Social Work Commons^™

Frontline Job Redesign Louisiana - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Louisiana Child Welfare Division (CWD) of the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is a state-administered child welfare system. In 2016, the Secretary of DCFS separated child welfare from economic security and child support enforcement, creating CWD. CWD is organized into a state office and three regional “super areas” composed of three regions each. (The super areas consist of regions 1, 3 and 4; regions 2, 5 and 6; and regions 7, 8 and 9.) Though Louisiana has 64 parishes statewide there are only 48 parish/local CWD offices in the nine regions due to small size of some …

Onboarding Program Eastern Band Of Cherokee Indians - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The federally-recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) administers the Division of Public Health and Human Services (PHHS), a multi-service agency. PHHS is led by a Secretary who reports directly to the Tribe’s governing Council. PHHS consists of two Departments, each led by a Director. The Tribe’s child welfare agency is the Family Safety Program (FSP), and it sits within the PHHS Department of Human Services under the leadership of a Manager. Human Resources is a separate tribal division and is directed by a Secretary who is appointed by the Chief. Individual programs have discretion of hiring and manage the …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), through the Office of Families and Children (OFC), is responsible for Ohio’s state-supervised, countyadministered child welfare system. Ohio’s 83 singlecounty agencies and two multi-county agencies are responsible for the delivery of child protective services and ongoing case management in Ohio’s 88 counties. Sixty-three agencies are housed in a county ODJFS department, overseen by county commissioners, and 22 children services boards are stand-alone child welfare agencies overseen by citizens appointed by county commissioners. OFC is responsible for state-level administration and oversight of programs that prevent child abuse and neglect; provide services to …

Addressing Work-Related Traumatic Stress Nebraska - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is a multi-service agency led by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is appointed by the Governor. The CEO oversees six divisions including the Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS), which is the state’s child welfare agency. The divisions are supported by centralized operations that include Human Resources (HR) & Development. HR has at least one individual with a strong working knowledge of DCFS operations and who is specifically assigned to provide support solely to DCFS.

DCFS is a state-administered system organized into five geographic regions: Western Service Area (WSA), …

Competency-Based Personnel Selection Oklahoma - Site Overview, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The Child Welfare Services division of Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) is a state-administered child welfare agency. The OKDHS divisions are supported by centralized operations including Human Resource Management (HRM). A small team of human resources professionals within Child Welfare Services work closely with HRM to support Child Welfare Services’ personnel needs.

The executive team of Child Welfare Services includes the director and deputy directors (who lead teams of district directors, field administrators, and program administrators). The agency is divided into five field regions serving 27 districts and 77 counties. At least one district director leads each district. The district directors …

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 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 …

Job Satisfaction And Stressors: The Direct Support Professional's Experience, Saralynn Emery

Master's Theses

The current service system for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities is provided in the form of community-based support. This support is carried out by Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) who provide one-on-one services to individuals in their homes, workplaces, and communities. The current system is undergoing a turnover crisis and there is an enormous need for a quality and reliable workforce of DSPs to continue to carry out services. Previous research has explored factors that contribute to DSP burnout and ultimately turnover. By researching the DSP role from the DSP experience directly, this study examines other factors that contribute to …

Video Feedback, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What is video feedback?

Video feedback refers here to a training method that involves giving learners feedback on their skills using a video recording of their behavior in a real or simulated environment. Though video feedback is used in a variety of settings (e.g., athletic, parenting, or surgical training), the focus here is on skill development among professionals that engage in interpersonal interactions (e.g., teachers, social workers, nurses; Fukkink et al., 2011). Targeted skills may be broad (e.g., empathy, nervousness, active listening) or narrow (body posture, eye contact, gestures, use of open questions). The process typically involves recording learners as …

After-Action Reviews, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are after-action reviews?

