The Blurred Line of Our Social Services

Are our caseworkers guardians of state/federal regulations or a helping hand for those in need?

The client worked in the construction trades before a back injury seriously restricted his work ability

(SALEM) - Are our caseworkers guardians of state/federal regulations or a helping hand for those in need?

I recently had the experience of becoming an advocate for an individual who found himself, once again, in the need of social services. His job had ended because a prior back injury prevented him from fulfilling the work expectations of his employer. He needed food stamps and ran into a brick wall - a very determined caseworker bent on following the rules.

Homeless man in Salem Photo by: Tim King

I can understand and emphasize with both sides of this social fence. The employees in our social service system are faced with trying to be empathetic towards their client consumer but are also faced with enforcing the many layers of rules and regulations put forth by the state and federal government. Who they are to serve becomes a blur.

Somehow our social system, which was set up to help citizens in need, has become a multi-level murky mirage of rules and regulations. I know there are those who abuse the system but believe me; the system is set up in such a way it creates an atmosphere for abuse to happen. Sometimes people feel like they have to cheat just to make it.

Here is a case in point, which is just one small example. The individual that I was helping was upset over the fact that his family had no food. The one box of food from the food banks allowed once a month, while very much appreciated, just doesn’t cut it. He had to go back to applying for food stamp assistance.

He called the Adult and Family Services office to confirm his appointment and was told to come in at 11:00 AM on a particular morning for the orientation class. He did that, and then was told that he was at the wrong appointment, he was supposed to have been at the 8:00 AM class. He rescheduled and went to the next available morning appointment.

Usually it takes up to five days for the approval to go through, so when the five days came and went he began calling the Adult and Family Service office. The caseworker told him she would take care of it when she came to it. Then, the next two working days she had off.

Now, I know that caseworkers earn and deserve days off, but it seems the system could allow for a contingency backup. There should be someone who can cover the casework load when an assigned worker is on vacation or sick leave. But true to our government system, there are not enough workers to go around, not only with Adult and Family Services but any of the social service areas that serve those in need of help, especially in a sudden crisis situation.

This client/consumer persisted in calling and always got the same response. I went to the Adult and Family Services office with him and we asked to speak with a supervisor. We were advised that going to the lead worker would be the first step. The lead worker was called and she sent out the caseworker.

The caseworker said, “I told you I would get to your case as soon as I can get to it.” He said, “It has been well over five days. It has never taken this long before.” She replied, “Well, since you missed your first appointment, you have been taken off the expedient list and I will get to it as soon as I can.” I then responded by saying, “Do you mean to say his family is being penalized because they were given wrong information from this office?” The response, “No, he has just been taken off the expedient list because he missed his appointed.” Again, I countered with, “Then he is getting penalized because a mistake was made from this office by giving him the wrong time to come in?” The response, “No, he was just taken off the expedient list because of missing his first appointment. I’ll get to it when I can.”

By this time, the client consumer was getting very upset. I took his arm and said, “Let’s go, maybe you can hold a sign on a street corner.” By that time my negotiating skills had gone out the window. As we left, though, I did see a flicker of emotion pass across the caseworker’s face. The next morning the food stamps were approved and available. I am not saying this was because of our interaction; maybe his name had finally reached the top of her list!

A homeless Salem-area family Photo by: Tim King

Caseworkers are human beings with feelings, but when they are faced with having to meet the requirements of their job, making sure the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted so as to comply with their next state or federal audit, which would you choose? Obviously the one who signs your paycheck will win out.

This is the murky line where I believe the system allows families to fall through the cracks. There are many families needing help and the caseworkers are totally overloaded.

The main issue I see here is that our society has to come to grips with what is important.

* Is it the welfare of families, the homeless, the mentally ill, the developmentally disadvantaged, or anyone who suddenly faces a life-changing event?

* Are we training our state workers in the social service fields to help individuals work through the mirage of rules and assist them in getting the help needed in a timely manner?

* Are the workers being trained to be watchdogs of the rules and regulations and to forget the human element?

What’s important here? Oh, the murky waters!

We need to make sure the money allocated to our government is being spent where it needs to be. That will take the load off our state social service workers. More jobs need to be provided within our system to help with high caseloads. With the current climate of our society, believe me there will be many families in crisis. If all the money allocated for lobbyists and special interest groups and big corporations are prepared to fill deep pockets with their available moneys, then really, our priorities need to be analyzed.

Remember, each and every one of us is just an unexpected crisis away from getting caught in the murky water of our much over stretched social service programs and the overloaded caseworkers.