Retention of child welfare caseworkers: The role of case severity and workplace resources

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106039Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Balancing job demands and job resources is critical for retaining child welfare caseworkers.

  • Satisfied Stayers reported satisfaction and wished to keep working at the agency.

  • Case severity (job demand) was inversely related to retention and satisfaction.

  • Three job resources predicted being in the Satisfied Stayer group: Supervision quality, coworker support, and work tools.

Abstract

A highly skilled and committed child welfare workforce is necessary to support the safety, permanency, and well-being of children in foster care. Nevertheless, turnover is high. Job burnout and dissatisfaction are top reasons for quitting child welfare, and leaving is likely due to a mismatch of job demands and job resources. Despite the need for child welfare agencies to retain satisfied employees who wish to remain on the job, research has largely focused on those who leave. This study applied the Job Demands-Resources model and an employee resilience lens to identify characteristics and job conditions of caseworkers, with a focus on those who are satisfied and plan to stay. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine job demands and job resources of Satisfied Stayers (workers who are satisfied and wish to remain at the agency) and Ambivalent Stayers (workers who are ambivalent about their satisfaction, but intend to stay) as compared to Undecided Workers (workers who are unsure about their job satisfaction and staying). Results revealed key distinctions between subgroups on job demands, job resources, as well as demographic and job characteristics. Case severity was the critical job demand for all groups, and all three job resources (supportive supervision, coworker support, and work tools) predicted being a Satisfied Stayer. Findings may be helpful in identifying job conditions agencies might target to improve caseworkers’ retention. Improving work conditions by bolstering resources, in addition to reducing demands, has benefits for employees and the children and families they serve.

Introduction

A highly skilled, culturally competent, and committed child welfare workforce is necessary to support the safety, permanency, and well-being of children involved with the child welfare system (Clark and Zlotnik, 2011, DePanfilis and Zlotnik, 2008). In the United States, 3.5 million children were the subject of an investigation or alternative response in 2018, and 678,000 children experienced substantiated maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020). A recent study estimated the economic burden of child maltreatment to be $2 trillion (Peterson et al., 2018). Child welfare casework is complex and emotionally demanding, and has been identified as one of the most challenging fields (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003). As a result, workers leave their jobs at alarming rates. National estimates indicate that turnover rate on average is approximately 30% on average (Casey Family Programs, 2017).Fig. 1.

High caseworker turnover results in a multitude of problematic outcomes for workers, agencies, and the children and families they serve. Child welfare caseworkers are responsible for a median of 55 cases per year and remain on the job for an average of 1.8 years (Edwards & Wildeman, 2018). Turnover results in caseworker shortages, high caseloads, and inexperienced staff managing cases. High turnover also results in lower job satisfaction and morale for those who stay at the agency (Jones, 2002). Turnover has a domino effect with direct and indirect costs (Casey Family Programs, 2017), including financial costs to agencies and reduced quality of service delivery for children and families (Clark and Zlotnik, 2011, Zlotnik et al., 2005). At the agency level, the estimated financial cost for every child welfare caseworker leaving the workforce is $54,000 (National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, 2017). Turnover also disrupts relationships with families (CWLA, 2002) and may have deleterious effects on child well-being (GAO, 2003). After a caseworker leaves the agency, the workers who remain must address families’ needs and any potential ramifications from disruptions, while maintaining their own caseloads.

Retention is central to the child welfare agency’s ability to adequately serve children and families (Casey Family Programs, 2017). Research that informs strategies to retain workers by increasing the likelihood that they are satisfied and wish to remain on the job is critical to improving retention. In particular, investigating how the balance between job demands and job resources affect child welfare caseworkers (Clark & Zlotnik, 2011) may hold promise for predicting satisfaction and intentions to remain in the workforce. To do this effectively, nuanced information about subgroups of caseworkers, namely those who are satisfied and intend to stay in their job, is paramount. This study utilized a statewide caseworker engagement survey and administrative data to identify caseworkers’ job demands and job resources that contribute to their satisfaction and intentions to stay at the agency.

Section snippets

Theoretical frameworks

This study is informed by an employee resilience framework, with resilience defined as positive adaptation in the face of adversity, such as trauma exposure (Britt et al., 2016). Workplace support is a key job resource that influences employees’ capacity for resilience that is associated with lower employee turnover (e.g., Maertz, Griffeth, Campbell, & Allen, 2007). When caseworkers are distressed about their caseload or the severity of their cases, receiving high quality supervision and

Participants

Participants for this study were recruited from the Oregon population of Social Service Specialists (SSS) which included workers in the following roles: Child Protective Services (CPS), Permanency, Screening, Certifications, Adoptions and Other. This sample included 485 caseworkers from Oregon’s Department of Human Services (ODHS), including 222 Child Protective Services (CPS) workers and 263 Permanency workers (see Table 1). We combined these two roles due to their overlap at ODHS, but control

Descriptive and bivariate results

Descriptive statistics were examined for the total analytic sample, as well as by the three retention groups: satisfied stayers, ambivalent stayers, and undecided workers (see Table 1). There was variation in workers’ demographics and job characteristics. Overall, the majority of these workers were women (79%), White (92%), non-Latinx (91%) with bachelor’s degrees (84%). Slightly more than half were Permanency workers (54%) and slightly less than half were CPS workers (46%). Chi-square tests

Discussion

The primary aim of this study was to identify the job demands and job resources among child welfare caseworkers that predict belonging to a specific retention group, in order to better understand which factors improve satisfaction and intention to stay at DHS. Satisfaction and retention of caseworkers are critical for the quality of service delivery in communities. Framed by an employee resilience framework (Britt et al., 2016) and the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, we analyzed DHS’

Author statement

The first two authors were involved in all stages of manuscript development including conceptualization, design of the study, interpretation, writing and editing and original and revised manuscript. The third author conducted the formal analysis and worked with the first two authors throughout the manuscript development process. The fourth and fifth authors assisted with literature review, editing, and general support. The sixth author was involved with initial conceptualization and general

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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