The National Core Indicators (NCI) project collects data on staff turnover and stability every year. In 2019, the turnover rate among Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) in Delaware was 41.3% (see page 20, Table 12 in the report*). Service providers are reporting that their turnover has increased during the pandemic.

What was truly shocking, though, about NCI's 2019 staff stability survey was that it found that Delaware had the fewest number of DSPs of any state in the U.S. who had been on the job for 3 years or more, which is why that number – 28% - is bolded in Table 13 on page 23 of the report. 

Service providers rely on a core group of DSPs with the longest tenure to teach the less experienced DSPs what to do, which helps keep people with I/DD healthy and safe. The fact that this key group of front-line staff members in Delaware is smaller than in any other state is just one more facet of the workforce crisis that is affecting services to this vulnerable population. 

Please spread the word and support our petition for full funding for I/DD services so that DSPs who know how to provide quality supports can stay on the job longer in Delaware.

Thank you.

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*The full NCI report can be found here: https://www.nationalcoreindicators.org/upload/core-indicators/2019StaffStabilitySurveyReport_FINAL_1_6_21.pdf