HARRISBURG, Pa. -- By the end of July, Dauphin County's top child welfare center will no longer need the state looking over its shoulder at every decision.
The county's children and youth service agency will have a complete operating license once again, beginning July 24, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
Dauphin County CYS had been working under a provisional license since August 2015, after a string of cases which needed greater attention from caseworkers slipped through the cracks. Most notably, a case involving Jarrod and Kimberly Tutko in 2014, whose son, Jarrod Jr., died due to living in deplorable living conditions.
A Dauphin County grand jury report last year showed how the organization had mishandled the Tutko investigation, as well as other missteps in other cases and general organization.
In September 2015, Annmarie Kaiser took over as the agency's top administrator.
"It was a pretty significant issue," Kaiser said of the state of CYS last summer. "The biggest issue I saw when I first came in were staff vacancies. We had to hire quality staff to handle case loads."
Since taking over, Annmarie has helped fill a slew of management positions which had gone previously unfilled. Dauphin County CYS has also hired 25 extra caseworkers, bringing the total to 84.
Each hire has been necessary, as Kaiser battles staff burn-out against a growing number of cases.
From January 2014 to January 2015, Kaiser says Dauphin County saw a 128 percent increase in case referrals.
"I do believe we have a good handle on it but there is much more work to be done," she says.
She hopes the state can help burdening the case load. Currently, Pennsylvania allows each case worker to handle up to 30 cases. Dauphin County CYS staff works at least 18 cases individually.
Dauphin County Commissioner George Hartwick, who has volunteered as a CYS caseworker since the provisional license was handed down, has had conversations with the state House Child and Youth Committee to possibly lower than number of maximum case loads per person.
"We want to get it right. We want to meet regulatory requirements and we want to protect kids.... But I have seen so many things that I think would wake the eyes of our elected leaders," Hartwick says. "If we want to ensure safety, make sure our workers aren't spread out so thin so that they're able to take a look at the cases which are really the most concerning."