Employment mobility or turnover? An analysis of child welfare and protection employee retention

This article challenges the commonly held assumption that there is a high level of occupational turnover of social workers in all child protection and welfare agencies. By analysing occupational mobility patterns (turnover, retention and attrition) in five child protection social work teams, the article demonstrates how occupational mobility is a complex phenomenon and needs to be understood within wider shifts in employment patterns and the gendering of professions. In this paper we argue that it is important to distinguish between employee turnover and employee mobility, and that an examination of the posts taken up after leaving, at least in Ireland, may provide a different perspective on the narrative of high turnover of workers in this sector. Within the five teams, it is estimated that there was a turnover rate of 8 percent in 2006 and 11 percent in 2010, with 72 percent of child protection workers in post at the end of 2005 being retained and still in post at the end of 2010. While this should not lead to complacency, or a failure to recognise and respond to the stressful nature of child protection, it does raise questions for employers about how they might plan for occupational mobility within a stable workforce made up of largely women, aged between 25 and 35, frequently newly-qualified, who are often the main carers for children and adults outside the workplace.     

Juvenile justice sentencing: Do gender and child welfare involvement matter?

For young people who come into contact with the juvenile justice system, how they are sentenced following an arrest may profoundly influence the course of their development and adjustment as adults. Much of the research to date has focused on racial and ethnic disparities in juvenile justice sentencing policies and practices, and less is known about sentencing disparities based on other youth characteristics. Using Los Angeles County administrative data, this study investigates the effects of gender and child welfare statuses on sentencing for young people who are arrested for the first time (N = 5061). Results indicate that both young men and women are sentenced more harshly dependent upon the disposition, such that girls were more likely to be sentenced to group homes compared to boys, but boys were more likely to be sentenced to correctional facilities compared to girls. Child welfare-involved youth with a recent placement history are prone to more punitive sentences compared to their non-child welfare counterparts. Further, child welfare young women were not more likely to be sentenced to a harsher disposition compared to child welfare young men or non-child welfare young women. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.     

Does job resource loss reduce burnout and job exit for professionally trained social workers in child welfare?

This study contributes to the literature on burnout and turnover in child welfare by examining the applicability of conservation of resources theory (COR). This theory argues that a loss of resources leads to the stress underlying burnout. This article examines the loss of two resources in particular: (a) the loss of a member of the entering cohort of workers and (b) change in the coethnic population of the community in which the social worker practices. In this sample of 1001 specially trained social workers, 44.3% reported high levels of emotional exhaustion or burnout. Stress was positively associated with burnout. Likewise, job satisfaction was protective against burnout. Furthermore, coethnic resources were associated with higher personal accomplishment scores for Asian–American, Hispanic, and Caucasian workers. Cohort member loss was not associated with burnout when controlling for personal resources and organizational factors, but cohort member loss did triple the odds of others in the cohort leaving. However, burnout was not associated with job exit in this sample. Although this study did not find evidence that cohort loss or coethnic loss was associated with burnout, it raises questions for further research about the social network implications of turnover.     

The location of placement and juvenile delinquency: Do neighborhoods matter in child welfare?

This study aims to advance the knowledge base by investigating where foster youth are placed in terms of neighborhood characteristics and whether specific neighborhood characteristics were associated with delinquency for adolescents in the child welfare system. This study followed the placement experiences of 2360 foster youth in Chicago from birth to 16 years of age. The study used State administrative data, census data, and the community survey of the Project of Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. The results indicated that foster care placements cluster in neighborhoods characterized by high concentrated disadvantage, low ethnic heterogeneity, low collective efficacy, prevalent neighborhood disorder and violent culture. The results indicated that neighborhood ethnic heterogeneity is positively associated with delinquent offending. The implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Use of evidence-based interventions in child welfare: Do attitudes matter?

Implementation of evidence-based programs in child welfare has progressed slowly, with the majority of services in child welfare settings lacking empirical evidence for effectiveness. In other settings, research has identified providers' attitudes about evidence-based practices (EBPs) as a potential barrier to adoption of EBPs. As little research has focused on the role of attitudes in influencing use after training in an EBP in child welfare, the potential for attitudes to impede implementation efforts in child welfare is unclear. This study addressed this question in a sample of 55 caseworkers and therapists randomly assigned to enhanced support to use an EBP following training or a training-only condition. Information on providers' use of the intervention after training and their attitudes about EBPs were measured for up to five time points. Results indicate that attitudes did not predict providers' use of the EBP, and attitudes did not change overall or in the enhanced condition that provided greater exposure to the intervention. Providers perceived of requirements to use a practice as more influential in their use than their openness to EBPs. However, those who were more open to EBPs were more likely to participate in implementation support after the training, suggesting that openness facilitates participation in activities that support use of a new intervention.     

Nordic social workers' assessments of child welfare problems and interventions: a common model in child welfare?

