Carbon County’s Children and Youth has seen 1,800 cases of child abuse and neglect so far this year. The caseload has increased by 50 percent since 2014.

The county commissioners last week voted 2-0 to approve a $4.9 million needs based plan for 2019-20. Commissioner William O’Gurek was absent.

The plan is broken down into in-home services, $1,883,487; community based, $1,498,608; residential, $1,359,657; and administration, $204,789 for a total budget of $4,946,541.

Jill Geissinger, child protective services supervisor for the county, said, “This will help (the) caseload.”

There has also been a 26 percent increase in general protective services and is expecting it to go up with the opioid epidemic plaguing the nation.

Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said that there are currently two babies in the county’s care who were born addicted to heroin.

“We never had that before,” he said. “These are the things we are seeing in their system and it’s driving the cost up.”

There are currently 18 staff members in the department, with 11 of those caseworkers who are at capacity when it comes to caseloads per caseworker.

Because of that, Children and Youth is looking for two additional staff members to help with the cases.

In June, Sallianne Schatz, administrator of the Carbon County Children and Youth Services, told Carbon commissioners that the casework in her office has increased since 2014 when changes were made to the Child Protective Services Law as a result of the Sandusky scandal.

“These numbers increased due to the change in the Child Protective Services Law, mandated reporting regulation, as well as an increase in parent and child drug addiction to meth and heroin, lack of housing and transportation,” Schatz said.

She also cited lack of mental health services and facilities for children and adults and family members needing assistance providing for children they are caring for because the parents are absent or unable to care for them,” Schatz said at that time.