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CanineAnaconda t1_iwtijmi wrote

What this article glaringly leaves out are the working conditions that drive so many recent hires to quit within several months. As the article states, it’s challenging to find people who are willing to take a $40k salary with a college degree for a job that in the best of circumstances is challenging, stressful, very high stakes, and emotionally and physically exhausting. But from what I know from my sibling who until recently was a social worker in a related field, funding for these programs is repeatedly slashed, resulting in each caseworker is saddled with more cases than can humanly be managed. So much of this kind of job means being present in the field for their clients who are usually in crisis, while simultaneously obligated to be in court for another, and multiply that into dozens, or even more. Now add mountains of paperwork. People burn out and get demoralized because they’re not given the tools to succeed on behalf of their clients.

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Fiss t1_iwtn5yd wrote

Not only that but in some states if something happened to the child and you didn’t get to the case you can be held liable. This lead to a lot of people getting out of social work on top of shit pay which just added more cases to the ones that stayed.

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dominus_aranearum t1_iwtr2qr wrote

It's amazing that cops are rarely held accountable for intentional actions that harm another person under the guise of qualified immunity. Same for prosecutors, etc. People who have the tools and resources at their disposal, but are just bullies.

But a social worker, actually trying to help those most in need, not given the necessary resources to accomplish those tasks, can be held accountable as a result of being seriously overworked? Why am I not surprised?

Our system and country are beyond help at this point.

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AngelSucked t1_iwu149x wrote

You know, that is an excellent comparison, an excellent way to put it. Thank you.

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fun-guy-from-yuggoth t1_iwumhak wrote

Cops don't have a legal duty to protect (seriously. Fucked but true. Actual case law on this) but social workers, care givers, doctors, and nurses do. A cop can legally stand and do nothing.

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RubberPny t1_iwva8cz wrote

Former mechanic here, us too, I can be held liable and even sued if I let a car drive on the road with an obvious defect/safety issue and they hit someone because of it. (In my state at least).

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dominus_aranearum t1_iwvbsch wrote

I'm aware of the reasons and that cops only have a duty to protect the government, not individuals themselves. These rulings are made by those in power who want to maintain the divide between social and economic classes.

The standards necessary for being in law enforcement are too low and the lack of accountability furthers authoritative abuse. Being a cop should absolutely require more education and training, being licensed, being insured and accountability. When a 'civilian' is expected to know the law better than the cops who are paid to uphold those laws, it furthers the power imbalance. When a cop can arrest you and turn your life upside down because they are having a bad day or simply want to bully you, even when illegally detained, you have almost no recourse. I'm glad that there is a little accountability happening now, but it's the tip of the iceberg for a massively corrupt institution and needs serious reform.

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LactoceTheIntolerant t1_iwuu3n3 wrote

Cops have a union.

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dominus_aranearum t1_iwv9u6o wrote

I'm aware and that's irrelevant here. Cop unions have too much power and aren't there to gain better working conditions, but rather to strong arm the communities the cops are supposed to serve into toeing the line.

My point is that the people making these decisions are selfish, egotistical and power hungry. They care for nothing beyond their own group and will stomp all over you to get it.

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LactoceTheIntolerant t1_iwvvixh wrote

I completely agree with you on this. If more state/county communities like this formed a union a lot of these arguments could be solved at the bargaining table.

Edit: Typo

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MrBleah t1_iwv2quy wrote

Yeah, that sounds like a risk I want to take for a $27k starting salary.

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coondingee t1_iww7srg wrote

Don’t forget about the student loan burden you are carrying after 4-5 1/2 years of schooling to qualify you for that job. I know someone that is like 60k in the whole for there masters degree in this field.

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420ipblood t1_iwuavaj wrote

Then republicans say the system isn't working and apply more budget cuts.

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81CoreVet t1_iwu5zi4 wrote

Ah yes, my lord. Tennessee certainly was a fantastic place to begin operation Hell on Earth. Shall I proceed with fooling the poor ones into demonizing social services further and have them flood the offices with complaints and -ooooh, we could start another pandemic and tell the poor ones the government made it up so they can storm into the ss offices demanding even more while giving the social workers disease!! Ah yes, a fantastic plan! I'll contact our Earth side contact Mitch McConnell and advise him to start slashing budgets immediately so they'll be at their weakest when the next plague hits! Hahahahahahahaha!!!

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celica18l t1_iwy3kew wrote

Don’t a lot of these positions require a masters degree as well? I remember looking into social work at one point but the amount of schooling bs salary wasn’t worth what I could give at the time with a young family.

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Micky-OMick t1_iwvhtu5 wrote

The deplorable (and purposefully unsustainable) condition that you describe is grotesquely by design.

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