Albany -- Expressing frustration with the flawed system in which they work, caseworkers with the Department of Family and Children Services and their supervisors from southwest Georgia said Tuesday they need higher salaries, better training and increased cooperation among all groups that touch the lives of children if those youngsters are to be better protected from abuse and neglect.

Speaking at the first of 10 statewide public forums organized by the governor's Child Protective Services Task Force, the DFACS workers reiterated many of the complaints and concerns that were raised during the independent panel's first meeting last week in Atlanta.

Charles Perry, head of Decatur County DFACS, said he would like improved training for his caseworkers on how to do investigative interviews so they can better gauge when children are at risk for abuse or neglect. "How do you do investigative interviews? How do you read body language? They need additional training in that," Perry said.

Perry also said that in rural counties such as his, which borders the Florida state line, there are few other resources available when dealing with abused or neglected children. "In rural counties DFACS is expected to be all things to all people and it can't be that way," he said.

Audrey Horne, commissioner of the Department of Human Resources, which oversees DFACS, said recently that since the child protective services system has come under criticism because of a series of articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that documented failures in the system, additional resources will be given to local offices, starting with Fulton County. She said the GBI also has offered to work with the agency on developing better interviewing techniques.

The GBI is investigating the deaths of 13 children whose families had been reported for possible abuse or neglect. That investigation began several weeks ago, nearly a month after Barnes appointed the task force to look at ways of reforming the system.

The forums are designed to gather information from community leaders, child welfare professionals and the general public before the task force makes its final recommendations to Barnes on April 20.

Community leaders cited concerns about salaries for DFACS workers, increased training and better caseload management.

But also addressed was how to get programs that are available to those families most in need of them when the families often will not admit to problems or the potential for abuse and neglect.

"We have a lot of resources in our county but people are not reaching out to us," said Denise Bell of Colquitt County's Communities in Schools program. "How do we get out of this room and into those people's lives?"

The next session is Thursday at Waycross College in Waycross. Metro Atlanta sessions are scheduled Feb. 16 and 21.