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. . . . Turnover rate, especially among direct contact staff, is one of the main problems that we face in providing stable high quality care for residents. Yet in the last session, neither DADS nor the legislature chose to address most of the underlying issues that contribute to turnover. The core problems include:

Issue 1 - pay so low that workers cannot support their families causing people to quit for better jobs;

Issue 2 - for years the level of need in the state schools has steadily increased while the number of staff has decreased causing under-staffing particularly on high behavior homes;

Issue 3 - low staffing + turnover rate = forced overtime. This results in absenteeism, errors in care due to fatigue, firings and even greater turnover;

Issue 4 - inadequate initial training and ongoing staff development that can result in errors on the part of staff who are often asked to read and sign in-service trainings while trying to care for enhanced or 1 to 1 clients (some progress was made in improving training);

Issue 5 - a deeply flawed system of investigation of abuse and neglect allegations that has resulted in a firing frenzy. The system lacks safeguards to make sure that accusations are founded in fact. Standards of evidence would not stand up in any court of law. Once an allegation is made there seems to be an assumption of guilt.

The turnover rate has increased dramatically since last year despite statements by DADS officials that it “seems to be getting better.” As a result, morale is terrible which along with the low pay, forced overtime, and lack of support serves to create even more turnover creating instability and negatively impacting quality of care for residents.