Social Welfare Commons^™

Listen To Your Parents: An Exploration Into Why Mississippi Foster Parents Enter, Stay In, And Exit The System, Howell D. Jenkins Iii

Honors Theses

Like many states across the country, Mississippi’s foster care system has faced a shrinking pool of foster parents to care for the state’s most vulnerable children. When states do not have adequate numbers of foster parents, children are susceptible to negative outcomes such as developmental delays, broken attachments with adults, and extended stays in the system. This thesis seeks to understand what motivates individuals to become foster parents, how they experience the system, and what pressures influence their decision to remain fostering or close their doors. To place this research within the appropriate contexts, the thesis draws on literature from …

“Sometimes You Need A Middleman”: Negotiating Family Engagement For Foster And Kinship Caregivers Involved With Child Welfare, Anna Wasim, Catherine A. Labrenz, Nelkasia Graves, Samantha Zuniga Thompson, Monica Faulkner

Graduate School of Social Work: Student Scholarship

Family engagement is increasingly prioritized in child welfare policy and practice, yet limited research has explored how foster and kinship caregivers perceive and navigate this process. Understanding caregivers’ experiences is critical to advancing relational permanency and improving outcomes for children in foster care. Using an adapted grounded theory design, this qualitative study examined the experiences of 24 foster and kinship caregivers from two agencies participating in a family engagement practice model in one state. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, and were analyzed thematically. All participants provided informed consent, data were de-identified, and pseudonyms were assigned to …

Bridging The Gap: Predictors Of Alignment Of Parent And Caseworker Perceptions Of Engagement, Jianchao Lai, Michelle I. Graef

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

This study examined predictors of alignment between parents’ and caseworkers’ perceptions of family engagement in child welfare services. Using data from 2,274 Alternative Response (AR)–eligible families randomized to AR or Traditional Response, engagement was assessed across the domains of Receptivity, Buy-in, Worker-family Relationship, and Mistrust using a modified Yatchmenoff (2005) scale. Multinomial logistic regression models identified factors associated with agreement and discrepancy between ratings of family engagement within the parent and worker dyad. While both parents and workers valued engagement, workers were more likely to provide higher overall engagement ratings, although the direction of discrepancy varied across specific subscales. Greater …

Exploring The Dynamics And Outcomes Of Family Engagement In Child Welfare Services: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach, Jianchao Lai, Michelle Graef, Todd Franke

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

Background: Engaging families effectively in child welfare services remains a persistent challenge, shaped by complex interactions between agency practices and family circumstances. While existing research has explored this issue, it has predominantly relied on data from agency and caseworker perspectives, often overlooking the crucial viewpoint of the families. Objectives: This study investigates families’ subjective experiences and perceptions within the child welfare system, focusing on their satisfaction with child welfare workers and overall engagement. Methods: The study draws on data collected through an evaluation of the implementation of Alternative Response in a Midwestern state. Agency administrative data is integrated with additional …

Child Welfare Social Workers: Socially Situated Bureaucrats At The Forefront Of Systemic Racism In Practice, Christina Lau

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

Anti-Black racial bias in child welfare systems was explored in this qualitative study employing an anonymous online survey and virtual interviews with child welfare professionals from around the U.S. This applied research re-examined the persistent problem of racial disproportionality in child welfare intervention rates for Black children from underrepresented perspectives of social workers in the field. The research questions asked for participants’ observations of the mechanisms through which racial bias impacts families involved with child welfare systems, and what roles individual professionals take when striving to promote equity as street-level bureaucrats. Interpretive description methods were used to develop a conceptual …

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 …

Family First: Kinship Care As A Gold Standard, Ava Cloghessy

Washington Semester Program

This thesis seeks to address how kinship care can produce higher permanency outcomes for children. Building on selected sources, the author will introduce testimony and illustrations from three key stakeholder perspectives involved in kinship care: children, their caregivers and caseworkers in the Child Welfare system. Finally, the proposed rule from the Administration for Children and Families will be evaluated as a policy recommendation.

