NEWBURGH – Legislation that would limit the caseload of county child protective services workers to no more than 15 cleared the state legislature in June. Three months after passage, the measure has yet to make it go Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk.
That’s not particularly unusual given the large volume of bills to come out of a legislative session, but several local lawmakers and the Civil Service Employees Association gathered in Newburgh on Thursday to urge the governor to sign it.
“I beg you …” said CSEA Regional Vice President Anthony Adamo in urging the governor to sign
the bipartisan legislation
CSEA Political Action Coordinator Chris Ludlow said the real beneficiaries of the legislation are the at-risk children, by limiting the number of cases a caseworker can handle.
“It would be placed at 15 active cases per worker,” Ludlow said. “It’s important to remember that just because it’s one case doesn’t mean it’s one child. It could be many children. We’re trying to figure out how to get the best possible outcome for our kids, our most at-risk population.”
The briefing was held outside the Orange County Social Service office in Newburgh. County Legislator Mike Anagnostakis said that was particularly appropriate because it is at the county level where the impact of case overload is most felt.
Anagnostakis cited data which he said show the correlation between overload and less than desirable outcomes.
“An amazing correlation,” he said. “Something that we should all know is going to happen when you have too many to work on, you might have some that fall through the crack and that would be tragic.”
CSEA Regional Vice President Anthony Adamo, pleading for enactment, recalled a tragedy that happened two years ago in Ulster County, the murder of two-year-old Mason Decosmo, by the boyfriend of the child’s mother.
“I beg you on behalf of CSEA and on behalf of the voices that can’t be here speaking because they can’t reach the microphone,” Adamo said.
Decosmo’s killer, Kenneth Stahli, is serving 25 years to life.
The goal of the legislation is to stop that kind of tragedy before it happens.
