TexProtects Applauds CPS Pay Raise Proposal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 28, 2016
Contact: Lee Nichols
512-796-9877
Lee@texprotects.org

Dallas, Texas — On Thursday, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Henry “Hank” Whitman released his plan to stem high turnover at Child Protective Services, including a $12,000 across-the-board raise for Child Protective Services for ever caseworker, supervisor, and front-line administrator. Madeline McClure, founding CEO of TexProtects, the Texas Association for the Protection of Children, issued the following response.

“I’m thrilled that we finally have a commissioner who’s willing to ask for what the agency needs. TexProtects has been calling for pay at CPS that is competitive and market-driven for more than a decade – I hope the Legislature will now answer that call.

“High turnover within CPS is dangerous for children and costly for taxpayers. Children who have the courage to make an outcry about their abuse, to only have CPS ignore them for hundreds of days due to overwhelming workloads, is heartbreaking. Turnover creates horrific caseloads for remaining staff and we must not beat on those frontline workers for not achieving the impossible.

“Children who have been abused or neglected need a stable, permanent home. Their chances of finding that stability are greatly reduced every time they are handed off from one caseworker to another due to turnover. Also, it costs an average of $54,000 to train a CPS caseworker – that money is wasted every time a caseworker leaves, often within a year of hiring.

“Higher pay will attract more qualified applicants to CPS positions, and it will encourage them to stay. This won’t solve all of CPS’s problems, but stabilizing and improving the workforce is key to making other solutions possible.”

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TexProtects, The Texas Association for the Protection of Children, was created to tackle issues of Child Protective Services (CPS) reform, prevention and public awareness to bring a collective, organized voice representing the needs of children at risk of abuse and survivors of child abuse and neglect. The organization is autonomous, nonpartisan and nonpolitical, designed to educate decision makers, private funders and the public at large. To date, it is the only Texas organization that has a dedicated focus on the main issues of protection, prevention, and healing of abused and neglected children. For more information, please visit www.TexProtects.org.