Chair Stevens questions CPS hiring timeline and training completion rates

What is the typical timeline for frontline staff, such as child protective specialists?

Does ACS perform its own background checks on candidates?

If so, how long does it take?

And if not, how does those background checks take place?

There is a background check policy.

It varies by position what's required, and so it would vary how long it takes.

Do you have like an average?

It's about six weeks.

Six weeks.

The expert.

How does the onboarding typically take place and train a child protective specialist?

And what is the percentage of CPS candidates provided job offers actually complete the hiring process and onboarding?

What difficulties has ACS faced in hiring those workers?

And what is ACS doing to address those issues?

So we have a very extensive training program for new CPS.

They spend several hours.

months at the Satterwhite Academy and that also includes we have a simulation site where part of the job is practicing what it's like to go to court what it's like to go to home

and then they go into a training unit in their offices where they have a small caseload and less complicated cases and then they go back to training in the academy

because they'll have had a better sense of what the job's like when they've done a few cases and they go back to the academy.

So it takes several months, and I think about 75, like about three quarters complete.

Is that right?

Sorry.

Closer to 70%, sorry.

Those are all the questions I have now.

I still have a number of questions.

We'll send them to you in writing because I know we are kind of pressed for time.

And so just want to just remind our colleagues and you guys to try to be as succinct as possible because DYCD is in the other room waiting, please.

Thank you.