Virtual Training In Child Welfare, Penny Putnam Collins

QIC-Takes

Child welfare offices and training centers had to transition their classroom instructor-led training to virtual platforms when the pandemic hit. Some training systems were already using virtual platforms or asynchronous learning tools to deliver training content, but no agency was 100% virtual pre-pandemic. The transition was sudden and there was a steep learning curve for some trainers. Changes made when the pandemic hit may now be the new normal. This QICTake highlights what our QIC-WD sites and team members experienced as child welfare agencies shifted to, and are now embracing, virtual training. What We’re Seeing Finding the Right Tools for …

Counterproductive Work Behavior, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is counterproductive work behavior?

Counterproductive work behavior (CWB), also sometimes referred to as workplace deviance, is defined as “voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms and in so doing threatens the well-being of an organization, its members, or both” (Robinson & Bennett, 1995, p. 556). CWB is one of the three main domains of workplace performance, along with task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; Dalal, 2005). CWB and OCB are thought to be conceptually opposite constructs; CWB is behavior that harms an organization, whereas OCB is behavior that helps an organization. Indeed, CWB and OCB are modestly and …

Foster Youth In The Mountain West, Zachary Billot, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Sofia Takhtadjian, Joshua Padilla, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Demography

This fact sheet examines population trends for foster youth and their experiences with foster care in the Mountain West region. The data are sourced from the report “State-level Data for Understanding Child Welfare in the United States” which cites the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect (NDACAN) for fiscal year (FY) 2020 and the “State-by State Data” report by the Casey Family Programs from FY 2020. This fact sheet highlights the number of foster youth in the Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) and their demographic composition.

Employee Engagement, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is employee engagement?

Consensus on the exact definition of employee engagement is still evolving, but commonalities involve attitudes and behaviors related to high personal investment in one’s work. One definition is “a relatively enduring state of mind referring to the simultaneous investment of personal energies in the experience or performance of work” (Christian, Garza, & Slaughter, 2011, p. 95). The most commonly used measure of engagement, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, assesses engagement through three factors: vigor (high energy levels and persistence), dedication (enthusiasm and inspiration), and absorption (high concentration and engrossment) (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma, & Bakker, 2002; Schaufeli, …

Employee Fit, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is employee fit?

Broadly defined, fit is said to be the “compatibility between individuals and organizations” (Kristof, 1996, p. 3). Early theories of fit proposed that alignment between individuals’ personalities and their environment would lead to greater personal success and happiness; for example, those with social personalities would find the greatest fulfillment in work roles involving helping people, such as a social worker or nurse (Holland, 1985). Since then, the idea of fit has been expanded to include not just alignment of personality, but also attitudes, values, preferences, needs, goals, knowledge, skills, and abilities (Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Fit …

Role Stress, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is role stress?

A work role consists of “a pattern of behaviors perceived by an employee as behaviors that are expected” (Tubre & Collins, 2000, p. 156). When perceived work role expectations are unclear, incompatible with other expected behaviors, or too much to handle, role stress is said to occur (Tubre & Collins, 2000). Role stress is typically broken down into three main types: role ambiguity, role conflict, and role overload. Role ambiguity refers to a situation in which employees are unsure about what their responsibilities are, what behaviors are expected of them, and what the standards are for …

Transformational Leadership, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is transformational leadership?

Transformational leadership refers to leadership behaviors that transcend the basic employment contract and help motivate followers to achieve beyond expectations (Antonakis et al., 2003; Bass, 1999). Transformational leaders seek to “uplift the morale, motivation, and morals of their followers” (Bass, 1999, p. 9). Through the four facets of transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration), transformational leaders help followers create meaning, selfactualize, feel part of a collective, find greater self-worth, and achieve great things (Bass, 1999). The dimensions of transformational leadership are further detailed below.

► Idealized influence: This dimension of transformational …

Leader-Member Exchange, Sarah Stepanek, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is LMX?

