To the editor:

A recent article and editorial highlight turnover in the Douglas County child welfare system. I find your coverage flawed.

While neither piece cites the local turnover rate, you insist that “unusual” worker turnover “plagues” the child welfare system. This conclusion relies on an appointed public official’s observation regarding a single case, the CASA director’s claim of “an extraordinary amount of turnover” and a board attorney’s guess that turnover is “probably as bad as I’ve ever seen it.” I don’t doubt turnover is an issue; perhaps the rate is even increasing. But characterizing current turnover in the provocative manner you do demands more objective measurement and less subjective opinion.

You also unfairly pin a systemic problem on child welfare agencies. Isolating these agencies neglects the role courts, CASAs, attorneys and others play in worker turnover.  More unfortunately, you write that worker turnover is causing children to remain in the system longer. Not only is such reasoning simplistic, it faults child welfare workers rather than the system in which they operate. 

Finally, your portrayal of child welfare agencies in disarray compounds the very problem of recruitment and retention.  By engaging in this brand of reporting and editorializing, you perpetuate misconceptions about child welfare work and those who do it.  For instance, leveraging a job advertisement to raise doubt about the abilities of those actually hired as family support workers seems irresponsible. Child welfare workers endure plenty of scrutiny (deserved and not) from fellow professionals; you need not add your ill-informed judgments.