In international comparison, the Nordic countries are characterised by similar policy goals and institutional contexts in child welfare. But is it also possible to talk about a common Nordic model in child welfare at the level of social work practices? And if so, to what extent do the results match the ideal model of ‘preventive and family service oriented Nordic child welfare’? This article investigates similarities and variations in Nordic social workers' assessments concerning child welfare problems and possible interventions by using vignettes and focus group interviews in case studies in four capital areas: Copenhagen, Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. The results seem to confirm the assumption of a preventive and family service oriented Nordic child welfare system regarding social work practices with smaller children, but not when adolescents are concerned.     

Is relationship and marriage education relevant and appropriate to child welfare?

Child welfare professionals (CWPs) have historically been ignored as a potential delivery system of relationship and marriage education (RME). Based on a sample of 1015 CWPs from two states, the current study shows that CWPs believe promoting healthy couple and marital relationships is relevant to the families they serve and their work, and that they are open to receiving RME training. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that CWPs' beliefs about the relevancy and appropriateness of RME may be influenced by their current RME ability and comfort level, their beliefs about the state of marriage and the prevalence of couples in their current caseload of families they serve. Implications related to promoting RME within child welfare and engaging CWPs in RME training are discussed.     

Family preservation or child safety? Associations between child welfare workers' experience,position, and perspectives

In child welfare, there is sometimes a false dichotomy between child safety and family preservation. In an evaluation of Family Group Decision Making in four child welfare jurisdictions, worker surveys were administered to caseworkers, supervisors, program directors, and program coordinators asking about worker perceptions, demographics, organizational culture and climate, and job characteristics. The surveys contained the Dalgleish Scale, an instrument designed to measure the perspectives of workers across the continuum of child safety versus family preservation beliefs. Assessing a number of worker characteristics, an analysis of the Dalgleish Scale revealed that staff who have worked in child welfare longer are more likely to be oriented toward family preservation, whereas staff working in the field for a shorter time period or rating the shared vision among staff higher are more likely to be oriented toward child safety. Evidence has demonstrated that caseworkers' perspectives influence disposition decision making, and that child and family outcomes, such as maltreatment recurrence or out-of-home placement, are not solely determined by family and case characteristics. The potential utility of developing a better understanding of staff orientation has implications for organizational culture, compliance with policy mandates, workforce development, and most importantly, outcomes for child welfare-involved families.     

Do families in poverty need child and family social work?

This article attempts to contribute to the historically relevant debate about the role of social work in poverty situations, focusing on the emblematic and radical question whether the poor actually need social work. In the context of the currently dominant policy framework in European welfare states, that is underpinned by the emerging paradigm of social investment, we argue that it is extremely relevant to readdress this question. Within this development, the eradication of child poverty has been considered a key target of poverty reduction strategies and child and family social work has consequently been assigned a pivotal role in the fight against the intergenerational transmission of poverty. We demonstrate that the rhetoric of social investment has found a practical implementation in social work constructing the problem of poverty in terms of education and activation of both the child and the individual parent. Based on an extensive review of literature, we discuss underlying assumptions, consequences and pitfalls of the paradigm of social investment for social work and tease out whether, and on which conditions, poor families need child and family social work.     

How different are their experiences and outcomes? Comparing aged out and other child welfare involved youth

This paper adds to the growing body of research examining the experiences of youth aging out of the child welfare system. Through a comparison of youth aging out with two other groups of child welfare-involved youth—those whose families received child welfare services but were never placed out of home and those who were in out-of-home placement but did not age out—it presents a profile of their care careers and other system involvement (e.g., mental health, justice system). Analyses indicate that young people aging out of care have experienced significant amounts of time in out-of-home placement, a great deal of placement instability, and high levels of other system involvement. In general, their involvement is more extensive than that of the two comparison groups. However, the justice system involvement of youth who experienced out-of-home placement but did not age out is just as high as that of youth who have aged out. This finding highlights the importance of devoting resources not only to youth aging out of care but also to similarly-aged young people with prior child welfare involvement.     

Better together? Cooperation between youth welfare office and child and adolescent psychiatry: A methodological approach

Previous international literature describes a lack of systematic research about cross-institutional cooperation in social and health services although the need is indicated. More and more children and adolescents have complex psychosocial needs. Thus, they require help from different institutions and professions to receive optimal care. However, there is a great need of improvement of the cooperation between institutions in social (e.g. Youth Welfare Office) and health services (e.g. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP), even in Germany. Therefore, an official Agreement of Cooperation (AoC) between these institutions was implemented as a first attempt to enhance and structure cross-institutional work in Dresden, Germany. This methodological paper describes the corresponding evaluation project that includes cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments. It thereby focuses on the employees' and families' satisfaction as well as the psychosocial development and mental health of children at the intersection of the aforementioned institutions before and after the implementation of the AoC. In addition, it gives a review of literature about cross-institutional work.     

