Clark County Department of Family Services is “unaware of any data or research that indicates individuals with social work or criminal justice degrees provide better services for children and families,” but at least one federal report suggests that there are benefits to hiring people with a social work educational background.

County Manager Don Burnette (Courtesy, clarkcountynv.gov)

Clark County Department of Family Services is “unaware of any data or research that indicates individuals with social work or criminal justice degrees provide better services for children and families.”

That was a response from county officials to a recommendation from leaders with the Services Employees International Union, Local 1107, to fill positions in the department with people with social work and criminal justice backgrounds.

But at least one federal report suggests that there are benefits to hiring people with a social work educational background.

“Social Work education appears to be related to job retention and staff stability, which helps produce better welfare practices,” according to a 2003 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families.

That’s one example of where county officials and union leaders had a difference of opinion on a list of specific issues and recommendations that County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani shared with County Manager Don Burnette on Sept. 25. Giunchigliani met with union leaders on Sept. 12, when she was provided with the list of what union leaders felt would help improve safety in the department.

That came after union leaders and Family Services employees presented a “Safety First” petition to county commissioners on Aug. 5, asking for improvements in the agency.

On other recommendations from the union, Family Services officials agreed with the concerns of the union and are open for ideas to address them, while they are already working to develop solutions with some of the other recommendations.

Then there’s other union recommendations that Burnette feels would not improve safety.

Burnette on Friday said Family Services has “excellent” employees with a related field to social work, such as education, nursing, psychology and sociology.

The National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators and the Child Welfare League of America suggest that each Child Protective Services staff member should have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in social work or a degree in a closely related field, according to the federal study.

But in 2011, county management with input from Family Services and Human Resources decided to expand the kind of college degrees that would qualify a prospective employee for a job with the agency to even include degrees in public or business administration, communications, marketing or a related field.

Other qualifying degrees include human or social services, education, counseling, early childhood education, health science and child development.

The county said it expanded its job eligibility requirements so it could increase the number of caseworkers and reduce worker caseloads.

Officials seemed to agree with the union on some issues, such as the need for a crisis team for injured employees or employees involved in child deaths or accidents.

“We agree and the department will establish a crisis team for employees, with (Family Services) clinical staff taking the lead,” according to a county response to the list of specific concerns and recommendations from the union that was provided to county commissioners who have been in talks with union leaders.

Family Services had already taken action on another recommendation to request a licensing waiver from the state for Child Haven, the county’s emergency shelter for abused and neglected children.

Burnette is also interested in knowing how to close cases in a more timely manner. He said some of the recommendations need further discussion to make changes.

Other recommendations would harm efforts to further advance safety, Burnette said. An example is the union recommendation to reinstate accrual of employee compensatory time, which was restricted but not eliminated by Family Services in September 2013.

Compensatory time was restricted after the agency conducted a study indicating that compensatory time accrual and usage were making it difficult to manage workload.

“For example, nine (Child Protective Services) investigators at one site accrued 1,859 hours of compensatory time in a 9-month period — or an average of 206 hours per person,” according to the county response.

Lifting the restrictions on compensatory time would “absolutely have an impact on caseload,” Burnette said.

“I don’t see how that improves child safety,” he said.

For now, Burnette is glad to at least have the list of concerns and recommendations from the union, which he had asked for since July. He doesn’t understand what took so long to put the list together.

“But we can finally have a public conversation about ways to improve the department,” he said.

Burnette said he is disappointed no one from the union has reached out to him since their July meeting, even after at least one employee asked to continue to meet with him.

“We should all be committed to the same cause here, and that’s making things better,” he said. “Without communication you can’t make improvements.”

Union leaders declined to comment. They are waiting for their third meeting with county commissioners that is supposed to include Family Services management, spokeswoman Rebecca Theim said.

Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440. Find her on Twitter:@YeseniaAmaro.