A state audit released Tuesday recommends immediate action to eliminate unsafe conditions for children under Tennessee Department of Children’s Services care.
“The safety, permanency and well-being of Tennessee’s most vulnerable children is in jeopardy,” said the performance audit of the department conducted by Tennessee’s Comptroller of the Treasury, covering Aug. 1, 2020, to Aug. 31, 2022.
Key takeaways from the audit include “crisis” level turnover and employee vacancy rates, inability to find placements for children and “critical child safety incidents and risks” in several department processes.
“Specifically, we found that children may have remained in unsafe situations because management has not met established timelines for key points of child abuse and neglect investigations,” the audit said.