Ind. Supreme Court Won't Force DCS Caseload Compliance

By Mike Perleberg Indiana Supreme Court courtroom. Photo via IN.gov. (Indianapolis, Ind.) – State law says that Indiana Department of Child Services family case managers should be limited to handling 12 assessments and 17 ongoing cases. But the Indiana Supreme Court won’t order the department to follow that law. The state’s highest court issued the unanimous ruling on Monday. In a 10-page opinion, the justices agreed that a judicial decision cannot resolve the issue. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana and a DCS case manager had sued the agency and its director in 2015, alleging that case workers were overburdened and the strain put children at risk. Case manager Mary Price claimed to be handling more than 40 ongoing cases. The lawsuit aimed to force DCS to follow the law limiting the caseload to no more than 17 per manager. But the supreme court said ordering DCS to adhere to the caseload cap would entangle the judiciary in the department’s day-to-day affairs, a time-consuming intrusion beyond the court’s competence. “This statute compels a particular outcome—no case manager can oversee more than seventeen children at a time who are receiving services—but does not require the Department to perform one or more specific, ministerial acts for achieving it. Thus, the statute is not amenable to a judicial mandate,” Justice Geoffrey Slaughter wrote in the opinion. Slaughter noted that Price may pursue an administrative remedy to the problem for herself, but not on behalf of other family case managers. Following the Price lawsuit's filing in July 2015, then-Governor Mike Pence authorized DCS to hire 113 new case workers. Earlier this year, Indiana lawmakers allocated an additional $200 million to the department’s budget for the next two fiscal years, which may further help boost the number of case workers to share the workload. DCS’ 2016 annual report stated that Region 15 – which includes Dearborn, Decatur, Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley and Switzerland counties – had 49 managers carrying a full caseload last year and would require an additional nine managers to meet the state requirement. Only the DCS Central Office for collaborative care and institutional assessment was in compliance with the caseload limits, but in 42 counties hiring one or two additional case managers would bring them into compliance, according to the annual report. RELATED STORIES: New Governor’s Budget Proposal Includes Boosts For K-12, Child Services Lawsuit Claims Child Services Case Managers Are Overworked Gov. Pence Authorizes 113 New Ind. Department Of Child Services Case Workers