Leader-member exchange (LMX) refers to the quality of relationship exchange formed between a leader and their subordinate (Gerstner & Day, 1997). Note that in this context, leaders may include supervisors, not just upper-level leaders such as managers or administrators. LMX theory is based on the idea that leaders develop unique relationships with each follower, and the quality of this relationship then has the power to influence various attitudes and behaviors (Illies et al., 2007). Whereas most leadership theories focus entirely on the role that a leader plays, LMX differs in that it emphasizes the dyadic nature of …

Imagining New Futures Beyond Predictive Systems In Child Welfare: A Qualitative Study With Impacted Stakeholders, Logan Stapleton, Min Hun Lee, Diana Qing, Marya Wright, Alexandra Chouldechova, Ken Holstein, Zhiwei Steven Wu, Haiyi Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Child welfare agencies across the United States are turning to datadriven predictive technologies (commonly called predictive analytics) which use government administrative data to assist workers’ decision-making. While some prior work has explored impacted stakeholders’ concerns with current uses of data-driven predictive risk models (PRMs), less work has asked stakeholders whether such tools ought to be used in the first place. In this work, we conducted a set of seven design workshops with 35 stakeholders who have been impacted by the child welfare system or who work in it to understand their beliefs and concerns around PRMs, and to engage them …

Addressing The Disconnects Between Hr And Child Welfare, Michelle Graef, Maggie Thompson

QIC-Takes

When it comes to efforts to improve workforce outcomes, how would you describe the relationship between human resources (HR) and child welfare leadership in your agency? Is the working relationship collaborative or are the divisions siloed? Do child welfare and HR departments routinely share information, needs, data, and expertise? Is HR involved in child welfare workforce planning and decision making? These are just a few of the questions we have explored with child welfare agencies as part of our work at the QIC-WD. Overall, agency representatives have indicated that opportunities for increased collaboration exist between these departments and that closer …

Political Skill, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is political skill?

Political skill refers to “the ability to effectively understand others at work, and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational objectives” (Ahearn et al., 2004, p. 311). Unlike organizational politics, which involve selfserving and detrimental behavior, political skill involves positive, sincere, and effective influence (Ferris et al., 2005). The primary measure of political skill is the 18-item Political Skill Inventory, which assesses political skill through four factors: social astuteness, interpersonal influence, networking ability, and apparent sincerity. Example items from each factor, respectively, include “I always seem …

Learning Styles, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are learning styles?

The concept of learning styles is the idea that people differ in the way that they learn best, and instructors should determine each trainee’s optimal style and then use training methods that match the trainee’s style (Pashler, 2009). There are dozens of different learning style classifications, including such styles or dimensions as visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile modality preferences (Dunn & Greggs, 2003, cited in Coffield et al., 2004); concrete vs. abstract and sequential vs. random (Gregorc, 1982a, cited in Coffield et al., 2004); holistic vs. analytic and verbalizer vs. imager (Riding & Raynor, 1998, cited …

Trainee Reactions, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are trainee reactions?

Trainee reactions refer to “subjective evaluations learners make about their training experiences” (Sitzmann et al., 2008, p. 280). Commonly referred to as “level 1” evaluations (e.g., Kirkpatrick, 1998), reactions are the most commonly used type of training evaluation and are measured with post-training surveys. Though measures are occasionally included in published research, there are no universal or even widely used measures. Instead, questions are developed by each organization or trainer based on their particular goals and interests. As a result, there is significant variation in what is measured. Originally, reactions referred only to how well a …

Compensation, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is compensation?

For the purposes of this review, compensation is defined in two primary ways: a) pay and b) pay satisfaction. Pay refers to “the amount of money an individual receives for their job” (Rubenstein et al., 2017, p. 6). It is sometimes measured as the exact amount or in terms of pay levels (Judge et al., 2010). Pay satisfaction is about an employee’s feelings about their pay, either in general or in terms of more specific aspects. Depending on how it is measured, pay satisfaction often also includes feelings about benefits, which might be more appropriately called compensation …

Untapped Potential For Child Welfare Administrative Data, Dana Hollinshead

QIC-Takes

Although a lot of data are captured through child welfare management information systems, there is much we still need to learn about the experiences of children and families involved in child protective services, and especially why some fare better than others. This is especially true with respect to dynamics that may influence caseworkers’ decisions, actions, and case outcomes. For example, are there certain caseworkers or service providers who are more effective in engaging families? Is there something about the type or dosage of services that makes a difference? Which workers or supervisory units are more likely to place a child …

