Retired CPS official looks back
As she contemplated retirement in 2010, Veronica Bossack was offered the toughest job of her career.
And she did what she had always done during more than three decades at the Arizona Department of Economic Security: She said yes.
After 36 years at the DES, the last two as an assistant DES director overseeing the Division of Children, Youth and Families, which includes the embattled Child Protective Services, Bossack retired last week. Bossack, 57, sat down with
on her first official day of retirement to discuss CPS and her career.
Bossack started as a clerk typist in 1976 for the DES Division of Benefits and Medical Eligibility in her hometown, Douglas, and was running the division in December 2010 when she took over at DCYF.
She presided over a period of unprecedented growth in the state’s foster-care population, a shortage of foster homes and rampant turnover among CPS caseworkers.
Bossack stepped in just months before the agency would come under scrutiny from the governor, lawmakers, the county attorney and the public following the deaths of several children whose families were known to CPS.
But in recent months, the number of children in foster care has steadied.
There is a net increase in foster homes, and Bossack and other DES officials believe they’re beginning to see the results of two years of internal process improvements, including streamlined CPS investigations and stepped-up recruitment of CPS workers.
Question: What’s the most important thing the state Legislature can do for children this session? What message would you like to leave them with as you retire?
Answer: For them to support the governor’s request to give us the additional150 (CPS) staff, which will tremendously help with the capacity issues that we have ...
I think that if they don’t, caseloads will continue to increase to levels that are pretty frightening. And we will not be able to keep staff because they will not be able to keep up with the work, and they will be overwhelmed and not be able to feel that they’re helping children appropriately because their caseloads are out of control.
Q: Your agency has struggled to hire and retain CPS workers in the past. What does the agency need to do to keep caseworkers from quitting?
A: Reduce caseloads. Reduce caseloads. We are doing a better job at on-boarding (new) staff so that it’s more consistent, and they’re all getting the same message. ... A lot of times, staff were sitting in training and saying, ‘Well I was told this’ and ‘I was told that.’ You start wondering, ‘Is this really the place I want to work at? It doesn’t seem like they have their act together.’
Q: Did you ever regret the move (from the Division of Benefits and Medical Eligibility) given the spotlight that the DCYF has been under the past two years?
A: Never ... I can’t say that I’ve regretted it at all. It’s prob- ably been the most challenging of all my career, but I believe that it’s probably been very rewarding ...
The reward is just seeing the staff that work for CPS, how dedicated (they are). This is such a noble job.
Their job is probably one of the most difficult jobs. And I have a tremendous amount of respect for the staff who knock on those doors day in and day out.
Q: What regrets do you have? What do you wish you could’ve accomplished?
A: The work in CPS will always be unfinished work. I think you have to continuously be working at it. ... You have to always question, is it being done the right way? ... It’s a neverending job. Everywhere you turn it has an impact on that child, and it has an impact on the ability for that worker to do their job.
Q: Why do you think the number of kids in care has grown so dramatically over the past few years?
A: We’re definitely taking more calls. There’s heightened awareness, and the community is making those calls. ... It’s unfortunate that the numbers have grown.
Q: Do you think it’s all just heightened awareness or do you think there are other factors at work?
A: A lot of our calls are neglect. And I believe that some of these families, if they could go down a different path ... and that requires prevention.
If they could go in that door and maybe get some of those necessary prevention (services) ... if we could keep them from coming into the system by taking them (through) that other door, and wrap the proper supports necessary for that family to not come into CPS ... going down that prevention path would eventually help the numbers. Neglect is the Number 1 reason we remove kids.