Summit County is joining a national research project to look for ways to reduce case worker burnout in the field of child welfare.
Ohio officials estimate the turnover in such agencies is about six times the average rate compared to all other industries.
Elizabeth Fowler has been an in-take case worker for Summit County Children Services for three years. She noted case workers are visiting more families dealing with the opioid epidemic on top of other concerns like poverty and mental health issues.
"I think something that's making the job increasingly difficult-- from what a lot of different case workers have stated-- is that the cases have gotten more complex," Fowler said. "We see our parents overdose. Sometimes you do have to go to schools or speak with our children that are on your caseload about their parents who may have passed away from an overdose."
Summit County Children Services has 670 children in its custody. Fowler said she has a current caseload of 18.
"That's typically high for me," she said.
Valarie Nash, the agency's deputy executive director of human resources, said the county is excited to take part in a national project to reduce turnover in the industry. She added Summit County has "always been on the forefront of innovation."
"Our turnover here is lower than most, but I will say in 2017, it was one of the highest it has been for several years, around the seven percent mark. That's high for us, but it's low within our industry," Nash said.
The project, funded by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services, will survey case workers several times, look at how colleges train future case workers and examine ways to keep them on the job longer.
"This will give us a nice platform on how we go forward, in which areas we need to focus on primarily," Nash said.
Nash added Summit County case workers spend 50 percent of their time on documentation. She hopes the project will reduce that amount, allowing case workers more "hands-on time" with families in need.
"We have a lot of families who are in stress and the stress causes them to have issues in the home."
The other counties taking part in the three-year project are Champaign, Clark, Hamilton, Knox, Montgomery, Trumbull and Wayne.
