Amid a high number of child deaths, and an even higher turnover rate at the agency tasked with overseeing the state's abused and neglected children, the local Child Protective Services remains troubled, according to the findings of a judicial report released Friday.

The report, authored by David Reilly, the county's juvenile probation chief, and Lynne Wilkerson, the juvenile probation general, was ordered in October as a follow-up study to a similar report conducted in August 2004. That report was assigned on the heels of the beating death of 2-year-old Diamond Alexander Washington, killed by her mother shortly after being taken from foster parents and returned to Kimberly Alexander.

"When we interviewed individuals who regularly interact with CPS on a day-to-day basis, the consensus was that things are 'worse now' than they were in 2004," said the report that was released Friday.

The death of Diamond in 2004 prompted officials to take a closer look at CPS, with 73rd District Judge Andy Mireles ordering a review of the agency that year. That report found the agency in crisis in almost every area. He issued a court order in October for another independent review of the entire child welfare system, including CPS.

In Bexar County last fiscal year — from Sept. 1, 2006, to Aug. 31, 2007 — 13 children died of abuse or neglect, one fewer than the previous fiscal year, according to state CPS officials.

And CPS officials recently said 75 percent of the county agency's investigative caseworkers quit last year, doubling the turnover rate from the year before.

"Until that turnover problem is faced, little else matters," Reilly said.

The 2007 review mixed praise with harsh criticism of the agency's management and the child welfare system overall.

CPS is held to a high standard, Reilly said, and even under the best of circumstances, "children will still be hurt and children will still die."

Since 2004, lawmakers have enacted reforms and added resources to CPS, which has reduced its caseloads and gone a long way toward improving relations with other agencies with which it must work, officials said.

But the problems remain massive, many of them stemming from the turnover at the ground level — higher in Bexar County than anywhere else in the state.

Centralized management decisions being made in Austin hamper the local office in a number of ways, the report said, but "management style cannot be overlooked" in the turnover issue.

Adding to the problems, Wilkerson said, is a damaging culture of risk aversion that has taken hold of the system. Fear of the "ultimate tragedy" of a child's death, and the accompanying public condemnation, encourages the agency to recommend a child be taken from a home "when sufficient legal grounds do not exist," she said.

After the presentation, state Sen. Carlos Uresti, who has focused on child welfare issues, said he plans to file legislation aimed at decentralizing some of the decision-making in the CPS system.