Will welfare reform influence marriage and fertility? Early evidence from the ABC demonstration

A primary purpose of the 1996 welfare reform was to remove features of the existing welfare system that were believed to encourage out-of-wedlock childbearing. This paper presents evidence that the policy changes in one state did influence marriage and childbearing outcomes. Data from a random assignment test of Delaware's A Better Chance Program (ABC) show that, after only 18 months of operations, ABC had positive impacts on marital cohabitation among women who were under age 25 and those with less than 12 years of education. The reform also raised marriage expectations among women with less than 12 years of education, but led fewer better-educated women to expect to marry. Although ABC had only a small impact on actual fertility in one subgroup, it sharply reduced desires for more children among women with intermediate durations of past welfare receipt, women who were 25 of age or older, and those who had ever married.     

Why should child welfare pay more attention to emotional maltreatment?

A significant body of research indicates that emotional maltreatment (EMT) is harmful to children, resulting in long-term negative impacts on emotional and behavioral development. The child welfare system's focus on physical abuse, physical neglect, and sexual abuse has led a relative lack of attention to EMT. Reported rates of EMT vary widely across states – ranging from 0.2% to 44.9% in a recent national report on child maltreatment – indicating that it is not being measured consistently. This paper uses data collected by the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN) to (1) describe the nature and characteristics of emotional maltreatment experienced by 846 LONGSCAN youth across time, and (2) describe the relation between four subtypes of emotional maltreatment (psychological safety and security, acceptance and self-esteem, autonomy, and restriction) and child trauma symptoms and risk behaviors at age 18. Exposure to EMT was related to increased trauma symptoms and risky behaviors. EMT is common, identifiable, harmful, and potentially preventable; and a better understanding of it will help to inform the provision of effective child welfare and mental health services to children and their families. Findings suggest a need for greater understanding of parental behaviors, and the motivations behind them, that result in emotionally harmful outcomes for children, as well as a better understanding of appropriate interventions for children who experience various types of EMT.     

Effects of family planning and health services on women��s welfare: evidence on dowries and intra-household bargaining in Bangladesh

This paper demonstrates how the availability of family planning and maternal and child health services alters the structure of intra-household bargaining. The overall welfare gains from such programs are likely to be large, but when women obtain access to services only through marriage, some of these gains may be partially offset by changes in their bargaining power and in the dowries that they pay their husbands. I examine these marriage market effects using a family planning and health services program in rural Bangladesh, finding that compared to women without program access, women in the treatment area are 35% less likely to be able to make purchases without permission from their husbands or another household member. Moreover, a difference-in-difference specification confirms that women pay 14% higher dowries in order to obtain husbands with access to the program. The fact that adjustments are made both before and within marriage suggests that marital contracts in rural Bangladesh are negotiated along multiple margins.     

Self–care practices among social workers: do they predict job satisfaction and turnover intention?

ABSTRACT

The current health and mental health care delivery system in the United States strives to provide efficient quality care at a lower cost. This cost-effective approach and recent budget cuts have created new challenges for social workers. This study explores the relationships between self-care strategies, role stress, job autonomy, and job satisfaction and turnover intention. Four-hundred sixty-nine social workers were surveyed to assess multiple measures of self-care including professional support, professional development, coping strategies, and professional resilience, and their effects on job satisfaction and turnover intention. Role stress and job autonomy were also examined in relation to job satisfaction and turnover intention. The results supported the main hypotheses that claimed that self-care strategies are associated with both job satisfaction and turnover intention. The author discusses the important implications of these findings in education and training of both students and practitioners.     

How would cash transfers improve child welfare in Viet Nam?

This paper was aimed to estimate how cash transfer to children could help increase access to education and health services as well as to reduce their poverty. To pursue these objectives, we first applied fixed-effect regression models with a panel data from Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey (VHLSS) in 2010 and 2012, and then used the predicted results to simulate how welfare indicators would have been changed if children were provided benefits at different levels. We found that cash transfers would have a positive effect on school enrolment and poverty. However, cash transfers would have no significant effects on both impatient admissions and outpatient visits as well as out-of-pocket spending on health care, but a significant effect on the probability of having health insurance. From these findings, we proposed some policy recommendations such as promoting cash transfer program for more vulnerable groups of children would provide opportunities for them to further reduce poverty and increase access to education and health. More importantly, the research emphasized that quality of services to be provided along with cash transfers should also be guaranteed, so as to make sure that the current benefits will be fully translated into socio-economic development of Viet Nam.     

Have child maltreatment and child placement rates declined?

It is argued that the actual incidence of child maltreatment remains elusive and is, in fact, indeterminate. Factors that might be reflected in variations in child maltreatment rates, other than child harm or endangerment at least partially attributable to caretakers, are explored. But since most children residing in foster care in the United States have been placed there for the alleged reasons of child abuse and neglect, we might expect trends over time in the rate of alleged maltreatment to have some bearing on the out-of-home placement population rate. On the contrary, it is shown that the child placement population rate has risen in recent years, even though the overall child maltreatment rate has not. Based on existing data, the child placement population in the United States is calculated to have been nearly one million children on any given day in 2011, higher than at any point throughout the previous century. Brief comparisons are made with child maltreatment and child placement trends in other countries.