facebook-pixel

Utah social workers often must rely on government assistance and second jobs to get by

Child welfare workers don’t make adequate wages, according to a report.

(Zoom screenshot courtesy of Ben Winslow and FOX 13) Social worker Crystal Rose talks to FOX 13 on Tuesday about how she has to work a second job as a housekeeper after her shift ends at Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services. Utah child welfare workers don’t make adequate wages, according to a report released Tuesday.

  | Jan. 13, 2021, 2:13 a.m.

Many child welfare caseworkers at Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services don’t make enough money to get by without government assistance, FOX 13 reports.

Social worker Crystal Rose told FOX 13 that she works as a housekeeper after her shift ends at the DCFS. She and her husband are living with her parents as they try to save money to buy a house.

Rose’s situation is not unique.

A report from Gov. Spencer Cox’s transition team found that many employees in Utah’s Department of Human Services don’t make adequate wages.

View Report by The Salt Lake Tribune on Scribd

Department of Human Service... by The Salt Lake Tribune

The median wage for DCFS employees is $35,880 a year, according to FOX 13, and the division has a 32% turnover rate. Meanwhile, child welfare workers in Idaho make nearly $52,000 as a starting wage, and turnover there is 16%.

Higher turnover means there are less experienced people responding to families in crisis, according to reporting by FOX 13.

See more at FOX 13.

Editor’s note: The Salt Lake Tribune and FOX 13 are content-sharing partners.