INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb wants to tap the state’s budget surplus to hand out raises to state child welfare workers.

The Republican pledged to take action after a report he commissioned found case workers at the Department of Child Services are underpaid.

That was just one of dozens of findings included in the report by the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group that was released Monday.

The group concluded there are widespread problems at the troubled agency, which is understaffed, plagued by high turnover and dominated by a “culture of fear.”

The group was hired in December in the wake of a scathing resignation letter from his outgoing agency director. Mary Beth Bonaventura accused Holcomb’s administration of cutting services and making management changes that “all but ensure children will die.”