Why Do They Stay? Building a Conceptual Model to Understand Worker Retention and Turnover in Public Child Welfare
Why Do They Stay? Building a Conceptual Model to Understand Worker Retention and Turnover in Public Child Welfare

Author: Amy Denise Benton

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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Retention of public child welfare workers has been a recognized problem and a topic of interest among child welfare researchers for many years. However, findings in the literature are conflicting and the research is largely atheoretical. While many variables relevant to retention and turnover have been identified, the literature lacks explanation of how the variables are related. The goals of this study were, thus, twofold. The first objective was to build a conceptual model using qualitative data generated from interviews of child welfare workers, theoretical works, as well empirical research which might explain retention and turnover specifically in the field of child welfare. The second objective was to test the conceptual model using logistic regression techniques on a large quantitative sample (N=1,121). This study employs mixed methods and draws its data from a larger ongoing study, utilizing a voluntary sample of child welfare workers who have participated in a Title IV-E MSW program in the state of California, have completed their work obligation period, and have either chosen to remain in public child welfare (stayers) or leave (leavers). Results suggest that the conceptual model successfully identifies the complexity of the process that leads to retention and turnover behavior. Variables from three categories (individual, organizational, and response to job factors) are identified as predicting retention. Previous county employment, supervisor support, and client-related stress were all related to predicting retention. The implications of the study findings for social work education, agency practice, theory building and research are offered.

Transformative Learning in Healthcare and Helping Professions Education
Transformative Learning in Healthcare and Helping Professions Education

Author: Teresa J. Carter

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2019-05-01

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 1641136812

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Transformative Learning in Healthcare and Helping Professions Education: Building Resilient Professional Identities is a co-edited book (Carter, Boden, and Peno) with invited chapters from educators who share our passion for learning in healthcare and the helping professions. The purpose of the book is to introduce professional learners (students, residents, and others in professional training) to transformative learning for building resilient professional identities amid practice environments that include widespread burnout and compassion fatigue. With a diverse set of authors engaged in clinical and educational practice in academic medicine, nursing, dentistry, physical therapy, mental health counseling, science education, psychology, social work, and inter-professional collaborative practice, we offer strategies for building resilience throughout the years of professional training and into professional practice. We do so through the experiences of authors involved in healthcare and the helping professions to illustrate how some are coping with the challenges of burnout and compassion fatigue through learning that can be transformative. This book explores the nature of professional identity formation by examining ways that professionals in training can thrive amid the challenges of today’s stressful practice environments. First-hand stories of resilience illustrate how learners, as well as educators in these professions, are addressing adversity, career decision-making, service to the underserved, and the self-care needed to provide excellent care for others. The prominence of transformative learning within adult learning theory is illustrated for its potential to revise the meaning that learners make of their experiences and open up new possibilities for renewed vitality in professional education and practice environments. The book has two primary audiences: professional learners in healthcare and helping professions education, and their educators who are often professional practitioners themselves. These educators have a significant role in influencing the next generation of professionals by serving as mentors, role models, and teachers. The importance of fostering learning that is transformative has never been more important than it is today for those who will work in these demanding professions. We invite readers to discover experiences and strategies for achieving individual wellbeing, as well as opportunities for building a culture within professional education and practice settings that will foster resilience.

Strengthening the Retention of Child Protection Workers
Strengthening the Retention of Child Protection Workers

Author: Kenneth Burns

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2012-12

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 3867418292

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This book examines a key issue in the field of human and social services: how to retain workers in child protection and welfare organisations. Research over the last decade has highlighted the turnover of these workers as being a pressing and perennial issue that impacts upon service users, staff welfare, resources and the reputation of this sector. This book presents the findings of a study examining social workers' retention in child protection and welfare. The findings from this study highlights how workers' retention is influenced by exchanges relationships with colleagues and managers, and this book presents a unique 'career preference' typology which expands our understanding of how workers make decisions to stay or leave based upon their pre-conceptions of career pathways post-qualification. The book also examines findings associated with the employment mobility of these workers within child protection and tracks their next post after leaving, which provides some surprising findings regarding how we understand and measure turnover for these workers. The book also examines rich qualitative data from these workers' experiences of being a social worker in child protection associated with; job satisfaction, commitment to child protection and welfare work, making a difference, quality of supervision, autonomy, and exchange relationships with peers, all of which emerged as important factors in social workers' decisions to stay or leave. The implications of this study's findings for theory are also explored. Kenneth Burns is deputy course director of the Master of Social Work and a research associate with the Institute for Social Science in the 21st Century at University College Cork, Ireland.

