The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services says fewer children are sleeping in its offices

The Department of Children’s Services commissioner gave an update to the legislature that showed improvements to the troubled system.

Margie Quin went before the state’s Finance, Ways and Means Committee Wednesday as part of the department’s budget request.

Quin highlighted several ways that DCS has made changes already this year, and how more funding could help it continue that upward trajectory.

“We’re not doing all that we want to be able to do,” Quin says. “And we’re here looking for a better solution.”

She says one of the biggest victories is that kids are no longer sleeping in office buildings, except for in Shelby County, which includes Memphis.

“I’m very hopeful that in the next 30 to 60 days that that will be solved as well,” Quin says. “And that no more children are sleeping in offices, state office buildings.”

Instead, kids are being placed in transitional homes.

“Obviously, this has been a very difficult season for DCS,” Quin says. “The need is critical now.”

More: ‘It’s been a never-ending cycle’: Inside the confusion and heartache of one family’s experience with Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services

Children sleeping in offices across the state was a symptom of several problems within the system that have become more public over the last year.

That includes a shortage of foster care placements and a shortage of case workers.

Quin says the worker shortage has also started to show signs of a turnaround. The department has gotten more than 500 applications for case manager positions since increasing pay a few weeks ago.