CLEARFIELD – A staffing shortage has loomed over the Clearfield County Children, Youth & Family Services Department for some time now.
And, it persists with the reported loss of three more employees—a case aide Feb. 2; a fiscal technician Feb. 5; and a caseworker Feb. 23.
“It’s a tough work environment,” said Commissioner Chairman Dave Glass on Tuesday, adding the staff must deal with “just deplorable situations.”
He said no one contacts CYFS with a wonderful family situation.
“It’s a high burnout” profession that has the county “constantly” trying to fill positions.
Plus, staff have been forced on multiple occasions within the last year to shelter children at the CYFS offices or off-site locations.
“These are children with very special needs that require 24/7 around-the-clock observation,” explained Glass. “No one signed up for that—to be a caregiver.”
But, we can’t find service providers to care for the children so “we have no choice,” he said. “Now that’s huge burnout”—working a normal shift, then a mandated night shift.
And so, on Tuesday, the Salary Board approved a request from CYFS Administrator, Trudy Lumadue to set a daily stipend of $150 for any non-union employee who provides supervision during non-working hours to any child housed at the CYFS office or an off-site location.
We’re trying to take steps to lessen this burden, and this stipend is just one piece of it, said Glass. “We really do sympathize with them.”
Glass blamed the state for having the county in this untenable position with no place for CYFS to house children between housing institutions having staffing shortages of their own, or simply turning away the more complicated cases.
This wasn’t a problem three or four years ago, according to Commissioner John Sobel. “We weren’t housing children in offices upstairs or in hotels.”
The county plans to “support and defend” its caseworkers, said Glass, so they can begin to focus on the work they were actually hired to do.
In other business, the Salary Board board:
- approved a request from the commissioners to set the salary for the jail warden at $70,000/year, effective March 4, 2024.
- approved a request from the commissioners to increase the on-call pay for 911/Emergency Management Agency non-union employees to $300/week, effective Jan. 1, 2024.
- approved a request from the commissioners to increase the pay for deputy coroners to $100 per call, effective Jan. 1, 2024.
- approved a request from the commissioners to create two positions of Maintenance Worker II in the Residual Group and set the salary at $19.95/hour.
- approved the minutes from the Jan. 9 meeting.