Child Welfare Employees Research Articles

How Does Professional Education Impact the Job Outlook of Public Child Welfare Workers?

The objective of this study was to examine how public child welfare employees perceive their graduate social work education, whether they use the knowledge and skills gained, their work satisfaction, and their future plans. It was designed to examine the experiences of the New York City Administration on Children's Services (ACS) employees who were participants in the Professional Development Program and received support to study for their master's degrees in social work. The total number of respondents surveyed was 153, the vast majority of whom were people of color. In considering their motives for attending graduate school, 96 percent emphasized their desire to serve children and families better. These graduates were very positive about their academic and field experiences, with almost all saying they would recommend MSW training to others. There was a constant progression in their perceived knowledge and skill level over time. They expressed a mid-level of satisfaction with their current jobs, but higher satisfaction with the nature of the work itself. It was striking to note the respondents' attitudes about remaining employed at ACS. Only 13 percent of those who responded said they planned to leave within the next two years Almost a third (32.6%) said they thought they'd stay at least 5-9 years, and 39.8 percent said they would probably stay 10 years or longer. Satisfaction with the nature of the work and pay were the two strongest predictors of the length of time respondents planned to stay at ACS. These are important findings because they demonstrate that public investment in MSW education can have significant pay-off by increasing the knowledge and skills of public child welfare workers and encouraging long-term commitment to the work.

One Piece in the Child Welfare Puzzle: An Evaluation of Alabama Public Child Welfare Internships and Subsequent Employment

Intervention with families and children when child maltreatment is suspected is one of the most critical practice areas of social work. This study examined the level of satisfaction for current child welfare stipend interns (n=106), the majority of whom were BSW students, and former stipend interns (n=59) after 1 year of employment within the Alabama state child welfare system. Overall, participants were satisfied with both internship and employment; however, job satisfaction for White child welfare employees was significantly higher than for Black employees. Sixty-two percent of the employees did not expect to remain employed with the agency over the next 5 years.

Linking Self-Efficacy Beliefs to Employee Retention in Child Welfare

SUMMARY This article describes the results of a two-state study of relationships between child welfare employees' intentions to remain employed in child welfare and their self-efficacy beliefs about their capabilities to accomplish core work tasks. Linkages between self-efficacy motivation and persistence and intent to remain employed in child welfare were also examined. The development of the study measures and the results of data analyses pertaining to their empirical structures and scale reliabilities for a large sample (n = 941) of child welfare staff are described. Major findings of the study confirmed the hypothesized, positive relationships between child welfare employees' self-efficacy beliefs and their intentions to remain employed in child welfare. These findings replicated across the two states. Implications of the findings for practice, theory development, and future research in child welfare are discussed

Improving Retention Among Public Child Welfare Workers

ABSTRACT This study expands understanding of personal and organizational factors related to retention among public child welfare workers and supervisors from the personal experiences of highly competent, long-term employees, following the original terminology used by Ellett and Ellett (1997), we termed the committed survivors. A series of focus group interviews was completed with child welfare employees in urban, suburban, and rural settings. The results of the study are described in six sections: (a) Engagement and Involvement of Participants; (b) Reminiscence: Organizational; (c) Reminiscence: Societal; (d) Personal Characteristics; (e) Core Themes; and (f) Group Differences. Implications of the findings for local administrators, supervisors and higher-level administrators to enhance employee retention, and for social work educators are discussed.

Public Child Welfare Employees’ Perception of Their Work Environment: Are Gender and Race Important Factors?

Public Child Welfare Employees’ Perception of Their Work Environment: Are Gender and Race Important Factors?

Commitment in Public Child Welfare

This study applies theoretical concepts derived from occupational sociology to develop and estimate a causal model of organizational and occupational commitment among public child welfare employees. It relies on structural equation modeling of data from a cross‐sectional survey of child welfare employees within the Missouri Department of Social Services. The results show that job satisfaction and organizational and occupational attachment are distinct but related constructs that are influenced by structural features of the workplace, job stressors, and professional identification.

Determining readiness for child protective services practice: Development of a testing program

This article describes the process of developing a testing program for use in competency-based training for public child welfare employees. The Readiness for Practice in Child Protective Services Model was developed by the authors to assure the job-relatedness of the tests. Readiness for practice includes both the situation type (child protective services) and the employee's background resources (e.g., personal characteristics, professional education, experience, competency-based training, etc.). In the case example illustrating the process, the tests were used to determine whether local agency staff would be exempt from any of three required training courses based on knowledge necessary at the entry-level. Three separate 50-item multiplechoice tests were developed to assess knowledge of intake and investigation in child abuse and neglect situations, child sexual abuse, and sexual abuse investigations. The Readiness for Practice Model and the procedures used for test development including content validity, item writing, test administration and standard setting are detailed.