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Sample Letter to the Editor:
GAO Child Welfare Workforce Report
[Date]
Dear Editor:
As the [Your Title and Member Agency] who works with abused and neglected children and their families in our community, I would like to bring to your attention a recent U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) report that shows for the first time a clear connection between large child welfare caseloads and retention of caseworkers and the safety of children in the child welfare system.
The GAO report makes a compelling case for supporting the child welfare workforce in order to better protect children and youth. Specifically, the report states that worker turnover negatively impacts children's safety and permanency by delaying the timeliness of investigations and limiting the frequency and length of worker visits with children. The report also clearly documents that worker turnover disrupts the continuity of services and transitioning cases to remaining staff takes time and can result in delays to permanency decisions. This GAO report, Child Welfare: HHS Could Play a Greater Role in Helping Child Welfare Agencies Recruit and Retain Staff (GAO-03-357) may be accessed online at CWLA's website, http://www.cwla.org/programs/workforce.
[Sentence Explaining What Your Agency Does for Children and Youth.] It is critically important to ask our elected representatives in Washington to support additional federal funding for protecting and serving the children and families in our state. Through additional federal resources we can achieve improved outcomes for our most vulnerable children, the victims of child abuse and neglect.
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