Report 2018-126 Recommendation 9 Responses

Report 2018-126: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services: It Has Not Adequately Ensured the Health and Safety of All Children in Its Care (Release Date: May 2019)

Recommendation #9 To: Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services

To improve the quality of supervisors' reviews and to allow it to hold supervisors accountable, the department should, by May 2020, reduce the number of social workers assigned to each supervisor to at least the ratio specified in its union contract.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2021

The Department continues its hiring efforts to fill its existing vacant SCSW items. As of October 6, 2021, 74 promotions to SCSWs were processed since January 2021 and there are currently 16 SCSW vacancies. According to the 2018 Memorandum of Understanding, Bargaining Unit 777 - Supervising Children's Social Worker, Article 44 - Caseloads, Section 1, the span-of-control ratio is 1:6 SCSW to CSW. Based on currently employed staff, there is one SCSW per every 5 CSWs.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From May 2021

In March 2021, the Department began efforts to reassess SCSW to CSW ratios after a lengthy hold on hiring initiatives due to pandemic-related fiscal curtailments. The SCSW Span of Control Labor Management workgroup resumed its regular meetings with Senior Management to discuss ratio reduction strategies and how to better support its SCSW workforce. The Department subsequently initiated a hiring campaign to fill its existing vacant SCSW items, and plans to have the positions filled within the next three months. The effort will bring the Department's SCSW to CSW ratio to an average of 5.4 for regional offices.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

1-Year Agency Response

The Supervising Children's Social Worker (SCSW) Span of Control Labor-Management Workgroup met five times from August 2019 through February 2020, to discuss strategies to reduce SCSW span of control.

As part of the workgroup's efforts, a review of SCSW roles and responsibilities across the regional offices and special programs was conducted; capacities of SCSWs in specialized, non-case-carrying, and non-supervisory units were evaluated and considered. The workgroup contemplated reapportioning SCSWs in these functions to supervisory roles over CSWs, but it was determined that reallocation of those SCSWs would pose a greater detriment to the Department's ability to fully and effectively implement the Shared Core Practice Model (CPM), since many of those SCSWs are CPM coach developers.

In addition, the Department requested 102 SCSW items for fiscal year 2020-2021 from the County's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to help reduce SCSW span of control. The March outbreak of the novel coronavirus however, placed budgetary restrictions on all County departments and operations and thwarted the Department's efforts to secure additional supervisory items for the purposes of further reducing SCSW to CSW ratios. Since the governing entities of Los Angeles County must now curtail spending and pursue conservative operation strategies to offset fiscal losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, DCFS will not actively pursue any major hiring initiatives at this time.

The Department will however, reassess the SCSW to CSW ratios when necessary and fiscally feasible, and make best efforts to maintain the reduced average from before the pandemic (i.e., 5.17 in February 2020).

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: No Action Taken

6-Month Agency Response

The Department formed a Supervising Children's Social Worker (SCSW) Span-of-Control Workgroup with its labor partners and convened meetings on August 29, 2019; September 12, 2019; October 24, 2019, and November 14, 2019, to strategize how best to meet and sustain a 1:6 SCSW to Children's Social Worker (CSW) span-of-control ratio.

As a result, the Department evaluated staffing levels to determine present SCSW to CSW span-of-control ratios, number of CSW/SCSW vacancies, and number of CSWs/SCSWs on leaves of absence. The Department also identified the regional offices with the highest number of SCSWs beyond the desired span-of-control ratio, and analyzed current staffing allocations in its Special Programs to determine if non-SCSW positions could be used in lieu of SCSWs to meet program needs.

Action plans for the Workgroup will include efforts to:

- Continue analysis of roles/responsibilities of SCSWs in specialized, non-case-carrying, or non-supervising units to determine whether redeployment to regional offices for traditional SCSW case-carrying use is a viable option;

- Develop a support and retention plan for SCSWs;

- Meet ideal SCSW to CSW span-of-control ratio of 1 to 5 (versus the 1 to 6 that is noted in the Department's 2018 Memorandum of Understanding with Bargaining Unit 777 - SCSW); and

- Acquire additional SCSW items to reduce caseloads for SCSWs overseeing units of CSWs.

The next SCSW Span-of-Control Workgroup meetings are scheduled for December 5, 2019.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Pending

60-Day Agency Response

The Department is allocating all SCSW items in efforts to staff the Department in accordance with the ratios established in the 2018 Memorandum of Understanding, Bargaining Unit 777 - Supervising Children's Social Worker, Article 44 - Caseloads, Section 1.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Pending

All Recommendations in 2018-126

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.