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

QIC-Takes

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 …” …

Supervision In A Virtual Workplace, Cynthia F. Parry

QIC-Takes

Some agencies have increased their use of telework due to office closures, a desire to decrease their carbon footprint, or because of the pandemic. This can add stress on supervisors as they have to manage staff virtually. Remote supervision requires changes in communication (both styles and tools) which can result in staff feeling micromanaged or neglected. Navigating these and other issues have been difficult for many child welfare agencies. The QIC-WD sites, like other child welfare agencies around the country, pivoted to virtual supervision quickly due to the pandemic. Most supervisors were unprepared for managing a virtual workforce and are …

Workplace Incivility, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is workplace incivility?

Workplace incivility refers to “low-intensity deviant behavior with ambiguous intent to harm the target, in violation of workplace norms for mutual respect. Uncivil behaviors are characteristically rude and discourteous, displaying a lack of regard for others” (Anderson & Pearson, 1999, p. 457). Though there is some conceptual and empirical overlap between incivility and ostracism, bullying, and abusive supervision, incivility is considered distinct (Yao et al., 2021). Incivility has been examined from the perspective of both the victim and the instigator, exploring factors related to being the target of incivility and factors related to engaging in uncivil …

Behavior Modeling Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is behavior modeling training?

Behavior modeling training (BMT) involves the following five steps: “(a) describing to trainees a set of well-defined behaviors (skills) to be learned, (b) providing a model or models displaying the effective use of those behaviors, (c) providing opportunities for trainees to practice using those behaviors, (d) providing feedback and social reinforcement to trainees following practice, and (e) taking steps to maximize the transfer of those behaviors to the job” (Taylor et al., 2005, p. 692). BMT can be used to train a variety of skills, from interpersonal skills like conflict management, interviewing, assertive communication, and …

Signaling In Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is signaling?

In a learning environment, signaling refers to cues that direct learners’ attention to specific instructional content or that emphasize how the content is organized (van Gog, 2014). Signals can be verbal (oral or written) or visual (static or dynamic images or graphics). More commonly studied examples include:

signals in written materials: underlining, italics, bold, highlighting, outlines, headings, overviews, and summaries

signals in visual materials: arrows, circles, flashing, color coding, spotlighting (graying out some content), zooming in on key content, and gestures of pedagogical agents

When signals are used only in written text (i.e., without accompanying visuals), they …

Opportunities For Positive Youth Development: The Organized Activity Participation And Educational Outcomes Of Adolescents In Adopted, Foster, And Kinship Care, Ryan D. Heath, Keunhye Park, Sarah Faith Millward

Falk College Research Center

Purpose: Children who grow up outside the care of their biological parents – e.g., those in adoptive, foster, or kinship (AFK) care – experience poorer educational outcomes than their peers. However, the protective factors that could mitigate any risks of AFK care have received less attention. One understudied area is the participation of AFK youth in organized activities (e.g., extracurricular or afterschool programs).

Method: Drawing on nationally representative data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (n=16,197), this study used multilevel modeling to (1) examine the association of AFK care status with organized activity participation and …

Self-Explanation In Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is self-explanation?

Self-explanation is “a process by which learners generate inferences about causal connections or conceptual relationships” (Bisra et al., 2018). It involves pausing to think more deeply about instructional content, to better connect it with prior knowledge or to check for understanding. Self-explanations can be prompted (through specific instructions or questions) or unprompted (done spontaneously by a learner). Prompts can include instructions to explain, open-ended questions, or closed-ended questions such as multiple choice (Bisra et al., 2018). There is no one type of self-explanation. Examples include providing rationale for a decision or belief and explaining a concept, process, …

Time Management, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is time management?

The definition of time management varies across disciplines, researchers, and practitioners. In the context of workplace research, one suggested definition is “behaviours that aim at achieving an effective use of time while performing certain goal-directed activities” (Claessens et al., 2007, p. 262). Another is “a form of decision making used by individuals to structure, protect, and adapt their time to changing conditions” (Aeon & Aguinis, 2017, p. 311). Most research on time management has used self-report measures; diaries and ratings by others (e.g., supervisors) are used much less frequently. Of the self-report measures, no one measure …