COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- El Paso County has the highest number of child abuse and neglect reports for the state of Colorado with more than 12,000 reports filed in 2010. It's easy to see the need for additional dollars and manpower in the community, so starting July 1 El Paso County Department of Human Services will receive an additional $3.7 million.
The money will be used to hire six caseworkers and a supervisor for Child Protective Services.
"We want to do what we can, not just to react to child abuse but to prevent it going forward," Sallie Clark, El Paso County Commissioner, said.
The additional funding couldn't come soon enough. The national standard is 12 assessments a month for caseworkers, but in El Paso County employees are working on almost double that amount.
"When we assign an assessment there's a thorough and lengthy process they have to go through anywhere from 15-20 per month," Rick Bengtsson with the Department of Human Services said.
So with such a large demand for child welfare needs in the county, why did it take years to get this much need additional money?
County Commissioner Sallie Clark said it comes down to the fact that Denver politicians see El Paso County as a small community.
"So you have to have folks that say we're the largest county in Colorado and we have issues we have to deal with," Clark said.
But now with the extra funding El Paso County has the resources they need to deal with child abuse.
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