In December, 2023, there were complaints from employees in Chautauqua County’s Child Protective Services, saying they were understaffed and not supported.

A year later, a leader in the department says they are in a much better place.

At the December 2023 county legislature meeting, a number of employees spoke out about struggles they were having meeting the demands of the department. Some employees returned three months later to again express concerns.

Following those complaints, the legislature’s Human Services Committee began regularly meeting with CPS department leaders getting updates on how things were going.

At the most recent committee meeting, Laurie Dolce, the county’s director of certification for Child Protective Services, said she had “good news” to report. “All of our provisional hires have passed the exam so we are in a very good place,” she said.

Dolce said caseloads are “more than manageable,” even though intakes have not dropped. “Our workers are just doing an excellent job, to be very honest,” she said.

Dolce said they have some staff that are going through training and that should be completed by mid-February.

Last summer the legislature rejected a proposal by former Democratic Legislator Susan Parker of Fredonia to form a special committee to examine Child Protective Service issues. The majority of county lawmakers said they felt the Human Services Committee could handle the work at their monthly meetings.

Legislator Marty Proctor, R-Mina, who chairs the Human Services Committee, said he was pleased how things improved.

“I believe we’re in a much better position right now than we were at the beginning of last year,” he said.

Dolce said there’s still a big disparity of experience between Dunkirk and Jamestown staff.

“It ebbs and flows over the years. There’s times Jamestown has all the experience and times Dunkirk has all the experience. Right now it’s Dunkirk that has the experienced staff,” she said.

Dolce admitted that “not everyone is happy” with everything, but feels that overall the department is in good spirits. “It was getting to the point where it felt unmanageable, even if it wasn’t unmanageable, just because there was no end in sight. We got through the worst of that and now we’re in a better place,” she said.