A lengthy report from the state Auditor General on the child welfare system is calling out numerous pitfalls in the agencies that can have deadly results.

"In 2016, 46 children died and 79 nearly died in Pennsylvania from abuse and neglect. Of those 125 children, nearly half of their families were already in the child-welfare system. Pennsylvania's child-welfare system is broken.This is not hyperbole or exaggeration," Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said in the report that concluded a yearlong study of the state's child welfare system.This year's "State of the Child" report, released on Thursday, featured a 13-county sample of child welfare service agencies, with the goal of targeting agency issues that result in a lack of effective care for children in the system.Following the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal in 2011, state legislators passed 24 pieces of legislation to amend the Child Protective Services Law.The problem, DePasquale's report said, is that the increase of work was not accompanied by an increase in funding or resources to implement the changes.Good candidatesOne of the fundamental problems throughout the state is finding qualified professionals.The study says most counties require caseworker applicants to register and test with the State Civil Service Commission. Though this does create a unified go-to source for high-ranking candidates, there are some notable issues as far as child welfare work goes.First and foremost, the Civil Service exam relies mostly upon quantitative measurements - math skills, etc. - as opposed to qualitative - communication skills, for example - which are more desirable in a caseworker.In addition, counties that rely on the commission are mandated to interview the top three performing test-takers. This could easily amount to wasted time for a child welfare agency, as more preferable candidates with experience and education in the field might be found further down the list.And while counties can cut the commission out of the deal, they are then required to develop their own merit-based hiring process in order to keep federal funding.The solution to these issues, according to DePasquale's report, lays in updating job descriptions for clarity, and asking administrators to evaluate whether or not the civil service commission hiring process truly works for their office.Training and safetyMany administrators questioned the benefits of the 'Charting the Course toward Permanency for Children in Pennsylvania' training system for new caseworkers offered by the University of Pittsburgh: School of Social Work's Child Welfare Resource Center. While the daunting 120-hour course load, in addition to six hours of individual online training, falls short in many aspects, administrators say."'Charting the Course' gives the basics, but of course it's very general because then every county does something different," Luzerne County Children and Youth Administrator Joanne Van Saun said. "We might eventually ask the state if we could have a training unit so we could train them ourselves. I'm not sure that (the training now) does really meet our needs."And according to Mike Byers, associate director of the CWRC, the cost of sending a single caseworker for certification amounts to $4,500, paid for through federal and state funding. It's a hefty sum to pay for reiterated theories."In terms of theory, they don't need a pep talk on why you need to do the right thing for people. They're already there," Adelaide Grace, Monroe County's agency administrator, said.Within the report, many administrators also brought up the case that field-based training would be far more beneficial. Van Saun said that the day-to-day issues, such as "learning how to write a report, (and) learning how to engage people," could be far more valuable than retreading the theories that caseworkers studied in college. DePasquale's report suggests more live-action simulations, such as mock court hearings, which would expose the caseworkers to more of the everyday occurrences in the job.The solution, again, is to look into more real-life training sessions - something that would allow caseworkers to practice theory in the field without concern for their immediate safety.Case overloadsExcessive caseloads are all too common. Each of the 13 sample counties in the study said that they just don't have the resources to handle everything. And even when an office has a full staff, redundant paperwork can easily add to the mess."Several administrators and caseworkers interviewed estimated that, for every 45 minutes spent with a family, it requires between two and five hours of paperwork," DePasquale said in the report.Additional verifications can sometimes eat up more than two-thirds of their day, meaning the caseworker has less time to spend working with children and families.DePasquale suggests trimming the lengthy paperwork, supplying software developers with suggestions for improvement, and utilizing aides to assist caseworkers with data entry.Low payCaseworkers are also subject to relatively low pay, with many starting out their Caseworker I position with a salary below $30,000. And even once the caseworkers advance to levels 2 and 3, they often leave for more lucrative positions in other agencies, such as Parole or the Department of Public Welfare. The easy fix, some administrators suggest, is bumping the salary figures up to match those of other positions dealing with child care, such as teachers. Better pay rates mean more loyal employees, resulting in less money spent on training new workers."I would increase their salary to be never a penny less than a teacher or a probation officer or a county assistance maintenance worker makes," Grace said.High turnoverTurnover is a serious issue for the state's child welfare system. Common complaints included heavy workloads and a work/life imbalance. This can inevitably lead to burnout, with many workers leaving the field or transferring to other departments. In turn, this leads to more time invested in already questionable training. And that, of course, leads to poorer quality of care for the kids who need it."My workers don't feel like they can have a life outside of Children and Youth," Grace said. "They're dealing with constant, constant changes and the constant monitoring that has to take place to make sure that we're doing our best to keep kids safe. It's an almost insurmountable task with the kind of turnover we have."Calling for changeDePasquale's report argues that children's lives are at stake, concluding with a simple but poignant summary of the conundrum experienced by caseworkers at Children and Youth Services, highlighting exactly what is at risk when agency issues are left unaddressed."Despite the necessary involvement of the full community, CYS caseworkers take the brunt of the blame when a child dies - and yet they are not trained well enough, are not paid well enough, are not given access to the resources they need to properly protect these children," he said.