Child Welfare Employees Research Articles

How Motivations Inform the Experiences of French and American Child Welfare Employees in a Fractured Foster Care System

Both the French and American child welfare systems struggle with employee turnover. To address this issue, more research is needed on child welfare employees’ motivations to start and continue working in the child welfare system, as well as the factors that cause them to leave the field. This qualitative study examined the following research question: What are the differences and/or similarities between child welfare employee motivations in France and the United States? The research design analyzed twelve American child welfare employee interviews through thematic and open qualitative coding methods and twelve French videos about child welfare employees’ career motivations and experiences, through a content analysis. The findings for this study are that French and American child welfare employees express similar motivations for beginning and continuing to work in the child welfare system, such as building relationships with children and families. However, their inhibitors to motivation vary, based on the cultural and structural contexts of their respective child welfare systems. Understanding child welfare employees’ motivations in both countries will offer human resource policy implications to guide employers in retaining and supporting high-quality employees.

Exploratory factor analysis and reliability of the Child Welfare Employee Feedback Scale: Further revision (CWEFS-R)

Child welfare workers remain dedicated to the service and safety of families and children, despite decades of high rates of turnover and the consequential impact. Developing and obtaining practical tools to proactively engage the workforce and offset these challenges is a necessity. This article will present the development and psychometric analysis of the Child Welfare Employee Feedback Scale (CWEFS-R). Based on a sample of 511 frontline child welfare workers in one midwestern state, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) yielded a five-factor structure: (1) workload; (2) supervision; (3) organizational climate; (4) peer support; and (5) accomplishment. Further, criterion validity showed statistically significant correlations in the anticipated direction with each of the five subscales and Intent to Leave. Practice implications are discussed.

Digitalizacija poslovanja sektora socijalne i dječje skrbi u Crnoj Gori – socijalni karton (IISSS)

Social Welfare Information System (SWIS) – Social Card is digital transformation in the service of the social and child protection system reform in Montenegro, with the aim of providing the highest quality of social protection for the poor and socially endangered, in the area of material benefits and social and child protection services. This capital project of the Montenegrin Government has significantly improved the way social work centers’ work, because it has supported all business processes and enabled the creation of a single “social card” of the citizens involved in the system of social welfare and child protection services. This paper presents the information system in social work centers and public institutions for accommodation of beneficiaries (which include direct practice, decision-making and case management, information flow management, storage of historical and up-to-date data on beneficiaries and their families), as well as the benefits of this system for beneficiaries, social and child welfare employees and policy makers. SWIS is an important instrument for targeted funding, provision, monitoring and control of material benefits and services provided to families and individuals, and it has improved the capacity of the Government of Montenegro to plan, monitor and manage social and child protection services. The development and introduction of this software required intensive cooperation of experts, employees in the field of social and child protection, software company S&T (Serbia and Montenegro), UNDP and the Directorate for Informatics and Analytical and Statistical Affairs of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Key words: digitalization in social protection; SWIS; material benefits; social and child protection services; institutions for accommodation of users

Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of child welfare workers toward LGBTQ youth

ABSTRACT This study explored workforce opinions toward LGBTQ youth and the LGBTQ community. A total of 1,196 child welfare employees answered a series of surveys measuring their attitudes, perception of climate, knowledge, and behaviors toward LGBTQ. Findings suggest that child welfare workers have adequate knowledge about the LGBTQ community and responses indicate the workforce has some potential to engage in supportive behaviors toward youth, but do not believe the child welfare climate is protective or supportive for LGBTQ youth and reported they “don’t know” how they feel about the LGBTQ population. Implications for practice and policy are presented.

