Tennessee Department of Children’s Services holds weekend “surge” to address caseloads

Published by the Tennessee Lookout, Reporter Anita Wadhwani – June 5, 2023

Nearly three dozen child welfare workers from across the state crowded into a Nashville conference room on Friday, preparing for an intensive weekend ahead. 

Their goal: visit up to 200 families who have been reported to the Department of Children’s Services on suspicions of child abuse or neglect, interview parents and kids, and bring to a close any cases in which there are no longer fears about a child’s safety.

The three-day “surge” event in Nashville is among a series of new strategies DCS is deploying to address extraordinary high caseloads that have led to social workers leaving in droves over the past year — and months of negative media coverage over kids sleeping on office building floors or in hospital beds because there is no other place to put them.

At its worst, DCS caseworkers in Nashville were each responsible for nearly 100 cases at a time — a crushing amount of work for state employees that also raised questions about the department’s ability to make sure Tennessee kids were safe.