, but laws and regulations prohibit that. A lot of times we’re not the only ones making the decision, but we take responsibility for it. We embrace the responsibility of 41,000 children everyday,” Johns said, referring to the number of county residents under 18 years old.