An after-action review (AAR) is “a systematic technique that turns a recent event into a learning opportunity through a combination of task feedback, reflection, and discussion” (Keiser & Arthur, 2020, p. 2). The process has been used in various fields, leading to a variety of labels, including after-event review, debrief, guided team self-correction, and reflexivity (e.g., Chen et al., 2018; Couper et al., 2013; Ellis & Davidi, 2005; Smith-Jentsch et al., 2008). Note that though the term “debrief” is sometimes used, AARs are distinct from debriefing sessions that are intended to help individuals process stressful or …

Workforce Analyses Using Combined Human Resources And Child Welfare Data, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

When conducting workforce analyses, it can be valuable to capitalize on data from both human resources (HR) databases and child welfare (CW) information systems. Each can be useful on their own, but additional information can be learned when the two types of data are connected. There are two primary uses of combined HR and CW data:

1. CW data can serve as objective measures of employee job performance, which is one of the most important workforce outcomes to measure, particularly when examining the effectiveness of various workforce decisions and practices.
2. CW data can provide useful contextual information for studying workforce outcomes. …

Workforce Metrics, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Calculating and tracking workforce metrics is a valuable way to assess workforce needs and examine workforcerelated processes, interventions, and outcomes. This resource includes over 90 metrics related to recruitment and selection, education, work hours, work arrangements, caseload capacity, supervision, career development, performance, turnover and tenure, and costs. Note that these metrics are not universal, and many other variations exist elsewhere. These have been selected or developed based on their applicability to the child welfare workforce.

Creating A Workforce Analytics Team (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

When conducting workforce analytics, it can be helpful to adopt a team approach and involve various experts and stakeholders, each of which can make a valuable contribution.

The Big Picture

• Ensure that you have the commitment and buy-in from leaders who control the agency’s budget and policies.
• Team membership may vary depending on the analytics goals and the stage of the work, but potential participants include representatives from agency leadership, Human Resources (HR), child welfare, Information Technology (IT), and training.
• It’s likely that no one person is going to possess all the skills needed; building a strengths-based, interdisciplinary team can …

Data Quality (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data-driven decisions cannot be effective if they are based on poor-quality data. Thus, it is important to ensure that any data that will be used for workforce analytics are accurate and can be trusted.

Data Quality Criteria

There are many potential data quality criteria to consider. Below are 9 selected criteria that are relevant for workforce data. If there are others that are also important to you, they should be included as well. These questions should be asked of every variable for which data are collected.

1. Relevance: Are the data useful and relevant for business needs?
2. Granularity: Are the data …

Creating A Workforce Analytics Action Plan (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

An action plan can be a useful tool for implementing workforce analytics, especially if there are multiple people involved in the process. This resource provides some general advice on action planning, with specific examples for advancing the use of workforce analytics.

What is an Action Plan?

An action plan outlines the actions, resources, and people needed to achieve goals. It is vital to strategic planning. Action plans include the following components:

• A well-defined goal
• Tasks/steps needed to reach the goal
• Individuals or teams responsible for each task
• Task milestones and timeframes
• Resources and data needed to complete tasks
• Evidence or …

Profiling A Unique Female Serial Killer: Aileen Wuornos's Life Of Violence, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Gap Between Foster Youth And Higher Education: Perspectives Of Social Workers, Marielena Lozano

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research examined the perceptions of child welfare social workers in their role of supporting foster youth. Specifically, this study will focus on factors contributing to support for foster youth to obtain post-secondary education or vocational training.

This study utilized a qualitative research design. Data were collected from individual, semi-structured interviews with six volunteer participants in Southern and Northern California using a snowball sampling method. Throughout the interviews, the researcher asked current or former child welfare social workers to describe their perceptions and experiences in supporting foster youth in obtaining higher education.

