AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER Maine) -- After a Government Oversight Committee hearing Friday to vote on whether the state should investigate DHHS' handling of the Marissa Kennedy case, a state representative said CPS workers are turning over at an "80 percent attrition rate."
The vote comes after two children died in the past three months, both allegedly at the hands of their legal guardians.
Rep. Patricia Hymanson said in an interview after the hearing, "The child protective workers are our first responders. They go into terrible situations and they get burnt out easily. We have an 80 percent attrition rate in our child protective service workers. They're wonderful people trying to do a good job. Are they resourced well-enough? Do they get too many cases? If someone moves from one place to another, does that information follow them? These are all question that OPEGA will attempt to answer. If this happened to these two children, then what's happening out there now? And I think people are heartsick about that."
Rep. Patricia Hymanson said Friday that @MaineDHHS child protective services workers get 'burnt out easily,' and cited an '80 percent attrition rate.' We have not heard from DHHS if that rate is accurate. pic.twitter.com/QRjP2px2Ob
The latest info from 2016 shows there were 8,276 reports involving 11,546 different kids that were assigned to a caseworker for a child protective assessment due to allegations of abuse or neglect.
DHHS did not respond to a request to confirm the 80 percent attrition rate, and how many CPS workers DHHS employs. Attorney General Janet Mills estimates there are about 300, but said she does not know for sure, nor how many positions are vacant.
DHHS commissioner Ricker Hamilton said Wednesday that his department has the most staff it has had since 2011.
Over the past six years, reports of abuse or neglect that led to a case worker being assigned stayed in the same ballpark:
For a link to the full reports, click here.
Executive director of the Maine Children's Trust, Kate Perkins, said Friday that the number of overall cases referred for investigation is increasing. She said it is not necessarily because more abuse is happening, but that more people are noticing the signs.
"This is absolutely heartbreaking work," said Perkins.
She said there is "probably a high rate of turnover" because of resources and pay.
Perkins said there is a lot they can learn from the state's investigation into DHHS' handling of the Kennedy case.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Maine DHHS Child Abuse hotline at 1-800-452-1999.