INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Indiana Supreme
Court says it can’t force the state Department of Child Services to abide by
caseload limits that are required by law.
The American Civil Liberties Union of
Indiana sued the department and its director in 2015 on behalf of family
case manager Mary Price, The Indianapolis Star reported. Price argued that
she and other workers had workloads that were too heavy and were putting
children at risk.
The court ruled Monday that the caseload
issue isn’t one that can be resolved through a judicial decision. The court
said it doesn’t want to get involved in the department’s daily operations.
“Granting relief
here risks entangling the judiciary in the Department’s day-to-day affairs -
what would likely be a time-consuming intrusion beyond our institutional
competence to discharge,” the court said.
Price was handling more than 40 ongoing
cases when the lawsuit was filed. State law requires case managers to handle
no more than 17 ongoing cases or 12 initial assessments.
State records show that in fiscal year
2016, only one of the department’s 19 regions was in compliance with the
caseload restrictions.
Ken Falk, legal director of ACLU Indiana,
said the organization is disappointed by the decision, which leaves case
managers with too many children to oversee.
“This is something
everyone in the state of Indiana should be concerned about,” Falk said.
“There’s a problem here that still hasn’t been solved, and we’ll need to see
if there’s other ways to resolve it.”
Legislators gave the agency an additional
$200 million for the next two years.
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Posted 8/30/2017
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