Nearly half of new DCS caseworkers exit quickly

Workers leaving Tenn. agency within 1st year

Nearly half of all new Tennessee Department of Children’s Services caseworkers quit within their first year, Commissioner Margie Quin said Thursday during a budget meeting to request increased funding to raise departmental salaries.

Quin called the turnover rate “horrific” as the department faces a challenge of correcting years of systemic staffing woes and increased numbers of children in state foster care. DCS reports a 47.7% turnover rate for firstyear case managers in fiscal year 2023, with an overall average turnover rate just above 25%.

“It is no secret that DCS has failed to hire and retain staff, and as a result has seen unusually high caseload averages throughout the state, especially in hard-hit staffing areas like Davidson County,” Quin told Gov. Bill Lee and his budget staff.

Davidson County is “woefully understaffed,” Quin said, and the department has about 486 openings statewide that need to be filled.

“We think some salary increases will help us in these urban areas that are so hard hit. It is very difficult to staff at the opening salary of $40,000, which requires a college degree,” Quin said. “That’s a really difficult starting salary for some of these areas we’re asking them to live.”

DCS is requesting $156 million in new funding for fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1, with a $15.8 million case manager salary increase. The budget request also includes a more than $30 million increase for providers, the contracted companies DCS often places children with, $5.7 million for adoption services and $7.4 million for “prevention” services.

A large chunk of the increase would be devoted to a new technology system. Quin said Thursday $69.3 million was needed to overhaul an outdated system that is responsible for tracking

tens of thousands of foster child, foster parent and providers cases. Quin said the state was already paying millions to maintain the outdated system.

Quin also requested $11.4 million for private provider case management as DCS struggles to keep its head above water due to the staffing shortages. The commissioner said Tennessee did not want to move toward full-time privatization, but a stop-gap measure was needed as DCS worked to increase hiring and retention and meet its case management requirements.

The department’s total budget request was $1.3 billion, which is made up of a mix of state and federal funds.

Though it will be months before the budget is finalized, it’s likely there is legislative appetite to approve increased salaries for DCS amid its ongoing issues and warnings the department is operating at a critical overload. Quin, who took over the department in September, has been frank with lawmakers about some of the department’s issues in a series of legislative meetings through the fall.

Lee has also indicated DCS will be a high priority for his administration in his second term.

“We obviously know that we have a real challenge on our hands, and we are trying to be very proactive in serving these kids,” Lee said.

Reach Melissa Brown at mabrown@tennessean.com.