Child Welfare Workforce Turnover
Child Welfare Workforce Turnover

Author: Melanie Dawn Sage

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13:

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Public child welfare agencies experience front line worker turnover rates as high as 25% a year. Worker turnover has significant financial costs to agencies, and has been linked to negative outcomes for children in care. Prior research has linked organizational factors, such as organizational climate, culture, and supervisor satisfaction, to turnover intent in child welfare populations. This research uses an empowerment framework to turn to workers directly to answer the question, "What are the organizational factors that lead frontline child welfare workers to stay or leave the agency, and what, then, are the implications for agency administrators?" This study relies upon secondary data of a workforce study conducted by the Child Welfare Partnership at Portland State University's School of Social Work. The data was collected via a pilot Internet survey of approximately 400 State-employed Oregon child welfare case workers across all geographic regions in the state, and focuses on workers who plan to leave for preventable reasons. This study explored links between organizational factors and turnover in a sample of Oregon public child welfare workers. This research finds that climate, culture, supervision, and knowledge of the job prior to hire are all significantly correlated with intent to leave. Climate is most significantly correlated to Intent to Leave, and explains 25% of the variance in intent to leave in a regression model. These research findings suggest that agency administrators who are interested in improving worker retention can monitor and address local culture and climate as one tool for increasing workforce stability. Retention may be improved by maintaining an organizational culture and climate that is empowering to workers and that encourages workers to be a part of the change process. Additional implications for the child welfare workforce, social work research, and social work education are discussed.

Using Systems Theory and Social Exchange Theory to Understand Factors that Impact Retention, Turnover and Motivation to Work in a Public Child Welfare Agency
Using Systems Theory and Social Exchange Theory to Understand Factors that Impact Retention, Turnover and Motivation to Work in a Public Child Welfare Agency

Author: Nicole G. Willis

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13:

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Public child welfare work can be extremely challenging in a system with more complex client needs, limited funding and greater demands placed on caseworkers. Retention and maintaining motivated employees is a challenge among child welfare agencies. An exploratory, mixed-model secondary data analysis research study utilizing systems and social exchange theories was conducted to explore the impact of demographic/personal, professional and organizational factors on motivation to work, as well as the impact of Title IV-E training and level of motivation to work on intent to remain employed and intent to leave among CPS caseworkers (N=610) in Texas. Results from the standard multiple regression analysis were consistent with systems theory, demonstrating motivation to work was impacted most strongly by variables from all three sub-systems: practice skills, collegial support and age. Content analyses on qualitative data revealed thematic differences between low and high motivated groups in terms of intent to remain and leave, in terms of perceived competency/purpose, importance of job stability and helping children. Those with higher motivation levels express stronger congruence between personal/professional mission and the agency mission. Social exchange theory supports qualitative results regarding the impact of Title IV-E, suggesting workers appraise levels of "fit" within many systemic domains, in terms of the appraised costs and benefits between worker values, professional qualifications, organizational climate as well as attractiveness of other agencies in decisions made about remaining employed or leaving employment. Findings from the study suggest CPS must offer professional opportunities, pay commensurate with skills/education, more stability and make sure that hires have professional goals that are best fit with CPS in order to impact the quantity of 'preventable' type of turnover. Findings also suggest that energies need to be focused more on quality of turnover. Staff transitions that are fluid will help reduce caseload absorption on remaining staff and reduce interruption of caseworker-client relationships. Future research on motivation to work, organizational turnover/retention should focus on better definition/conceptualization of the constructs. In addition, future research should focus on exploring the transition process of CPS caseworkers, in order to develop more efficient transitions and agency stability.

Factors Affecting Child Protective Services' Low Retention Rates and High Turnover Rates in Child Welfare
Factors Affecting Child Protective Services' Low Retention Rates and High Turnover Rates in Child Welfare

Author: Lise R.R. Smith

Publisher:

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13:

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This study used a mix-method research design to investigate the high turnover rates and low child welfare retention rates. Specifically, the study sought to determine if relationships exist between job satisfaction, supportive supervision, and turnover intention. Data revealed a strong, negative statistical relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention. When CPS child welfare workers are satisfied with their jobs, they stay with the organization. There is no doubt that the child welfare industry has high-risk challenges. High turnover and low retention rates go beyond a national problem, and it is suggested that decision-makers consider making changes to maintain a robust workforce.

