State officials should consider the ongoing failures in the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services as an emergency. Not something to deal with when a new budget gets approved. Not something to wait on until the economy improves. Not something the next commissioner can deal with. Not something to kick down the road any further than the end of their noses.
If the average Tennessean heard that a neighbor child was dealing with the cumulative problems the department was cited as having in a critical, recently released 164-page audit, they would rush over to help.
Imagine that one neighbor child being in a house where there may be abuse, neglect or sexual harassment, where there is a lack of general supervision, where dental and medical screenings may go unperformed, where the child may have to sleep in a hospital or an office because there is no room in the house.
The Tennessee comptroller’s audit noted that “the safety, permanency and well-being of Tennessee’s most vulnerable children is in jeopardy.”
It, among other things, cited “crisis” level turnover and employee vacancy rates, inability to find placements for children, and “critical child safety incidents and risks” in several department processes.