Residents and social workers urge Pitt County commissioners to keep contract workers amid proposed cuts

Three people who work in Pitt County’s child welfare system told commissioners at the May 4 meeting they oppose proposed budget cuts that would eliminate part‑time contract positions the department uses to support Child Welfare services.

Elizabeth Bonham, who identified herself as living at 1811 Bradford Drive, said the county currently has “about six contract workers” who help with transporting children to appointments, supervising family visits, performing courtesy visits for other counties and moving children between placements. “Losing our contract workers would be devastating to our team,” Bonham said, adding that greater workloads would increase turnover, reduce quality of service and raise costs over time because hiring and training new employees is expensive.

Victoria Matlock, who introduced herself as the clinical social worker for the Pitt County Department of Social Services child welfare division, said caseloads remain above the state‑recommended cap and staff regularly work more than 40 hours a week. Matlock told the board Pitt County has “over 150 children in foster care,” warned that cutting contract workers would leave fewer staff available to monitor sibling visits and to complete adoption paperwork in a timely manner, and said reductions could make it harder to meet Department of Health and Human Services requirements.

Joshua Foy, a social worker who said he lives at 318 Haven Drive, said losing contract staff would force full‑time social workers to spend more time on the road doing transport and other duties and leave them with less time for the children in their caseloads. “If I’m not there to give them the care they need, that reflects poorly on everybody here,” Foy said.

The board did not take an immediate vote on the budget during the meeting. The county manager announced a public hearing on the budget scheduled for June 15. Commissioners did not state immediate cuts during the May 4 meeting; public comment will be considered as the budget process continues.