| 6 weeks 5 days 22 hours ago Public demands more DSS workers
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(NECN) - The Massachusetts Department of Social Services is bowing to pressure to increase its staffing. The Boston Globe reports the DSS is set to add nearly 100 jobs. With the boost in numbers however, there is still no guarantee that abuse cases will be prevented.
The added numbers are in response to a public outcry for state social workers to do a better job at protecting the children of the commonwealth. Just last week the DSS commissioner admitted his agency failed to check for burn and belt wounds after a child alerted school officials three times that his mother's boyfriend was abusing him.
The boost would increase time, attention and frequency of visits for each family, by reducing a social workers case load from 18 to 17.
Governor Patrick is pushing state lawmakers to add $37 million to the current $800 million DSS budget to pay for the additional workers.
NECN's Latoyia Edwards has more.
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