From Social Worker to Social Worker: MSW Mentorship Outcomes

Students returning to graduate school after years in the workforce face multiple challenges, including reviving dormant academic skills, juggling multiple roles and role alterations, and navigating academic structures and procedures. Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Children’s Social Workers (CSW’s) returning to school to obtain a Masters in Social Work (MSW) degree face additional unique challenges, including graduate level writing expectations, learning to be a professional social worker as dictated by the standards of the discipline, and making a paradigm shift from social work employee to social work student. A mentoring project was developed to assist students employed as CSW’s in successfully transitioning from employee to MSW student, and aimed to strengthen the public child welfare employee students to ensure that they are better equipped to successfully achieve their MSW, develop strategies to effectively integrate their skills into the DCFS system following graduation and ultimately increase proficiency to effectively serve vulnerable children and families. The purpose of this research study is to explore how the implementation of a mentorship program for CSW’s obtaining an MSW contributed to professional success post-graduation, when social workers returned to their positions with DCFS. This qualitative study was developed using detailed oral interviews with five participants. This research reveals mentorship programs can be both personally and professionally successful, identifying needs germane to this population of students and suggesting a specialized approach to educating current CSW’s to cultivate the skills essential for effective social work practice.

What’s in an MSW? Graduate education for public child welfare workers, intention, engagement, and work environment

ABSTRACTThis study employs a mixed methods analysis of exit survey data gathered from public child welfare employees at their completion of a Title IV-E funded MSW program, distinct because it was initiated during a period of major reform and permitted students to continue employment during their studies. Findings suggest that opportunities for growth and manageable levels of stress were associated with intentions to stay and engagement with the work, reflected in respondents’ positive perceptions of their roles in the work environment and their retrospective assessments of the impact of their social work education.

A Walking Contradiction, Partly Truth and Partly Fiction

This article is a critique of David Stoesz' descriptions of organizational issues in child welfare, and more specifically, the relationships between the U.S. Children's Bureau and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute. The focus is on Stoesz perspectives and assessments of sub-entities (cartels) that are currently influencing funding and programmatic efforts to prepare child welfare employees. The critiq ue also includes Stoesz' perspectives of current child welfare training efforts and issues related to child welfare as a profession. The review ends with a set of summary conclusions about the merit of the Stoesz article.

Adverse Childhood Experiences Among MSW Students

ABSTRACTAlarming rates of burnout, compassion fatigue, and turnover in the social work profession have focused attention on factors influencing risk and resilience among professional social workers and, more recently, social work students. This article explores the prevalence and relevance of early trauma among social work students and describes a cross-sectional, exploratory study aimed at determining frequency of adverse childhood experiences among Master of Social Work (MSW) students. Results reveal rates of adverse childhood experiences are much higher than those found in general population samples, university students, and child welfare employees. Implications for social work education are discussed.

Leadership Development: A Pathway to Transforming the Public Child Welfare System

Calls for systemic reform within public child welfare have been consistent, yet the system has struggled to respond adequately. This article discusses the issue of system reform by examining perspectives of caseworkers and supervisors on organizational readiness for change. It presents data from semistructured qualitative interviews with 29 public child welfare employees. The findings indicate that organizational leadership is the core determining condition for employees' perceptions of readiness for change. The article discusses practice and policy recommendations for child welfare leadership in order to effect organizational transformation and, ultimately, meaningful and long-term change for the families served by the system.

Practice Change in Child Welfare: The Interface of Training and Social Work Education

This article examines perceptions of the relationship between professional education and workplace training among a select group of public child welfare employees who pursued graduate social work education during a period of major practice change at their agency. Focus groups were conducted with representative members of graduating cohorts as students completed their studies to explore the connections and distinctions between their professional education and the workplace training that introduced case practice reform. Experienced caseworkers, supervisors, and management-level staff, study participants were well situated to contemplate the changes in process at their agency. They offered insights into the progress of reform and the challenges of sustaining change as well as their roles as professional social workers in carrying reforms forward.

