DCS chief: State has stopped housing kids in offices in all but one county

• Gov. Bill Lee's administration is seeking a $193 million budget increase.
• DCS Commissioner Margie Quin told lawmakers the agency is making strides in hiring and reducing the number of children staying in state offices.

There are no longer children sleeping at Department of Children’s Services offices, except in Shelby County, Commissioner Margie Quin told a legislative committee on Wednesday. 

“I’m very pleased we no longer have children sleeping in offices in East and Central Tennessee,” Quin said. 

Children were sleeping in department offices while awaiting placements at foster homes or facilities after being taken into DCS custody. Many were taken from their homes after allegations of neglect or abuse were substantiated against their parents or guardians. Some came into DCS custody after foster parents decided they could no longer care for them. Still, others came into department custody after running into trouble with the law. 

The experience of staying overnight in offices, which has gone on for years, varied across the state. Some offices were equipped with beds and private areas for children to rest. Others had little more than chairs and the floor. While some children stayed in offices for just a night, older children with behavioral and mental health problems were often difficult to place, sometimes staying in offices for weeks. 

In October, The Tennessean reported that children spent a total of 1,134 total nights in department offices between late April and the end of September last year. 

Within 30 to 60 days, children in Shelby County will no longer be sleeping at DCS offices, Quin said. Instead of offices, children are now staying in one of 25 transitional homes or houses operated by nonprofit group Isaiah 117 House. 

Quin credited religious groups for helping to procure housing for children awaiting placement. 

“The faith-based community has really answered the call for us,” Quin said. “We would not be out of offices if not for the faith-based communities.” 

In an email sent on Feb. 19, Quin told department staff, "We had to move out of the offices."

"Ultimately, the offices are not zoned residential — they are zoned commercial," Quin wrote in the email obtained by The Tennessean. "It is what is best for our kids — to be in homes and not offices."

Lee administration seeks $193M increase

Quin made the comments Wednesday as part of a hearing on the department’s annual budget request.

Gov. Bill Lee’s administration is asking for a $193 million budget increase for the department. That request includes $62 million to replace the department’s often-criticized case management software and $39 million to increase the rates paid to providers that offer residential and clinical services to children in state custody. Currently, DCS has trouble placing children in facilities in Tennessee because other states and private insurance pay higher rates, sometimes resulting in children staying in offices or hospitals. 

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The department is also asking for $15 million to increase case manager salaries, a strategy that is already paying dividends for the department in terms of recruitment, Quin said. 

Following a February pay raise that brought starting case manager salaries to $50,600, the department has received more than 500 applications for case manager positions, Quin said, a number she described as “extraordinary.” 

That's about as many applications as the department received in all of 2022, said new department spokesperson Alex Denis. She added that the department has hired 142 staff since the beginning of the year, roughly double the amount hired in the same period last year. 

There were 620 vacant case manager positions when she took over the department in September, Quin told lawmakers. That number is now down to about 410. 

To help reduce that number further, the department is seeking $11 million to secure a two-year contract with an outside provider to deliver roughly 90 case managers

Quin said that although other states such as Florida and Missouri have privatized case management, the arrangement would be temporary. 

“I would say 100 percent it is not my goal is to privatize Tennessee's Case Management system,” Quin said.  

Reach Josh Keefe at jkeefe@tennessean.com.