State finds low morale, lack of communication at social services
Low morale, inadequate staffing and a lack of communication were a few of the things uncovered by a recently completed quality management review of the Prince William County Department of Social Services.
Performed by the Virginia Department of Social Services, the review came on the heels of the death of Alexis “Lexie”Glover. The 13-year-old was found dead in a creek in Woodbridge this January and her adoptive mother, Alfreedia Gregg-Glover, is accused of killing her.
There were multiple reports submitted to the county that Lexie was being neglected and abused. A county social worker was fired and two were disciplined in the aftermath of Lexie’s death.
The state is also looking specifically at how the Lexie case was handled. Her adoptive mother’s murder trial starts next Monday in Prince William Circuit Court and the findings of the second state investigation could also be ready by next week, said Virginia Department of Social Services spokeswoman Marianne McGhee.
The findings of the state’s reports gibed with the county’s internal investigation, said county Social Services Director Jack Ledden. He said the death of Lexie brought to light the need for better communication between police and social services, easier accessibility to case information and a new approach to staffing overnight shifts.
Currently, only one person is assigned or on-call to what is termed emergency duty for a week at a time and two weeks in a calendar year. The state investigation determined that this model is problematic for several reasons including the limited amount of experience gained from working these infrequent shifts and how being on-call for a week straight could negatively impact that employee’s production during regular business hours.
To address this situation, the department is looking into the creation of “an after-hours unit,” which possibly could involve more than one individual working these shifts at a time.
Ledden said he will also meet with county police Chief Charlie T. Deane to discuss what he called “advanced investigative techniques” in Child Protective Services cases that would involve all emergency workers.
The state review also uncovered employees’ desire to have one attorney follow CPS cases from start to finish. According to Ledden, there are four attorneys that deal with the department on a regular basis. But because of logistics and schedules set by the court, having one attorney follow one case would be extremely difficult to do.
However, Ledden did say they would look into whether the department needs to hire individuals for just clerical work or, more specifically, paralegal work.
To help battle the overall numbers game, the department will advertise two new positions in the Child Protective Services division. Currently, CPS has 10 investigators and ideally would have 17 at some point down the road, said Social Services Acting Chief of Services Kay Taylor.
The department will also hold more internal meetings to address any communication issues between staff and management and will put into place a better mentoring system for those individuals who are transferred to assist in other areas of the department.
Ledden said he believes that after all the investigations are completed the county will be a model for the state. In the process of achieving that status, Ledden said they will look at comparable jurisdictions to see what best traits they can implement within their department.
Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.
Reader Reactions
Can’t do a blessed thing about the person that brought Lexie in this world, but the ‘government’ took on the responsibility of keeping her safe and did not do their job.
We ‘can’ hold them accountable…
The person “directly responsible” was the person who bore her. The person at CPS is - or was - a government employee. I don’t disagree with her firing, just the notion that we too often treat symptoms while ignoring cause.
The person who was supposed to be protecting her is Alfredia Gregg-Glover.
That’s not unlike, ‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?‘.
The fact is there will always be parents that are not responsible enough to be parents or should never have been parents in the first place. Therefore we will always have ‘Levies’ out there to protect. This girl was not protected by the people that were ‘paid’ to do just that.
Hindsight is 20 20. The person directly responsible was fired. Now the person that should have been aware of THAT person should also be let go or we are just asking for another Lexie down the road.
This is not just some random mistake. People knew and did nothing to help this poor girl. And if the director did not know, this director should be let go for not knowing. Hiding behind a large work load is not a legitimate excuse.
Like I said before, anyone who had knowledge of this little girls plight, and did nothing, has to own some of the responsibility.
We may not be able to stop this from ever happening again, but that should not preclude fixing the holes in THIS department now.
I too have no professional experience in this arena, but everyone should be responsible for their actions or non actions. Personnel responsibility because we should care, not apathy because it’s ‘just not my job’...
I agree with the posters both defending and criticizing CPS, as there are truths in both arguments. However, even though it comes under the heading of closing the barn door after the horse is out, one must ask why Lexie Glover was placed for adoption in the first place (Teen pregnancy? Unfit mother? Mother in jail?) Increasing staff at government agencies - and of course, having more “meetings” - is triage, and tends to wasteful and ultimately ineffective.
Unlike some of the other posters, I have no professional experience as a teacher, social worker, etc., and I have to somewhat defer to their expertise. But I have much more experience with the prison system, and I see the same problems there. There are inamtes who are just plain bad, and nothing could have prevented them from ending up in prison, and nothing much will keep them from returning again and again. However, there are many, many others whose childhood experiences at the hands of ill-prepared parents (some are just plain crazy) cuts them off at the knees before they ever have a chance. (Although poverty doesn’t cause crime, it does result in longer sentences due to indigent defendants who depend on overworked public defenders whose business is doing paperwork for plea agreements.) As a result, they ruin their own lives and the lives of others through their crimes. It is tragic.
With creeping progressivism infiltrating our society, we try to demand things from government that government cannot provide. And although it must not stop us from always seeking to improve our Social Services, government is no replacement for responsible parenting. As such, we will continue to see cases such as poor Lexie Glover, may she rest in peace.
Unfortunately when there is a mistake here, there’s no correcting it. A little girl died and someone is responsible that was being paid to be responsible.
Certainly if the person at the top knew what was going on and did nothing, they too should be fired.
If the boss can take the credit for their employees good work, then ultimately should take the fall for this kind of mistake…
I see the same excuse in every story involving a childs death throughout the country. CPS/DSS admits no wrong doing in every case. What they do is try to gloss it over by saying there was a kink in the overall process of cps and that they are overworked and understaffed. Cpc/Dss always leaves that loop hole open to request more funding to do their jobs right. Cps/Dss in Virginia especially is corrupt from the top down not just at the local levels. It’s a child trafficking industry. The director should have been fired. There should be a federal investigation of Virginia DSS throughout the state along with family court judges, GAL’s, certain lawyers, and many privately contracted foster care agencies who are involved. take note that this is only one story that made headlines ; there are countless others in Virginia and elsewhere.
I would like to defend the position of the Social Services personnel. My first experience in working with this office and their people has been a very good experience. They have gone out of their way to help, have returned my phone calls and have offered me very good advice. As I continue to work with them I look forward to their very professional advice and help. I think they are doing a wonderful job and I thank them.
Assigning blame to their confidentiality rules has become a convenient place for the guilty DSS folks statewide to hide behind for every uncomfortable problem that ails them.
They couldn’t act because their eyes and ears were inoperative? How convenient for them, how deadly for 13 year old Lexie Glover.
We all want our privacy respected, but social workers, police and school are all severely hampered by privacy rules that do not allow these governmental groups to exchange information freely . That doesn’t even count the District Attorney’s office.
No wonder workers are demoralized. It is all to easy to slip through the cracks with all the firewalls between agencies.
It is extremely difficult to pass legislation that allows service agencies including law enforcement, school, and other service agencies to exchange information that would help prevent Lexie’s murder but not unnecessarily share info the average citizen wants kept private.
As a former teacher and social worker, I am impressed with the response of PWC officials to this horrible situation. I’ve never witnessed a more transparent handling of this tragedy. Poor Lexie lived and died in pain but at least we are working hard to stop this from happening again. Most places just dig in deeper and refuse comment. Good for PWC and Mr. Ledden.
The other 2 should have been fired also. All 3 should be standing next to Glover when the verdict is handed down.
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