Evaluation Research in Child Welfare
Evaluation Research in Child Welfare

Author: Katharine Briar-Lawson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-10-24

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1317955889

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Since the 1980s, child welfare agencies and social work programs in more than 40 states have come together to address recruitment and retention issues by preparing social work students for child welfare practice—and to enhance the delivery of child welfare services. This book documents the outcomes of these partnerships to help you assess their value and sustainability! Evaluation Research in Child Welfare: Improving Outcomes Through University-Public Agency Partnerships is a critical examination of the diverse outcomes—and strategies for assessing them—of university/public child welfare agency partnerships designed to prepare social work students for public child welfare practice. This informative book addresses outcomes of these specialized training efforts which were supported by federal Title IV-E and Title IV-B Section 426 funds. Special attention is paid to programs addressing diversity and cultural competence through staff development. The book follows the process of tracking the career paths of students in several states (large and small, rural and urban), as well as cross-state collaborations that include university, agency, consumer, and student partnerships. From the Editors: “Rising drug problems such as crack and cocaine addiction, along with co-occurring challenges such as poverty, domestic violence, and mental health issues, have helped to reinforce the need to have the most effective services delivered by the most well-prepared staff. Moreover, such challenges compel the most relevant, scientifically based approaches, requiring a closer connection of public child welfare systems to social work education programs and related academic disciplines. The articles featured in this book serve as progress markers for this re-professionalization initiative. They constitute snapshots of some of the current progress in workforce development, including social work based education, training, and capacity building in public child welfare. They also reflect social work/public child welfare partnerships and the lessons that are being learned when the research, educational, and service resources of schools of social work are harnessed to build a better trained work force that can provide improved services.” In this informative book, you'll find a national overview of historical efforts to promote professional social work practice in child welfare, as well as examinations of: special challenges presented by privatized systems curricula and agencies training opportunities that grow from research partnerships the importance and impact of racial and ethnic diversity for future social workers the cultural competency needs of BSW and MSW students the differing cultural perspectives of universities and agencies—which must be bridged to create successful partnerships the benefits of these partnerships in terms of outcomes for students, clients, agencies, and social work education programs

Perspectives of Transformational Leadership by Child Welfare Workers
Perspectives of Transformational Leadership by Child Welfare Workers

Author: Taekyung Park

Publisher:

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13:

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It is not a new phenomenon that there is a high turnover rate among social workers. In particular, child welfare has shown the highest rates of staff turnover. To address the issue, turnover and retention of child welfare workers have been studied for decades. The history of research produced a long list of determinants for child welfare worker turnover, more than 20 factors, and showed conflicting findings with the same variables. Moreover, the long list of factors for workers' decisions to leave has poorly contributed to organizational practices for retaining child welfare workers. Therefore, this study aims to examine organizational factors, particularly leadership, for child welfare worker turnover intention, in order to help child welfare agencies to invent a practice model to prevent qualified worker's turnover. To do so, it is important to examine the effect of organizational commitment on employees' turnover intention. Therefore, following is the primary research question: Does the use of transformational leadership style in social work organizations explain child welfare worker turnover intention? A cross-sectional survey research was employed among workers in public child welfare agencies in a Midwest state, United States (N=214). Five models were examined in terms of the direct and indirect effects of transformational leadership on turnover intention of child welfare workers using STATA ver. 15. The study finding showed that transformational leadership styles of local office directors had a direct and negative effect on child welfare workers' turnover intention. As a result, this study recommends that child welfare provide local office directors with leadership training to reduce preventable turnover of child welfare workers. However, the findings should be cautiously interpreted due to the sampling strategy used in this study.

Title IV-E Child Welfare Education
Title IV-E Child Welfare Education

Author: Taylor & Francis Group

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-06-30

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9781032084114

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BSW/MSW education funded by Title IV-E of Social Security Act ("Title IV-E Child Welfare Education") is an important incentive to encourage social workers to stay in the child protection field. It aims to demonstrate the training partnership between universities and public child welfare agencies. This book contains essential research results with a focus on the impact of Title IV-E Child Welfare Education to improve worker capacities and case outcomes, as well as on the process and results of social work education in promoting public child welfare work. There are nine chapters written by renowned researchers in public child welfare who applied rigorous quantitative and/or qualitative methodologies to clearly describe measures used, data sources, outcome variables, and implications for education, practice, policy, and research. These evidence-based articles address the following child welfare topics: training partnerships and worker outcomes, effective pedagogy and online education, workplace climate and retention factors, and other topics connecting BSW/MSW education to public child welfare practice. Future child welfare education will need to further expand child welfare knowledge and skills, strengthen worker competencies with a strong commitment to social work values and ethical practice principles, and develop a cohesive supervisory network to build a workforce with positive attitude toward child protection programs. This collection will inform child welfare educators, administrators and legislators regarding the impact of Title IV-E Child Welfare Education on the development of public child welfare and make recommendations to improve the child welfare curriculum in social work education. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Public Child Welfare.