No Simple Answers to a Complex Question: A Response to Perry

Abstract

The issue of whether professional social workers make better child welfare workers than nonsocial workers is a considerably complex one. Simply determining better is itself a difficult undertaking. For example, does better mean reduced turnover among professionally trained social worker child welfare specialists, or should it mean better outcomes for children served? Considerable prior work supports the contention that social workers can make better child welfare workers than non–social workers, research conducted using diverse methodologies and among different states. The performance evaluation process used by Perry may not be a valid method of assessing child welfare worker skills. However, his results certainly indicate the need for additional and more rigorous empirical research to answer the question he posed.