The study found several themes related to the …

Child Abuse Awareness And Prevention Programs In Elementary Schools: An Educators' Perspective, Sara Headen

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This research project focuses on educators’ perceptions regarding implementing a child abuse awareness and prevention program in elementary schools. Participants for this project were teachers who were recruited from an elementary school located in Southern California. This project was completed using a qualitative data gathering method. Interviews were conducted and recorded through a video conferencing software program. The data gathered from the interviews was then transcribed and analyzed. The study found that all the participants were in support of implementing a child abuse awareness and prevention program in elementary schools. Concepts related to educator’s perception included their experience reporting child …

Understanding How Nimby-Ism Shapes Portland, Maine’S Homeless Policies: A Qualitative Study, Eleanor Ginder

Thinking Matters Symposium

On June 17, 2019, after a prolonged period of community concern, the Portland City Council voted to relocate the city’s homeless shelter from the rapidly gentrifying Bayside neighborhood to a wooded area at the city limits. As municipal shelters continue to move away from metropolitan areas, the impact of NIMBY-ism on local and state policies related to homelessness cannot go unnoted. By analyzing publicly available testimony that occurred in the months after the decision to relocate, a variation of NIMBY-ism begins to emerge. This phenomenon, which could be referred to as “neo-NIMBY-ism” is characterized by individuals with lived experience of …

Child Welfare Service Worker's Perspective Of The Juvenile Justice System, Valorie Antone, Kathryn Whitehead, Alexander Comeau, Zoe Donvan

Thinking Matters Symposium

Prior literature indicates youth who have had adverse childhood events or are diagnosed with a mental illness are more likely to become involved in the juvenile justice system (Chappard & Maggard, 2020). While research has been performed to involve juvenile justice workers and juveniles that have been involved in the system, there has been little involvement by the child welfare workers who have followed the trajectory of the youth from the beginning of involvement. This study investigates the perceptions of child welfare workers regarding youth involvement in the criminal justice system, addressing a current gap in the literature. In terms …

Seductive Details In Training, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are seductive details?

In a learning environment, seductive details are interesting but unimportant details that are not necessary to achieve the instructional objective (Garner et al., 1989). The information may be tangentially related to the topic but is not relevant to the main teaching goal. Such details are often included for the purpose of making the topic more interesting and engaging. There are many potential types of seductive details; they can be visual, verbal, or aural—static or dynamic images (e.g., illustrations, photos, animations), written or spoken words (e.g., text, narration), or sounds (e.g., music; Sundararajan & Adesope, 2020).

Why …

Supporting The Child Welfare Workforce During The Coronavirus Pandemic: Provision Of Personal Protective Equipment, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic some child welfare jurisdictions required continued, in-person contact with children and families, and workers struggled to obtain appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizers, to protect themselves (and their families), as well as their clients. In March of 2020, the National Council on Juvenile Crime and Delinquency conducted a survey of juvenile justice and child welfare agencies in 20 states on agency response to COVID-19. Child welfare agency respondents reported that inadequate PPE was the most significant challenge they faced at that point in the pandemic. Survey recommendations included …

Supporting The Child Welfare Workforce During The Coronavirus Pandemic: Addressing Worker Stress And Trauma, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

Studies and our own assessment of secondary trauma in the eight QIC-WD study sites indicate that up to 75% of child welfare caseworkers, especially those with high caseloads and exposure to traumatized families and children, are at risk of experiencing secondary traumatic stress and PTSD. The Coronavirus pandemic exacerbated an already beleaguered workforce. Data from previous pandemics is alarming. Research from the SARS pandemic indicates that survivors often developed PTSD which could last for many years. Those most affected were health care workers who, similar to child welfare workers, were impacted by the social isolation imposed by authorities to contain …

Supporting The Child Welfare Workforce During The Coronavirus Pandemic: Technology, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

The child welfare workforce is responsible for ensuring children’s safety and well-being, delivering treatment, and intervention services to families. Workers must document child and family information, service plans, and visit records in secure data systems, that are often only accessible from an office. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, many states had to rapidly pivot to remote technology to conduct mandatory visits of children in foster care and engage in supervised visitation between children and their families. They also had to determine how to provide oversight of treatment and intervention services required through case plans even though many provider services had …

Workforce Scorecards, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

What Is a Child Welfare Workforce Scorecard?

