<p>The Fulton County office of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services gets scathing criticism in a new state report.</p><p>The report, released Wednesday by the state Office of the Child Advocate, used terms such as "high failure rate," "obviously poor casework" and "inexcusable" to describe the Fulton County DFCS office, which is responsible for looking into allegations of child abuse and neglect.</p><p>Abused children were often left in homes without appropriate follow-up or placed with people who had not been adequately screened, the report said. The report also said the office was working under a backlog of 300 cases.</p><p>"They have fallen apart," said Dee Simms, a governor's appointee who monitors the state child welfare office. "I think this agency is in need of emergency help and leadership."</p><p>Simms started looking into the Fulton County office after the November death of 2-year-old Nateyonna Banks, whose mother was charged with killing the girl after Fulton County DFCS placed the child with the woman, who had a history of child neglect and homicidal thoughts.</p><p>Simms said Wednesday that as recently as a few weeks ago, the Fulton County DFCS office had filled just seven of 49 investigator positions.</p><p>Amid an exodus of employees, the office has built up a backlog of about 300 cases in which investigations are moving slowly, Simms said. As recently as a few weeks ago, many of those families had not even received an initial visit from an investigator, she said.</p><p>The result, she said, is that children have been left in homes where there has been a report of abuse or neglect, and the agency has not been watching over the family appropriately.</p><p>"It is unacceptable," Simms said.</p><p>Simms blamed the worker exodus primarily on discontent over the management style of Fulton County DFCS director Kenneth Joe, who was brought in last summer to improve the office.</p><p>The report repeatedly noted that workers feel pressured to close cases. The report reiterates the concern that Fulton County management "is more concerned with closing cases and reduction of case loads than it is with child safety and well-being."</p><p>Joe's superiors have defended him, saying that while he has increased scrutiny over workers, he has also improved the operation of the office.</p><p>DFCS officials have pointed to figures that show the Fulton County office is doing a better job of reuniting children taken into foster care with their families.</p><p>State DFCS Director Mary Dean Harvey has said that the Fulton County office has done a good job of managing the office turnover.</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc3f8)</p>
