A Few Bad Apples in Social Services

Recent media coverage of events related to the San Diego County Department of Social Services could give one the view that the department is riddled with inefficiency, mean-spiritedness and embezzlement without end.

On the one hand, a small group of former county welfare workers have been accused of stealing tens of thousands of welfare dollars through fraudulent use of a system well known to them. On the other hand, Child Protective Services workers have been attacked as a group of child-snatchers determined to break up homes and families to satisfy some bureaucratic rule or other.

The real facts behind each of these stories are complex realities worth some discussion by the union that represents both groups of workers.

Welfare workers as a group handle and dispense tens of millions of dollars every month. They work under extremely difficult conditions carrying huge caseloads with extremely exacting rules of operation to comply with. If a few bad apples committed fraud and embezzlement, they had to have worked damned hard trying to get away with it. Shame on them, and unfortunately for all of us, “thou shalt not steal” is a commandment, not a fact.

CPS workers as a group respond to tens of thousands of abuse reports a year. They are a dedicated, deeply concerned group of people. They are the ones who wear their hearts on their sleeves and cry for the plight of “their kids.” They see it all--abuse, incest, pain and sorrow.

If in all the thousands of abuse reports that need to be investigated and pursued a mistake is made now and then, it is in the nature of humankind that we are not perfect. But, far better to err on the side of the safety of a child than that a child should be beaten to death or driven to irretrievable despair by a failure to act.

We certainly condemn acts of criminal fraud as charged, and we do not condone mistakes in removing children from parents.

We implore the general public to understand that the actions of a few should not condemn an entire honest and dedicated work force.

LAURIE ADAM, President, San Diego County Chapter, Social Services Union, Local 535