WILKES-BARRE -- The death of a child earlier this year in Luzerne County prompted the Pennsylvanian Department of Human Services to downgrade the license of the county's Children and Youth Services agency.
But there have been warning signs.
A Newswatch 16 Investigation reveals there were a large number of complaints about the agency--more complaints than other counties in our area.
The license downgrade means that Luzerne County Children and Youth will face more frequent state inspections over the next six months.
But we found the complaints made to the state last year about Children and Youth in Luzerne County significantly outnumbers those in the other counties.
Lycoming, Wyoming, Monroe and Lackawanna Counties each had fewer than 40 complaints last year. Luzerne County Children and Youth Services had more than four times that number: 166 complaints.
"When you have so many complaints like that, you compare complaints in Luzerne County to Lackawanna County, there's a huge difference there, and that should right there throw up a red flag to the people who are in charge and saying, 'Why are we having this?’” said Luzerne County Councilman Rick Morelli.
The specific numbers Newswatch 16 obtained from the state are reflected in the report released this week in which the state downgraded the agency's license. The report says the number of complaints stemming from Luzerne County Children and Youth Services, "continues to be excessive...for phone calls not returned by either the casework or supervisors, a lack of progress in case planning and overall delays."
Luzerne County Manager Robert Lawton says part of the reason there's so many complaints is that Children and Youth is understaffed. The report says there are 29 vacancies. Lawton says he hopes to streamline the hiring process.
“This is not an organization matter for us. This is a commitment for us. And we are going to do everything we can to ensure the safety of those children,” Lawton said.
Luzerne County Children and Youth is in a state program to hire caseworkers, and county leaders say that system can slow down the hiring process. The county is now trying to opt out of that program.
But other counties Newswatch 16 looked at also depend on the state system for hiring. And while they agree it's slow, those counties again do not have nearly the number of complaints about Children and Youth that Luzerne County does.