Abusive environment for abuse workers

Editor’s note: The names of DCS employees who were willing to go on record regarding the department have been withheld for their protection.
“You would think they would want to correct the conditions and want to take care of their employees and keep their experience and knowledge,” Representative Sherry Jones (D-Nashville) said.
According to employees of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services (DCS), the working conditions and environment employees are faced with hinders not only their ability to provide care for children and families, but has a detrimental impact on the health of the employees.
“My doctor told me if I didn’t leave DCS then DCS would kill me,” one DCS worker said. “It’s not the work. It’s not the kids. It’s the way we are treated by our supervisors and the Regional Administrator. Who wants to work in a place where you are treated like you are lower than dirt, but where you gonna go when you have bills to pay?”
Another DCS employee recalls when a co-worker, Amanda Jefferies, was in and out of Vanderbilt Hospital due to a heart condition she was born with and the regional leadership wanted to write her up for her case documentation being late. Jefferies later died in October 2011, before the write up was served on her.
“The girl was dying and they were mad because her case notes were late. I think, if I remember, her supervisor was the one who did not want her written up and fought to not have it served on her but (Regional Administrator) was going to write her up as she was fighting for her life,” the employee said. “But it is much worse now than it was even then.”

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