This bill aims to address the understaffing issues within the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) by increasing the number of frontline staff dedicated to child protective services. The legislature acknowledges findings from a child welfare workload study indicating a need for more social workers and related staff who directly handle reports of child abuse or neglect. To achieve this, the bill intends to reduce the number of overstaffed program support positions, which currently exceed 100 full-time equivalents, thereby reallocating those resources to enhance direct service staffing.

Specifically, the bill mandates that the DCYF increase its child protective services staff by 100 full-time equivalents by the end of the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium, utilizing existing resources. This increase will focus on social workers and related personnel responsible for responding to screened-in reports of child abuse or neglect. The term "within existing resources" refers to the necessary reductions in the department's program support budget to facilitate this staffing increase.