Because the department's work is probably the most highly stressful of any state agency, a 10-hour day also provides a higher risk of burnout, and some workers are worried about the effect of one less day on the continuity of care in a case, Church said.

Looking over their shoulder during the transition, as it has been for more than a decade, will be the federal court. The workweek switch comes right at the time the federal court's oversight is scheduled to end. Monitoring was imposed as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed in 1993 alleging children in the state foster-care system were not being protected.

If the state continues to meet the standards of care written in a multistep plan it agreed to carry out, the federal monitoring will finish by the end of December.

As a result of the lawsuit, the agency is "so tuned in to every aspect to the safety and activities of children in the system that if anything appears to be negatively affected by the new schedule, we'll know immediately," Church said. She added that she had personally discussed the work-schedule change and possible implications of it with the court monitor.

Because the department works so closely with the courts — which will remain on a five-day workweek — any schedule altering involving a Friday court date will obviously have to be taken into account by caseworkers during the week, Church said.

The state hospital, the development center and Youth Corrections will continue working a regular, five-day week.

The department also has contracts with 800 private providers whose services for the disabled and foster families are affected by the schedule change.

"We're trying to respect the governor's wishes to keep as many buildings closed as we can," Church said. "We'll obviously have things come up as we go along, but we're doing our best to anticipate anything that might hamper the health and safety of those in our care."

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E-mail: jthalman@desnews.com