The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury issued a scathing report of Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services on Tuesday, keying in on the department’s inability to retain case managers and its failures to guarantee the health and safety of children in state custody. The report includes 13 official recommendations and two considerations for legislators.
The report details DCS’ struggle to hire, retain and manage employees, and the burden that high turnover — near 50 percent this year for case managers — puts on remaining employees. The comptroller’s office found that the state faces a “crisis-level shortage” of housing options for children in government custody, a breakdown in the placement system that has resulted in the use of state office buildings and temporary transitional housing. The comptroller's office also cites the department’s lack of response to reports of abuse and neglect, specifically sexual abuse and harassment among children in residential facilities.
Commissioner Margie Quin acknowledged many of the department’s failures to Gov. Bill Lee during her department’s budget hearing in November. “It is no secret that DCS has struggled to hire and retain staff, and as a result, seen unusually high caseload averages throughout the state, especially hard-hit staffing areas like Davidson County,” Quin said in her opening statement. At the hearing, Quin reported that there were 8,416 children in state custody at the end of October 2022. As of Nov. 17, the department had 486 vacant case manager positions. Quin requested increased funding to help attract and keep case managers particularly in areas like Nashville, where a high cost of living adds barriers to hiring and retention.
Department leadership has failed to “assess risks or develop controls” in response to previous reports and repeated recommendations, says the report. The report calls on DCS to revise its 2020-2024 plan, which insufficiently addresses the challenges facing the department, and develop a long-term strategic plan that will allow DCS to address “long-standing and current issues.”
