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For Social Workers in Kentucky, Talking to Reporters Could Get Them Fired

State officials have warned social service workers they could face disciplinary action "up to and including dismissal" for talking to the news media without permission.

State officials have warned social service workers they could face disciplinary action "up to and including dismissal" for talking to the news media without permission.

 

The warning, in an email Friday from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to all employees, follows several news stories in which social workers who investigate child abuse and neglect have voiced growing frustration about acute staff shortages and rising caseloads they say puts them and the families they serve in danger.

 

"When everyone says it's never been this bad, it definitely is a crisis," Jeff Culver, a social work supervisor in Jefferson County, told the Courier-Journal recently. 

 

Jean West, communications director for the cabinet, said the email from human resources officials was simply one of a number of routine reminders about agency policy that workers will be receiving. She said social workers should not infer they have been singled out.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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