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State audit finds thousands of child-welfare cases with missed deadlines and delayed safety assessments; legislature refers DCFS audit for oversight
Summary
A performance audit of Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services analyzed over 23,000 FY2025 cases and identified roughly 3,200 missed priority response deadlines and more than 7,800 delayed or undocumented safety assessments; DHHS and DCFS leaders acknowledged the findings and the committee referred the audit for legislative follow-up.
Legislative auditors told the Legislative Audit Committee that their performance audit of the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) found significant casework and supervisory shortcomings that put children at risk.
The audit team said it examined more than 23,000 child-welfare cases from fiscal year 2025 and identified just over 3,200 cases in which priority response deadlines were not met. The auditors also reported more than 7,800 cases where a required safety assessment was delayed or not documented. The presentation included multiple case examples in which supervisors’ directives were not followed, cases that languished for months, and at least one instance the auditors described as likely qualifying as a near-fatality.
Auditors told the committee that supervisors sometimes failed to ensure follow-through when caseworkers deviated from required steps, and they documented instances in which findings of abuse were later overturned because of insufficient evidence. The audit recommended DCFS leadership set clearer performance targets, strengthen supervisory accountability, and use data more effectively by disaggregating performance by office and trending problem areas.
Tracy Gruber, Executive Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, and DCFS directors acknowledged the audit’s findings, described steps already underway (including increased staffing emphasis, new data-reporting tools and targeted assessments of poorly performing offices), and committed to implementing recommended changes. DCFS leaders described plans to roll out progressively accessible data reports that supervisors and administrators will use to monitor caseloads and compliance in near real time.
The committee voted to refer the DCFS performance audit to the Social Services Appropriation Subcommittee (lead) and the Health and Human Services Interim Committee (review) for oversight and to request follow-up reporting on implementation.
What happens next: the named subcommittee and interim committee will track corrective actions, require implementation timelines, and review follow-up audits or status reports to ensure recommendations are adopted.
