ICW Report to the Membership

W. Tibissum Rice Interim Director

In the month of October, the LCO Social Services Department lost three staff members due to resignation (two of those resignations were the director and assistant director). This created an immediate need for a supervisor and a reassignment of some cases.

Since the resignations occurred, the TGB brought two tribal members back to help stabilize the department, ensuring that casework is supervised and that all required financial reports are completed. A Resource Specialist was hired and will be starting on Monday, Nov. 4.

There is still a need to hire more caseworkers in ICW as most of the current staff is working at a capacity that is three times the caseload that is recommended by the National Child Welfare League of America (12 to 15 children per worker). The department is seeking to employ more staff to help manage the overflow of children needing services. The department can happily share that applications have started to be received to fill two caseworker vacancies.

The ICW staff would like to thank the community for their understanding and patience during this transition.