I’ve become so cynical. My first thougth when reading today’s Herald-Leader article about the Senate stripping the “Boni Bill” of its provision to hire more workers was, “Of course they did.”
The Cabinet is understaffed. It has been for decades. Anyone who has been a front line social services worker knows this. Reviews and panels in the past have confirmed this.
It is practically an immutable fact of nature that one huge source of all the ills of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services is that there are too few workers. Invstigations suffer because of this. Services to return children home suffer because of this. Preventive services suffer because of this. Workers suffer because of this. Most importantly, children suffer because of this.
It is true that creating new worker positions is not a panacea to cure all the Cabinets ills. There is a punitive and excessively demanding management culture that seems to have a life of its own in the Cabinet. This creates unnecessary stress, insider fighting, and back biting that causes more stress for workers than the clients they serve cause. But, the creation of additional worker positions, if enough are created, will even impact that culture and insure better retention of trained staff.
When people are given an impossible task, with too frew resources, little support and low pay, such a negative culture is likely to arise. Then, when those same people are expected to continually do more with less, to the point where it feels as though they are to do everything with nothing, then that culture flourishes and becomes a permanent fixture.
Instead of spining up (getting a spine) and approving the hire of new workers, the Senate decided visitation facilities and a “Blue Ribbon Panel” would suffice. They can spare millions in tax incentives for Ford and other companies, but cannot fund even new positions for children.
Spine up Senate: Protect our children – fund the positions!
Bluegrass Family Law & Mediation 