Members of the Oswego Department of Social Services are no longer staying quiet about the department's shortcomings, following the death of a teenager police say died of neglect.

Workers voiced their concerns about lack of pay, retention and the state of their mental health in a legislative meeting back in October. 

"I am here to represent the DSS employees that have been undervalued by our county for far too long," said one speaker at the meeting. "From May of this year until October, I've exhausted three civil service lists. Since May of this year we have hired 19 new case workers with another seven starting on November 3. When Sharon says I'm exhausted, I am exhausted. For approximately the last eight years, I've seen turnover that can only be described as unacceptable."

These sentiments were re-emphasized in a letter this week to the department from the state Office of Children and Family Services. They went over some of the good and the bad of the Oswego DSS.

They highlighted areas of strength, like gathering case-related information to make safety decisions in CPS cases.

But, according to the state, Oswego DSS needs improvement at documenting all safety factors, as well as conducting initial and ongoing risk and safety assessments during CPS preventative services cases.