In the summer of 2020, Missouri was in the middle of a budget shortfall. Two hundred open positions at various agencies would not be filled and another 300 jobs would be cut. Of those 300, the Department of Social Services would lose 200 employees including caseworkers in the Children’s Division.
There was tremendous concern about the impact this would have on the abused and neglected children served by the division. Overwhelmed case workers who no longer have the support of experienced supervisors, even higher turnover rates of employees, longer periods needed to investigate, children spending longer time in care, and fewer services for the children are being realized due to the layoffs.
Angie Blumel, president and CEO of Jackson County CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) believes the CASA volunteers have responded to the need to fill that void but it's made their job extremely harder.
"The turnover at the time was reported as high as 80%, now we're looking at darn near 100% in 2022 and when you have lack of experienced and qualified professionals who are responsible for the care and custody of kids in our state, that's very problematic."
- Angie Blumel, president and CEO,Jackson County CASA
Learn more about being a CASA volunteer at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, April 13 at the free Light of Hope breakfast on April 13th at 7:30a.m. at Sheraton Crown Center, 2345 McGee St., Kansas City, Missouri, 64108. For more information about volunteering, visit www.casakc.org, or call Jackson County CASA at 816-984-8204.
