State official reports high turnover rate for child abuse workers

A new report says Missouri has about an 80% turnover rate among workers who handle child abuse and neglect cases.

Missourinet reports Jennifer Tidball with state social services told lawmakers on Monday she worries about her workers going into rough neighborhoods by themselves.

“…with a clipboard and a state car, to go into neighborhoods where law enforcement will not go in at all, or they won’t go in without bulletproof vests and two or three squad cars.”

Tidball says those workers only make about $30,000 a year, and get threatened a lot by family members of children.