A Workforce Scorecard is a tool that can be used to track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to workforce outcomes of interest. This approach is derived from the balanced scorecard (Kaplan & Norton, 1992) and HR scorecard (Becker, Huselid, & Ulrich, 2001) strategic planning tools. The process involves linking key strategic goals to workforce-related initiatives and KPIs to demonstrate the alignment between the outcomes being measured and overarching child welfare strategic goals. The scorecard allows agency leaders to monitor progress towards key HR and workforce objectives. The scope of the scorecard can be …

Pedagogical Agents, Megan Paul

Umbrella Summaries

What are pedagogical agents?

Pedagogical agents are “lifelike characters presented on a computer screen that guide users through multimedia learning environments” (Clarebout & Heidig, 2012, p. 2568). Pedagogical agents can vary in multiple ways. The following characteristics have been most studied: appearance (two-dimensional [2D] vs. three-dimensional [3D]), eye gaze, facial expression, gesturing, motion, and gender. The simplest pedagogical agent would be a static, 2D image with just text, and a complex agent would be a dynamic, 3D person or character that talks, gestures, and has eye movements and facial expressions.

Why are pedagogical agents valuable?

Pedagogical agents are valuable because …

Supportive Supervision And Resiliency Ohio - Intervention Background, Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Other QIC-WD Products

What is the intervention and why was it selected? The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) conducted a comprehensive needs assessment with nine participating Ohio counties in partnership with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). The assessment revealed that organizational culture and climate across counties was above average in rigidity and resistance, and below average in engagement. In addition, over half of staff had recently experienced elevated levels of secondary traumatic stress (STS) symptoms. Supervision was also identified as a challenge at every level of the agencies (i.e., from directors to managers, managers to frontline supervisors, …

Kesejahteraan Dan Ekologi Anak Angkat Warga Negara Indonesia Dalam Pengangkatan Anak Antarnegara (Intercountry Adoption) Menghadapi Negara Baru, Monica Sundawati Susanto, Johanna Debora Imelda

Jurnal Ilmu Kesejahteraan Sosial

Adoption is currently one of the efforts chosen by several couples to have children. Adoption of children currently being processed in Indonesia is not only for prospective adoptive parents who are Indonesian citizens, but can also be processed for foreign citizens who wish to adopt Indonesian citizens (intercountry adoption) which has been regulated in the Government through Government Regulation Number 54 of 2007 concerning the Implementation of Child Adoption. In these regulations, children who can be adopted are neglected or neglected children. Therefore, adoption is carried out with the aim of protecting and improving the welfare of the child. The …

Modeling Cumulative Risk During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Psychosocial And Socioeconomic Factors For Older Minority Adults, James F. Osborne Iv

LSU Master's Theses

Continued response to the sum consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has disparately affected the physical and mental health of older minority adults in the United States. SARS-CoV-2 created an acute epidemiological crisis of public health coinciding with a chronic pandemic of accentuated psychosocial stress. Biological and socio-economic risk of morbidity and mortality follow a demographic gradient of subjectively constructed social status that disproportionally threatens older adults and minority racial/ethnic communities. Pathways to increased socio-economic and psychosocial vulnerability are multifactorial and complex. Factors of race, socio-economic status, gender, and age, each contribute to individualized profiles of vulnerability to risk exposure.

The …

Data Visualization (Video), Quality Improvement Center For Workforce Development

Workforce Analytics Resources

Data visualization can communicate data in a clear, concise, and engaging way that is easy for us to understand. During the convening of the Institute, the QIC-WD Data Visualization Team lead, Robert Blagg, conducted a presentation on data visualization that addressed the following:

How to make data visualizations useful?

• How can you better collect and organize data to support visualization?
• How can you develop visualizations that respect visual perception of information?
• How can you better focus users on actionable findings?

To learn more about data visualization, watch Dr. Blagg’s 9-minute presentation.

Dr. Blagg’s Data Visualization Resource summarizes key …