State employees union officials ask legislators to hear child welfare concerns

Crocker Stephenson

The Journal Sentinel

Calling the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare "a dysfunctional environment" that hobbles workers' efforts to help children in crisis, state employees union officials Wednesday asked lawmakers to meet and discuss issues raised by the beating death of 13-month-old Christopher Thomas.

"We are writing today to ask for an opportunity to share with you our concerns about the dysfunctional environment that has existed at the bureau for a long time," Marty Beil, the union's executive director, and Susan McMurray, a lobbyist, wrote in a letter to the Milwaukee delegation to the Wisconsin legislature.

The letter ticks off a list of concerns - a shortage of social workers, high staff turnover, lack of support, insufficient training, inadequate oversight, lack of coordination between the Milwaukee bureau and private child welfare agencies - "all of which make it extremely difficult for social workers to provide the vital child protection services the workers were hired to provide."

Police say Christopher was beaten to death and his 2-year-old sister tortured after the bureau removed them from their parents' home and placed them with an aunt and uncle. The aunt, Crystal Keith, has been charged with killing Christopher and with abusing his sister.

The bureau has yet to explain how caseworkers could have repeatedly visited Keith's home and apparently not noticed the children's trauma, or why reports from relatives worried that the children were being injured apparently were ignored.

"We represent dedicated social workers who seek employment at the bureau because they are committed to helping people, only to find they are stressed beyond reason," the letter says.

Calls to the state Department of Children and Families were not returned Wednesday evening