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Children’s Division short-staffed amid highest cases of foster kids

Published

2 years ago

February 1, 2023

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ST. LOUIS – The Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division is dealing with huge problems, making it tough to take on all the kids in foster care and making it hard for the workers who have to handle all the cases.

The agency is facing a shortage of workers. Missouri Senator Mary Elizabeth Coleman has been pushing for change for years.

“As of this morning, we had over 13,083 kids in care, that is one of the highest in the country,” Coleman said. “Almost one in 300 kids in the State of Missouri is in foster care. It’s a really terrible problem, and not just because it’s so expensive for the state, but the human cost. We have to be able to make sure we have enough resources so that when we’re investigating all of these referrals, those referrals are going to be handled quickly and simply so that those serious abuse cases can be taken care of.”

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Dayna Eckhardt knows the problems firsthand. She used to work as a caseworker for the state. She said it became overwhelming.

“Mostly because I lost hope, I had been reaching out to leaders and legislators, policymakers, and leadership within Children’s Division, and I really got no response,” Eckhardt said.

She said she left the position more than a year ago, but she still keeps in contact with former coworkers.

“I see my friends out there running reports, hotline reports, and they’re getting five and six reports a day,” Eckhardt said. “You can’t do anything for a family when you have that many reports. To break that down one report, you may have six kids, and they may be stretched across the county.”

FOX 2 contacted the Department of Social Services about the issue. They acknowledge that there’s a big problem that needs reform.

A document from the Department of Social Services said the following:

“The Missouri system struggles to perform its essential functions, resulting in too many children going into foster care and remaining there too long. We are unable to recruit and retain frontline workers, and we lack essential personnel.”

The DSS document also said reform was needed and offered some ideas to do that, such as recruiting and retaining workers by increasing salaries, decreasing workload, or providing needed staff to support front-line workers.

Coleman said she agrees with the DSS document. She said the key is putting the ideas into practice to solve problems at the agency and take care of Missouri kids facing trouble.

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Man attacks Jeff Co. deputy with screwdriver during attempted arrest

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

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JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. – Two people are behind bars after a man reportedly attacked a Jefferson County deputy with a screwdriver during an attempted arrest over the weekend.

Prosecutors have charged Nicholas Davis, 47, and Amanda Davis, 45, of Dittmer, Missouri, with felonies in the investigation.

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The alleged attack followed a traffic stop of a driver in the 9500 block of Jones Creek Road on July 7, though the driver was not Nicholas or Amanda.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, Nicholas reportedly came out of his nearby home, yelled at a deputy and started approaching him while holding a screwdriver. The deputy initially ordered Nicholas to back away, then used pepper spray.

Per court documents, the deputy attempted to arrest Nicholas, who then struck him in the chest with the screwdriver. Amanda reportedly approached the deputy and pulled him away from Nicholas before both ran inside their home.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office says the situation prompted an hours-long standoff involving negotiators, a SWAT team and a K-9 deputy. The situation led to Nicholas refusing warnings and being bitten by a K-9.

Nicholas and Amanda are both jailed in the Jefferson County Jail without bond. Nicholas is charged with first-degree assault on a special victim and armed criminal action. Amanda is charged with resisting/interfering with arrest.

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St. Louis Public Schools superintendent to be sworn in

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

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ST. LOUIS — The new St. Louis schools superintendent will be officially sworn into office today. Dr. Keisha Scarlett took over the job in July after the retirement of Dr. Kelvin Adams. She was assistant superintendent in the Seattle Public School District. The installation ceremony is at 6:15 p.m. before the regular school board meeting.

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Gas tanker crashes into St. Louis Metro transit center

Published

2 years ago

July 11, 2023

Natural Bridge

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ST. LOUIS — A gasoline tanker truck crashed into a Metro transit center near Riverview and Hall Streets early Tuesday morning and knocked over a power pole. The pole is leaning on other power lines. Police have the area blocked off here because there is a downed power line. Ameren and Metro crews are also on the scene.

The incident happened around 12:30 a.m. It’s still unclear exactly what caused the crash, but we do that there was a second vehicle somehow involved. The airbags on that second vehicle did deploy.

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Police at the scene have not been able to give us a lot of details. Metro officials tell FOX 2 that the transit center here is operating this morning for passengers and buses. Access to certain areas will be limited here as clean up unfolds.

A Metro spokesperson says half of the station isn’t being used right now because of safety issues. It isn’t impacting overall bus operations, everything is just happening on the other side of transit center.

The extent of the damage to the actual transit center is still unclear, but I’m told it does not appear to be extreme. A Metro spokesperson tells me there were no injuries to any metro workers or passengers. The tanker driver also was not injured.

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