The state Department of Social Service is proposing a series of budget cuts that could include the eventual loss of nearly 200 jobs.

But child welfare workers like those investigating the case of a 9 year old boy in Lake Charles who was found chained inside a closet and weighed just 38 pounds will have nothing to fear from the proposed cuts.

A spokesman for the office of social services told Eyewitness News areas being recommended for elimination are mid level management jobs involved in the food stamp program and welfare payments.

According to Communications Director Trey Williams there will be no impact on the office of child protection. Williams says his office made a point of working hard to ensure there will be no job reductions or budget cuts to those who investigate allegations of child abuse.

The Department of Social Services currently employs some 200 investigators who receive an average of 1800 complaints of alleged child abuse each month.

That equates to an average work load of ten cases per investigator.