The Six Dimensions of Child Welfare Employees’ Occupational Well-Being

The objective of this paper is the creation of a multidimensional model of occupational well-being for child welfare professions and the definition of the model’s six dimensions of well-being: affective, social, cognitive, professional, personal, and psychosocial well-being. Previous concepts that were used to describe child welfare employees’ well-being at work focused, primarily, on single aspects of work-related mental distress or well-being, disregarding the complexity of well-being in child welfare professions. The model presented here is based on an analysis of theoretical concepts and empirical studies addressing child welfare workers’ mental distress and well-being. The body of variables, consisting of individual and organizational factors and gathered from the analysis, is used to create a positively oriented model. The key processes in developing psychological distress, as well as employee well-being, are seen in worker–client relationships and the interactions of organizations with their employees. The presented model reveals the importance of constructive interaction between organizations and employees concerning the creation and maintenance of occupational well-being. Application of the model will contribute to the enhancement of the occupational well-being of child welfare employees and, thereby, of organizational well-being. Additional investigations are needed for the empirical validation of the model.

Transferring MSW Education to Practice: A Qualitative Study With Public Child Welfare Employees

This study used a qualitative analysis of survey data collected from public child welfare employees (n = 168) as they completed master's of social work courses in a weekend/hybrid program, to examine their perceptions of ability to apply classroom learning to practice. The program, which combined a focus on direct practice and management, was developed in partnership with the state's public child welfare agency, during a period of systemic change and case practice reform. Findings indicate that students readily transferred knowledge and skills to the workplace, albeit with some challenges. In particular, management courses appeared to provide an important framework in understanding the organizational context of practice.

Sinking, swimming and sailing: experiences of job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion in child welfare employees

ABSTRACTThe authors conducted a mixed‐method study after a previous study of child welfare employees revealed a subgroup exhibiting surprisingly high levels of both emotional exhaustion (EE) and job satisfaction (JS). This subgroup included direct service workers, supervisors and managers. As these findings appeared to conflict with previous studies, we re‐reviewed the literature and undertook the current study to account for the co‐existence of EE and JS. We explored and compared this subgroup with two others: workers who found their work satisfying without experiencing high levels of EE and those whose high levels of EE were associated with low JS. Using a survey that included several standardized measures with 226 employees and semi‐structured interviews with a criteria‐based subsample of 25, we explored the role that personality, career expectations, coping styles, stage of life, education, gender and social networks play in outcomes for individual employees. Analyses of quantitative and qualitative data yielded a profile for each subgroup, offering insights into the subjective experiences of workers within individual, social and organizational contexts. These findings have implications for recruitment, training and support of child welfare workers.

Predicting public child welfare employees' intentions to remain employed with the child welfare organizational culture inventory

Abstract High employee turnover continues to be a serious problem in the field of public child welfare. In a statewide study of public child welfare employees in a southern state, the Child Welfare Organizational Culture Inventory was used to assess employees' perceptions of organizational culture and to examine which factors might be predictors of employees' intentions to remain on the job as measured by the Intent to Remain Employed-Child Welfare scale. Logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between organizational culture and employees' intent to remain in their in child welfare. These analyses provide a view into which employees might be at higher risk for leaving their positions and which organizational factors are contributing to the problem of high worker turnover.

“I'm wondering if I am completely missing that”: Foster care case managers and supervisors report on their IPV training

The co-occurrence between child maltreatment and adult intimate partner violence (IPV) is estimated to range from 30% to 60%, and child welfare workers have tremendous potential to identify IPV when they are adequately trained. The purpose of this descriptive study is to assess whether any training on IPV is received by child welfare employees in three large geographic areas of one Midwestern state. The study includes survey data from 237 ( n = 133 public, n = 104 private) foster care case managers and supervisors. Data from three focus groups of case managers and supervisors are also used to uncover what topics should be included in IPV training provided to child welfare employees. Results revealed that 49% of the respondents received no training on IPV as part of their initial agency training and 32% have received no training on IPV during their current employment, although public employees reported IPV training more often than private employees. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents report they are not sufficiently trained to address IPV in their caseload, and public employees discuss aspects of IPV with their supervisors more often than private employees. Focus group results show a wide range of IPV training received by the state's child welfare workers and highlight the need for collaborative training and coordinated service provision with domestic violence agencies.

