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Oversight Board 2.0 group advances workforce metrics while social workers urge accurate workloads and assignment pay
Summary
The oversight board's 2.0 work group proposed focusing on two domains — worker well-being and a data-oriented culture — and submitted candidate workforce metrics to DCYF for feasibility review; extended foster care social workers told the board current workload studies undercount court work and urged accurate workload measurement and assignment pay.
Lisha (Executive Director) briefed the board on the Oversight Board 2.0 proposal work group, a seven-member subcommittee tasked with identifying a short list of high-priority performance measures in two domains: DCYF worker well-being and building a data-oriented culture. She said the group prioritized a small set of workforce metrics (retention and turnover, training and development, job satisfaction, workload, psychological safety) and submitted the list to DCYF for a feasibility review. Lisha said the proposal will likely need modest philanthropic support for capacity and that some changes may require minor statutory adjustments to the annual report framework.
Board members discussed process options for vetting a draft proposal (email distribution, in-person retreat review in October) and emphasized transparency and public vetting before presenting items to potential philanthropic partners. Lisha said the work group will finalize a feasibility document, invite DCYF data staff to review measures in detail, and prepare a written summary for the public website.
During public comment, two extended foster care (EFC) social workers spoke. Colleen Stark Bell (speaking as a private citizen and DCYF social worker) said a published workload study showed 0 hours per month for court-related work that her unit actually spends many hours performing; she described average caseloads of about 25 youth and estimated court-related tasks at 18–27 hours per month per worker. "The documents of the workload study show that we spend 0 hours per month on any of that," she said, and urged accurate workload measurement and more staffing support.
Anna Bridal (EFC social worker) described a field incident that, she said, illustrates the real dangers EFC workers face when assessing safety in unregulated settings and argued EFC social workers deserve assignment pay and lower caseloads to maintain continuity of care for youth.
Next steps: the 2.0 work group awaits DCYF feedback on feasibility, will refine the proposal and budget for philanthropic support, and will share drafts with the full board for review. The board also signaled interest in scheduling further briefings and in adding a discussion of statutory changes to its October retreat agenda.
