DHS Child Welfare Staff Manager Story

A DHS Staff Manager whose caseload is primarily with teenagers had this to say:

“I would say that all of our staff have been working extra hard to really help address the issues of our foster kids/youth who are really struggling with distance learning due to Covid!!  This has really come to the attention of all of our staff in the office!

It starts in Protective Service with the change of placement and then a potential change in schools;  then the permanency worker becomes aware and starts to do the bulk of the work in trying to address what the struggles are.  This includes working hard with foster parents and then eliciting the help of the certifier to assist supporting foster parents to get foster youth to attend school virtually.  Social Service Assistants are continuously working around the new virtual school schedules and adjusting visits for that.

This includes getting kids registered, picking up the potential technology kids need to participate in distance learning; and our support staff has also helped out with all of their requirements of notifications of schools.  I’ve really seen so many perm workers and certifiers step up to tackle these challenging issues!  As you can guess, this is a huge issue with my unit with foster teens!”

*stock footage used