Social Workers

Social workers in the Greater Fall River area held the first in a series of statewide pickets, spreading awareness of what they say is an underfunded field. Members of SEIU Local 509 gathered in Fall River Tuesday, calling on the State Senate to increase the number of social workers by adding $29 million to the Department of Children and Families budget...

More than 50 social workers from the New Bedford office on North Front Street marched during their lunch hour on Tuesday, calling on the Dept. Of Children and Families to hire more social workers and reduce caseloads. Union official Julie Cardoza-Patreska says social workers in New Bedford are handling well over 20 cases per worker, and that has to stop...

The state Office of the Child Advocate says a heavy caseload at the Department of Children and Families' Leominster office does not excuse the failure to properly monitor a 5-year-old Fitchburg boy who has not been seen in months.  ...