The Knox County Job & Family Services agency took more than 1,600 calls for child abuse and neglect in 2025 and conducted 520 investigations Child Services Administrator Danielle Crider told the Knox County Board of Commissioners on March 19.
The volume of cases highlights ongoing challenges faced by the agency in addressing child welfare concerns. Crider said neglect is the number one report that's investigated and substantiated. Of those, 75% have a substance use disorder. The biggest drug for which clients test positive is methamphetamine. A rise in cocaine and fentanyl positive test results also has been seen. That requires safety protocols to protect the staff, the children and the families where they are placed. The parent who tested positive has to wear gowns to keep the residue off the kids and away from the staff, according to a video recording of the March 19 meeting.
"You can't address parenting deficits if you can't get through the substance use disorder first, it's the first and foremost. And then when you get through that, you have to get through the mental health piece of it, because typically mental health leads to the substance use disorder," Crider told the board of commissioners.
Crider said the agency had 109 children in placement in 2025. As of March 19, 65 children were in placement in various places including foster homes, group homes, and residential settings. She said placement costs range from $23 a day to $800 per kid per day, depending on the level of care.
County Administrator Jason Booth asked Crider if they see mental health fatigue with their staff who deal with clients' mental health issues, and how they combat it. Crider said they do a lot of secondary trauma training, self-care such as encouraging staff to take time for themselves and use their time off. They are encouraged to get help from their peers with cases so they don't have to solely handle those complex cases. Job & Family Services Director Scott Boone said they engaged with a state pilot program that focuses on coaching and an interpersonal approach to staff in terms of being sensitive to traumatic experiences they not only hear about but go through themselves.
Crider also noted that beyond adoptions there are other outcomes for youth leaving care: "In addition to the 'wins' of kids being adopted, other youth emancipate from their care. Once they turn 18 they move on to self sufficiency. These aren't always known by the community, but a few of them emancipated in 2025. One youth graduated and went to nursing school where she earned her LPN and is ready to move out on her own." Boone added: "Kids have gone to college and entered the military. There's just been a lot of positive outcomes to kids that have been in the quote, unquote system, that are on their way to being productive contributors."
