Santa Clara County Social Workers Demand More Staffing, Support in Troubled Agency

Unionized South Bay social workers are amplifying their calls for the Department of Family and Children’s Services (DFCS) to increase hiring and accountability just weeks after the beleaguered agency’s director announced plans to resign.

Chronic understaffing, unsustainable caseloads and burnout are jeopardizing the safety of children and families, workers said Tuesday morning at a rally outside the Santa Clara County administration building in San José.

“In a county where we have the greatest minds and resources, we are now failing families in our community,” Pa Chang, a social work supervisor, said during the rally. “No family should have to fear that when a social worker knocks on their door, they may have concerns that are not going to be met and that their agency and community is going to provide inconsistent treatment.”

The department — which is charged with protecting children from abuse, neglect, exploitation or abandonment — has been under a harsh spotlight since May 2023, when a 3-month-old girl, named Phoenix, died from fentanyl poisoning in a San José home with addicted parents.

Reporting from The Mercury News revealed the county allowed her to stay in the home despite a department assessment showing she was at high risk for abuse and neglect and warnings from a social worker that the child should be removed.

Phoenix’s death, followed by the death of her mother four months later, brought a maelstrom on the department, spurring two different state investigations lambasting it for safety failures that have endangered children under its watch.

County leaders in late 2023 called for an overhaul of the department, and while some changes are being put into place, workers said the agency needs to first stabilize its workforce and fill gaps before trying to reorganize the entire operation.

Karlie Eacock, an emergency response social worker, said her team has a 50% vacancy right now, similar to some other teams in the department, and she is worried about the compounding harm on workers, families and communities the longer the issues persist.

“But every day, we have the opportunity to rewrite that history, to change that history. Baby Phoenix just called attention to some of the failures of our system,” Eacock said. “It gave us an opportunity to really highlight where our failures are and to repair the broken parts of our system.”

County Supervisor Betty Duong said the problems with staffing in the Family and Children’s Services are, unfortunately, not unique.

“Staffing and hiring are challenges that’s being felt across the county organization. So they are right to put pressure on us. That’s what we’re here for. And this is how we push forward change,” Duong said.

Duong said she’d soon be joining the Board of Supervisors’ Children, Seniors and Families Committee and said she looks forward to “digging in deep” into the agency’s issues that workers and other advocates are highlighting.

“If they’re coming here in their time off or taking time out of their work day to come here, these are concerns that have to be heard, and we have to be working together on that,” Duong said.

For its part, DFCS said in a statement on Tuesday that it has recently hired 20 new social workers and placed them in two teams with the biggest staffing needs.

“Hiring additional social workers and supporting staff to best serve children and families continue to be top priorities for DFCS leadership, as we and other child welfare agencies throughout the state are facing a critical shortage of qualified applicants for open social worker positions,” the agency said.

“DFCS is committed to recruiting additional qualified staff as quickly as possible and to partnering with staff on the development of solutions to meet the community’s need.”

Among other issues, the agency is also being sued by the grandfather of a 6-year-old boy named Jordan Walker, who was stabbed to death in a home in San José in August 2023.

Morian Walker Sr. is alleging the county agency left his grandson in a dangerous home, even after he pleaded with the county to let him take custody of the child due to concerns about his safety.

The agency’s director, Damion Wright, submitted his resignation letter in late December and plans to step down on Friday. In his letter, Wright said his father’s death “has prompted me to reevaluate my priorities” and that he wanted to be closer to his family in Southern California.

The letter did not mention Phoenix’s death — which happened while he was interim co-director of the agency — or any other controversies surrounding the DFCS.

Wendy Kinnear-Rausch, the current assistant director of the agency, will take over as acting director on Jan. 18, the county announced on Tuesday, adding that it will subsequently hire a recruiting firm and start a national search for a new director for the agency in the coming weeks.

Agency staff and their unions “will be included on interview panels and provide input to help select the right leader to guide the department in protecting the safety and well-being of children in Santa Clara County,” the statement said.

Jennifer Celaya, who runs the nonprofit New Beginnings Family Services, which supports families dealing with the legal and child welfare systems, said the next director should be someone who is intimately familiar with the way the system works on the ground level.

“I think it’s going to take someone with integrity, morals and commitment to really show their compassion for the kids and the families,” she said, “because these kids are dying, and you’re not seeing it.”