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A former CPS caseworker said she’s concerned about the newly appointed CPS director over North Texas.
The caseworker, who left in 2012, said the work environment where George Cannata had a leadership role was hostile.
“The atmosphere was very hostile, vindictive, retaliatory,” the woman said, who asked not to be shown on camera since she still works closely with the agency in her current job.
The woman said she took her complaints directly to Cannata before she left the agency in 2012. At the time, he was the boss over her direct supervisor.
She alleges her supervisor was trying to avoid responsibility for certain cases by removing details about her decisions from documents.
"George's response was that is not changing the outcome or merit of the case,” she said. “It raises ethical questions."
The former investigator has a master's degree in professional counseling and more than five years of experience in CPS when she left.
"They need to be focused on why are tenured workers, people with 5-7 years of experience, leaving the agency,” she said.
The ex-caseworker said she told us her reason for leaving was not high case loads, but management.
"I loved it, I thrived in it, but at the end of the day, when you don't have support from your own management, it's tough to do your job,” she said.
Poor management was the top issue identified in a recent review of Dallas County CPS.
CPS responded to the allegations in a statement, calling it: "One disgruntled former employee's personal opinion based on an experience they had four years ago that has no bearing on the current state of affairs."