Wednesday afternoon, social workers at the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services (CCDCFS) and leaders from AFSCME Local 1746 and AFSCME Ohio Council 8 rallied outside the Jane Edna Hunter Building in Cleveland.
They said social workers and other employees are facing increased violence from teens inside the childcare room, which is currently housing children who are waiting for placement in foster homes, treatment facilities and other living arrangements.
“It’s no longer a childcare room, let’s be honest,” said Yvette Helms, a longtime CCDCFS employee who currently works in quality control. “It is now a home for our teenagers who are unruly and delinquent- who should be handled by juvenile court… who have not stepped up to the plate to ensure their safety.”
AFSCME Ohio Council 8 said children threatening and assaulting workers is happening on a regular basis.
“Through a public records request, we actually asked the county to give us all the incident reports that have come out of the rooms where these children are being housed,” said R. Sean Grayson, president of AFSCME Ohio Council 8. “And between January 2022 and today, there have been more than 60 incidents. The problem that our employees face is they’re not trained to de-escalate violent situations. They do not have the authority to isolate children or remove them from the room, and so they’re literally in a situation of having to guess in any given situation when they feel threatened do they act. And how can they act.”
Helms spoke through tears at the rally. She said one of her co-workers was attacked last week.
“She has now been placed on desk duty because she was assaulted. She didn’t retaliate. She didn’t harm the child. The child did not want to go to placement,” Helms said. “She’s 62. She’s 62. She ready to retire, but she loves this job, and she is continuing to fight.”
The union is calling for more security, training, and other solutions.
“What we are asking for is for immediate temporary measure to be put in place as we solve this problem long term,” Grayson said. “And the first primary way to do that is to have security in the room- people who are trained to de-escalate situations like this. People that have the authority to isolate and make sure that things don’t escalate to violent situations and to deter kids from acting out in ways that might injure someone else. It’s no surprise when you’ve had children removed from the home that they’re under some trauma. And it’s no surprise that there may be instances where they act out where they become violent – and that’s what’s spilling over to injure our employees and injure children.”
News 5 has confirmed that two female CCDCFS employees have been charged with misdemeanor assault stemming from a physical altercation with a teen that occurred this summer at the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center.
Colleagues told News 5’s Damon Maloney the workers were simply defending themselves and that charges shouldn’t be filed.
The two workers' criminal pre-trial in Cleveland Municipal Court is scheduled for Sept. 20. They're currently on paid leave.
When asked about the charges against the CCDCFS workers, Grayson said, “I can’t say anything about their case. They’re represented by council, and I would not want to say anything that interfered.”
The Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center wasn’t designed to house children, and problems have been widely known.
In July, Cuyahoga County announced plans to create a child wellness campus where children can stay and receive treatment and family resources to address what’s been called a “placement crisis.”
Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne supports the creation of a child wellness campus. In a July press release, he said, “This new Wellness Campus leans on the success of the T-Suites by focusing not just on a child’s survival, but on their well-being too. I look forward to continuing this work with our community partners as we look toward a long-term local solution to what is a national placement crisis.”
Wednesday afternoon Cuyahoga County said the request for proposal (RFP) ended at 11 a.m. and they received four proposals which will be reviewed soon.
In response to the safety rally, the County said,
"We fully recognize the concerns raised by staff at Jane Edna Hunter. We understand the physical, mental, emotional, and professional challenges our employees face every day during this national placement and treatment crisis. While there is not one simple fix to this complex problem, we have taken numerous steps to address safety over the past year including modifications to the Jane Edna Hunter building, staffing support for the childcare room, and work is underway on a new Child Wellness Campus. The Child Wellness Campus will provide a safe place for children and teens to stay while receiving treatment and family resources. Ultimately, the ideal solution is to have a secure resource for children - that is not located in the Jane Edna Hunter building. We remain committed to the health, safety and wellness of all employees and the young people in our care.”
Helms said everyone plays a role in fixing the crisis.
“It’s going to take effort from everybody. The agency, children Services, juvenile court, our community partners (and) parents,” Helms said. “It’s going to take everybody to fix this problem.
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