“Caseworkers say staff shortages plague Oregon foster care - Fairfield Citizen” plus 2 more

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• Caseworkers say staff shortages plague Oregon foster care - Fairfield Citizen
• Instagram may stop showing how many people 'like' each post - CNBC
• New rash of auto burglaries plagues downtown Mountain View - Los Altos Town Crier

Caseworkers say staff shortages plague Oregon foster care - Fairfield Citizen Posted: 30 Apr 2019 03:14 PM PDT Sarah Zimmerman, Associated Press Updated 7:22 pm EDT, Tuesday, April 30, 2019 Melissa Unger, executive director of Oregon's largest public sector union, speaks at a rally for foster care caseworkers outside the Oregon state Capitol on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Caseworkers are calling on the legislature for more funding, saying they're short staffed and can't adequately address the needs of every individual foster child in state care. less Melissa Unger, executive director of Oregon's largest public sector union, speaks at a rally for foster care caseworkers outside the Oregon state Capitol on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Caseworkers are calling on ... more Photo: Sarah Zimmerman, AP Photo: Sarah Zimmerman, AP Image 1 of / 2 Caption Close Image 1 of 2 Melissa Unger, executive director of Oregon's largest public sector union, speaks at a rally for foster care caseworkers outside the Oregon state Capitol on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Caseworkers are calling on the legislature for more funding, saying they're short staffed and can't adequately address the needs of every individual foster child in state care. less Melissa Unger, executive director of Oregon's largest public sector union, speaks at a rally for foster care caseworkers outside the Oregon state Capitol on Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Caseworkers are calling on ... more Photo: Sarah Zimmerman, AP Caseworkers say staff shortages plague Oregon foster care Back to Gallery SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Dozens of caseworkers rallied at the state Capitol Tuesday for full funding of Oregon's foster care system, saying a severe staffing shortage has caused high burnout and turnover among current employees. "Our current caseloads are more than double and sometimes approaching triple of what they should be," said Rosanne Scott, a caseworker from Portland. "This is way more work than one person can manage, and it means they're not able to do all the things our kids need us to do for them." The Department of Human Services, which oversees the state's foster care system, has struggled for years to recruit and retain caseworkers, who work to find adequate foster homes for each of the 7,500 children in state care. The Service Employee International Union Local 503, which represents public sector workers, said an additional $80 million is needed to properly address problems in recruiting and retaining caseworkers. And, although Gov. Kate Brown requested an additional $14.5 million last summer to add nearly 200 workers, caseworkers say they need more funds to meet staffing needs. In a February update to the governor, DHS said that it would need to hire over a thousand child welfare workers and support staff in order to bring down worker caseload levels to the national average. The department is particularly struggling with a shortage of permanency workers, who are supposed to evaluate potential homes for children based on their individual needs. According to the national standard, permanency workers should have a workload of 11 cases. The department found it had 36% of staffing levels needed to achieve that rate and would need an additional 900 full time workers to bring individual caseload levels down. "Our caseworkers are overwhelmed and are not able to engage with our children and families to understand their culture, assess their strengths and find the root cause of why the family is struggling," the report said. The department's also been slow to fill vacancies, and the most recent update to the governor shows that only 8% of 300 available positions have been filled. At least 220 people are currently in the hiring process, and 73 positions remain vacant. Caseworkers say DHS needs to do more to retain the staff it already has, as high workloads and a lack of proper training have caused high turnover rates. A 2018 secretary of state audit found worker burnout caused a 23% turnover rate among staff in 2016, and caseworkers say that often people leave the profession within two years. Scott, who has been a caseworker for 18 years, said recently the turnover rate has been the highest she's ever experienced. She said she's personally taken over the cases of 19 kids after their caseworkers left their jobs. That's in addition to her current caseload. She said it's not only hard on the kids but also on the caseworkers themselves, who often feel demoralized and as though they can't truly help children in need. "It's really sad to lose people who could contribute so much to the system because of a dangerously crushing workload that makes you feel like you're totally inadequate and you can never be enough," she said. -- Follow Sarah Zimmerman on Twitter at @sarahzimm95

Instagram may stop showing how many people 'like' each post - CNBC Posted: 30 Apr 2019 11:20 AM PDT Adam Mosseri, Facebook Beck Diefenbach | Reuters Facebook-owned Instagram is going to test hiding "like" counts this week as a way to make "a less pressurized environment" on the app, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced on Tuesday. "We want people to worry a little bit less about how many likes they're getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about," Mosseri said during the keynote of F8, Facebook's annual software developer conference in San Jose, California. Under the test, the number of people who liked a post will no longer be shown. Users will be able to look at who liked their own post, but they won't be able to see how many likes someone else's post got unless they manually count them. A post's creator will be able to see their own like counts if they choose to do so, Mosseri said. "We don't want Instagram to feel like a competition," he said. The hidden like count test announcement comes as Instagram expands its efforts to combat online bullying, a problem that plagues many of the app's younger users. Mosseri also spoke about other efforts the service is considering to combat bullying, such a feature that would nudge users if they are about to post an aggressive comment. "What we aspire to do is lead the fight against online bullying," Mosseri said. WATCH: Here's how to see which apps have access to your Facebook data — and cut them off

New rash of auto burglaries plagues downtown Mountain View - Los Altos Town Crier Posted: 30 Apr 2019 06:20 PM PDT Expect to see more patrol officers downtown as the Mountain View Police Department ramps up efforts to catch auto burglars casing parked vehicles for valuables.  On April 22 and 23, thieves broke into or attempted to break into at least a dozen or so vehicles parked in the 300 block of Dana Street, the 200 block of Bryant Street and the 400 block of Bryant, according to the police department. In many of these cases, the modus operandi was to smash vehicles' back windows and fold down seats to reveal items like purses, phones and computers hidden in trunks. It appears all the incidents occurred during evening hours, said Katie Nelson, police department spokeswoman. Officials strongly urge drivers to never leave anything valuable in their vehicles – even if items are concealed and not readily viewable to passersby. Auto burglars typically target vehicles parked in shopping centers, at restaurants, within parking garages and at movie theaters, according to the police department's "Park Smart" campaign. On March 21, Mountain View officers stopped two suspects after they observed them "window shopping" among vehicles parked at the Computer History Museum on North Shoreline Boulevard. The pair's red Hyundai sedan matched the description of a car connected to other auto burglaries in the area, and officers found a glass-breaking tool inside during the traffic stop they subsequently conducted. Just a day later, officers nabbed a third suspect after they witnessed him crawling around vehicles parked within a garage located in the 800 block of California Street near Castro Street. All three suspects face prowling charges.

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