Psychology Commons^™

The Impact Of Leadership Turnover On Child Welfare Workforce Initiatives, Courtney Harrison, Megan Paul

QIC-Takes

Turnover among public child welfare leaders is prevalent. Across the eight QIC-WD intervention sites, leadership turnover was one of the most common implementation challenges observed by the QIC-WD team. Leadership changes can disrupt the implementation of a workforce initiative by shifting agency-level priorities, the organizational climate, or key staff.

Child welfare leaders may be appointed or hired in many different ways in different jurisdictions. In some states, the Governor appoints a cabinet-level child welfare director who oversees a stand-alone agency. This means that child welfare leadership changes follow the political election cycle with new governors appointing new agency leaders every …

The Child Welfare Workforce Crisis – What We’Re Hearing From The Field, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) and the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) in collaboration with the Capacity Building Centers for States, Tribes, and Courts, recently worked with representatives of the Children’s Bureau to listen to concerns of state child welfare and human resources (HR) leaders about the child welfare workforce. This blog post highlights what leaders (representing 29 states) described as their biggest concerns and what strategies agencies have put in place to reduce turnover and improve the applicant pool. We have also included links to information about evidence-informed efforts that could help jurisdictions address some …

Technology, Case Practice, And Turnover: Early Findings From Virginia, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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Listening sessions conducted by Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) staff with child welfare staff across the state and exit survey results from the 120 local departments of social services (LDSS) found that the biggest complaint among caseworkers, particularly those leaving their jobs, was the lack of technological supports and flexibility to help them complete administrative tasks more quickly. VDSS, in partnership with the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QICWD), designed a multi-phase case-supportive technology intervention to help child welfare caseworkers complete their case notes and other administrative tasks required as part of their job. The goals of the …

Worker Turnover Is A Persistent Child Welfare Challenge - So Is Measuring It, Megan Paul, Courtney Harrison, Jonathan Litt, Michelle Graef

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Turnover and other workforce challenges for child welfare professionals have been the subject of attention for many years. Consider this statement from a study published by the Children’s Bureau in 1960, “Turnover of staff in social agencies has been a serious concern of agency administrators for at least the past 10 years. Repeatedly, at conferences and in the professional journals, the complaint has been heard that staff turnover (1) handicaps the agency in its efforts to provide effective social services for clients; (2) is costly and unproductively time consuming; and (3) is responsible for the weary cycle of recruitmentemployment-orientation-production-resignation …” …

How Can Public Child Welfare Agencies Get And Keep A Great Workforce?, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Public child welfare agencies continue to face complex challenges including high workforce turnover. An examination of federal data found that, from 2003 to 2015, states experienced 14-22% annual turnover rates, with caseworkers staying on the job for an average of 1.8 years. Such turnover increases workloads for remaining workers and negatively impacts children and families. The QIC-WD is working with eight jurisdictions to better understand turnover and test interventions to improve workforce retention. The following tips were compiled based on the experience of QIC-WD sites. They are intended to help child welfare administrators, state legislators, or other local policymakers consider …

How Can Child Welfare Agencies Leverage Data To Address Important Workforce Questions?, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

QIC-Tips

Child welfare agencies experience workforce turnover (14-20% annually) that can be costly and result in poorer outcomes for children and families. Although turnover is often acknowledged as a significant problem, it is not one that is easily understood or addressed. The following tips and strategies being implemented by jurisdictions working with the QIC-WD may be helpful for child welfare administrators, legislators, and other policymakers seeking to utilize agency data to answer pertinent child welfare workforce questions.

• Understand what data is collected and stored, and where. Oftentimes, there are multiple systems used by agencies during the employee lifecycle that may contain …

How Can Our Mission Be Fully Accomplished By Staff That Are Experiencing Secondary Trauma And Burnout?, Stephanie Reau

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My name is Stephanie Reau and I am a training supervisor at Summit County Children Services. We are an agency of 350 employees with a focus on recruiting and maintaining diverse staff committed to serving all children and families. Summit County strives to attract and retain wellqualified staff, but like many child welfare agencies in Ohio, this has been a difficult task to accomplish. The overwhelming pressures of the job cause secondary trauma, burnout and ultimately staff turnover. Staff turnover impacts the morale of the agency, is costly, and, most importantly, it negatively impacts the families we serve. Our mission …

Louisiana Progress Update- Redesigning The Child Welfare Worker Position, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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When there is a high workload, there is often a lot of turnover and when there is a lot of turnover the remaining workforce has an even greater workload. The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) was all too familiar with this negative cycle and the impact it was having on its child welfare workforce. When DCFS became a Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) site, they were ready to make a significant change to their workforce operations. After a thorough needs assessment, DCFS decided to work with the QIC-WD on a job redesign project to strengthen …

Texas Decreased Caseworker Turnover. The Qic-Wd Is Implementing And Testing Some Of Their Strategies And Building Evidence, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The QIC-WD is dedicated to building evidence. Foundational work in the early years of the Center included combing the literature from multiple fields (e.g., business, education, industrial-organizational psychology) to inform strategies to strengthen the child welfare workforce. In 2018, Casey Family Programs reported on how the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) reduced caseworker turnover by implementing multiple changes to system operations (How did Texas decrease caseworker turnover and stabilize its workforce?). This post discusses how the QICWD is working with eight other jurisdictions and building on what was learned in Texas. According to the report, Texas initiated …

Introducing Virginia’S Mobile Solution, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and the 18 local departments of social services (LDSS) identified the lack of technological supports to help child welfare workers complete the administrative tasks of their job as a cause of turnover. The Virginia site rolled out the first part of their intervention (transcription services) in 2018 and is now preparing to roll out a mobile application in late fall 2019. This one-page summary describes COMPASS, Virginia’s mobile app designed to make it easier for workers to manage the administrative aspects of their job.

Louisiana Selects A Workforce Intervention: Job Redesign & Teaming, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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For several years prior to the current Administration, Louisiana suffered through an unstated policy of “Do More with Less”: Fewer employees, higher caseloads, less resources, and high employee turnover. In 2016, the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) leadership determined that supporting and stabilizing the child welfare workforce was a high priority. To strengthen its workforce, Louisiana will implement “Job Redesign and Teaming” as its QIC-WD intervention. The job redesign aspect of the intervention includes a comprehensive job analysis and process mapping to determine which tasks needed to be retained by the child welfare worker and which tasks …

Qic-Wd Site Intervention Selection – Fall 2018, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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The eight QIC-WD sites have worked with the QIC-WD to determined which intervention to implement and evaluate to strengthen their child welfare workforce. These decisions came after a thorough needs assessment through which human resources (HR) data was examined to uncover the root causes of child welfare caseworker turnover. The sites recognize that turnover is not caused by a single issue, so they had to consider which aspect of turnover they could address in partnership with the QIC-WD. The QIC-WD team simultaneously examined available interventions, study designs, and the needs of the broader child welfare field to help each site …

Understanding The Relationship Between Organizational Culture And Turnover, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

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“Organizational culture” is a term used to describe the norms and expectations in a work environment. Research has found that there are three aspects of a human services organization’s culture that predict better outcomes related to the implementation of evidence-based practices, staff turnover, and the serviced provided: 1. Proficiency includes staff skills, competence, responsiveness, and a focus on client well-being. 2. Rigidity reflects issues related to decision making, transparency, micromanagement, and trust. 3. Resistance considers if staff are resistant to change or new ways of doing things. Healthy organizations are highly proficient and not too rigid or resistant. For example …