To the editors:
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I read with interest the article on emergency foster homes [April 28] and feel the need for a few comments based on my own experiences. The National Association of Social Workers has stated that the caseload size should be 27 per worker. The State says it should be 40 and the Reader article concedes it is actually about 65. Mine is over 90 and has been for almost a year. I am in court an average of 10-12 times a month. A “day in court” is literally that. You may be out in an hour or can be there all day. It irritates me that Ms. Novack has the gall to define a “good” worker as one who can call her to chat. If there is a problem I want to know about it, but otherwise feel I can assume the baby is in good hands. After all, that is what she is getting paid to do (even if it’s not much money). I am forced to put my attention to families that are very dysfunctional, and the decision to keep a child in the family may result in the life or death of that child.
Name withheld
