We Make Florida Happen: Celebrating AFSCME Workers and the Vital Services We Provide To The Public
Resident: Jacksonville
Title: Senior Child Protective Investigator
Agency: Department of Children and Families
Department: Family Safety
Start date: 1994
Reginald's story: "I got into this line of work to help people. My role is to investigate child abuse or neglect, ultimately to save the lives of children. In addition to being a certified Child Protective Investigator, I have 28 years of experience and four years of college. I derive satisfaction from helping family members become better people and strengthening families by teaching them necessary skills.
My co-workers across the state and I are challenged to keep up with our caseloads, due to the high turnover rate.
A media investigation, spurred by the tragic deaths of children, found that we are are overworked, understaffed and underpaid. While the appropriate caseload for an investigator is no more than 12 to 15 cases at a time, the investigation found my colleagues and I dealing with 20 to 40 at one time. Our work can be grueling, including getting up in the middle of the night and leaving our own families because we receive a call for an immediate response case.
But without support for our life-saving mission and fair contracts to attract talented workers and retain those of us with the experience to do our jobs well, the tragedy of the children we are dedicated to protect being abused, and even killed, may continue."
