BATON ROUGE - At a small meeting Tuesday, current and former employees with the Department of Children and Family Services voiced frustrations with the department.

Attendees said they worked absurd hours and were treated poorly, and when they tried to report the issues, they were retaliated against.

"Not only are you abusing the children, tonight proves that you are abusing the adults that you hired to help the children," Dr. Monica Fabre, President of the NAACP's New Roads Branch, told WBRZ.

At the meeting, some attendees said they worked long hours well into the early morning but were still expected to be at work on time the next day. 

One woman said she had to be on call for 72 hours straight, caught pneumonia, and still had to work.

Attendees said all of the issues have been brought up to supervisors and management, but nothing has been done to fix them.

"It's about not appreciating the workers," Fabre said.

The current and former employees said DCFS is understaffed. One former employee said that if workers didn't comply to work in the environment, they would be fired.

There has been a recent change of leadership at DCFS. Attendees said they hope the change in management brings improvements soon.

"The number one solution is to go over your policies and procedures and for the people who you put in charge to understand why there is a need for policy," Fabre said.