Think Out Loud

Caseworkers for Oregon’s child welfare system say they have too many cases to provide adequate care to the state’s most vulnerable children and families. They rallied recently at the state capital to bring attention to the problem, which they say is long-standing and severe. Sandi Springer was a frontline Oregon child welfare caseworker for eight years, and she now works to train and support those workers in the field. She says many more new caseworkers are needed — not to solve all the problems with child welfare, but as a necessary first step to begin to make the system work as intended.