Beyond intent to leave: Using multiple outcome measures for assessing turnover in child welfare

This study sought to provide a more comprehensive approach to assessing and predicting turnover in child welfare by utilizing established measures that go beyond “intent to leave” and capture a continuum of behaviors indicative of emotionally and physically withdrawing from work (job withdrawal, work withdrawal, job search behavior, and exit). Data collection was informed by a conceptual framework using previous research literature. Data was obtained from public agency databases and an online survey completed by 621 (56.5%) public child welfare employees across a diversified mid-Atlantic state with geographical and demographic representation. Hierarchical regression results confirm that a combination of individual, job/work, and organizational factors are related differentially to the various types of employee behaviors related to turnover. However, factors related to perceptions of the organizational climate explained significantly more variance in types of organizational withdrawal than personal or job characteristics. Employees' reports of “stress” (captured by emotional exhaustion, role overload, and role conflict) contributed more to job withdrawal, work withdrawal, job search behavior, and exit from the organization than any other factor. Armed with specific and predictive data related to types of organizational withdrawal, agency managers can become proactive in creating the conditions likely to enhance retention.

Factors influencing child welfare employee's turnover: Focusing on organizational culture and climate

Organizational culture and climate have been studied within the context of understanding the effectiveness of business and for-profit organizations. But these organizational factors have not been seriously considered in the social welfare literature, particularly in the child welfare area, even though Glisson and his colleagues have studied organizational culture and climate. This paper addresses this void through a systematic examination of organizational culture and climate and their effects on employee turnover in child welfare. To do this, it uses mainly the workforce retention study survey data that the New York State Social Work Education Consortium (SWEC) conducted and collected in 2002 and 2003. Organizational culture is classified into achievement/innovation/competence (AIC), cooperation/supportiveness/responsiveness (CSR), and emphasis on rewards (ER), while organizational climate into role clarity (RC), personal accomplishment (PA), emotional exhaustion (EE), and workloads (WL). It employs a logistic regression model (LRM) in analyzing an individual child welfare worker's intention to leave the current job. Empirical findings indicate that organizational culture and climate are the significant factors to explaining an employee's intention to leave. In particular, ER in organizational culture is significant, implying that child welfare employees with clearer and more effective incentives and rewards for job performance have less intention to leave than those with less clear and effective incentives and rewards. EE in organizational climate is significant, implying that employees with higher levels of emotional energy have less intention to leave than those with lower levels of energy. These findings suggest that child welfare organizations can improve organizational culture and climate by supporting ER and reducing EE.

Employment-based social capital, job stress, and employee burnout: A public child welfare employee structural model

This cross-sectional study examined the relationship between employment-based social capital, job stress and burnout among public child welfare workers in a Northeastern state. Since one of the core functions of social capital is support, this study examines how employees' perception of support from multiple organizational dimensions, such as trust, social relationships with coworkers and supervisors, organizational commitment, communication, influence, and fairness can shape levels of job stress and burnout. Utilizing a purposive sample of 209 employees, results of structural equation modeling indicate that social capital in the form of communication, supervisory support, organizational commitment, influence, and trust shared a significant association with job stress. Employment-based social capital had varying effects on burnout as characterized by emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Emotional exhaustion was significantly associated with age, influence, supervisory support, organizational commitment, and job stress, while depersonalization was predicted by age, organizational commitment, and job stress. Implications for organizational practice and future research are discussed.

The Relationships among Work Stress, Burnout, and Turnover Intentions of Child Welfare Employees

The Relationships among Work Stress, Burnout, and Turnover Intentions of Child Welfare Employees

Pathways to Organizational Commitment

ABSTRACT This study uses an attribution of employer responsibility framework to empirically examine how aspects ofwork and the work environment affect organizational commitment. The study estimates a structural equation model using data from a cross-sectional survey of child welfare employees within the Iowa Department of Human Services. Results support the existence of two pathways to organizational commitment. Work-related variables to which employees attribute greater employer responsibility affect employees' commitment through the social exchange mediator of perceived organizational support, while aspects of work to which employees attribute less employer responsibility affect commitment through job satisfaction. Supervisor support is unique in affecting commitment through both pathways.