INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The top Democrat in the Indiana Senate says the Pence administration needs to direct more money to the Department of Child Services so that it follows the state law setting workload standards for case managers.
Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane of Anderson said Monday he was troubled that Gov. Mike Pence's budget proposal doesn't include money to hire the needed 77 case workers. Lanane estimates that would cost about $5 million.
The agency has said that only one of its 19 regions is meeting the law requiring DCS family case managers to average no more than 12 initial assessments or 17 ongoing cases per worker.
Pence budget director Brian Bailey says some responsibilities have been shifted from case workers and a study is being done of the current workloads.
