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.”

A full report appears in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.