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Public Child Welfare Recruitment and Retention: A Longitudinal Participatory Research Initiative (Workshop 40)
This workshop presents findings from two multi-method child welfare workforce retention studies. The first study focused on master's level social work graduates currently at work in public child welfare in a major metropolitan area and the second on caseworkers and frontline supervisors in 13 county-based child welfare agencies. Presenters discuss developing action strategies with agency partners to build on the research findings, as well as worker response to these strategies, and the implications of the findings for managers, policymakers, and researchers.
Effective child welfare practice is contingent upon maintaining a trained and professional workforce that is knowledgeable about effective practices and skilled in assessment and intervention strategies. In many states, the child welfare workforce is a mix of employees with a range of professional and general or baccalaureate degrees. Regardless of the composition of the workforce, the retention of high quality workers continues to be a top priority, especially in view of the high turnover rates that plague many systems. The research conducted improves understanding of the organizational, supervisory, and educational factors that facilitate workforce retention.
Such a participatory approach to research yields benefits to developing long-term partnerships in critical service areas, particularly child welfare. Research becomes a tool for both practice and organizational improvement, and the partnership creates a utilization-focused research infrastructure. In addition, this research proves a mechanism for organizational learning and development.
Hal Lawson, Ph.D.
Social Work Education Consortium
School of Social Work
University at Albany
Richardson Hall
135 Western Avenue
Albany, NY 12222
Charles Auerbach, Ph.D.
Wurzweiler School of Social Work
Yeshiva University
Belfer Hall
2495 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY 10033
Brenda McGowan, Ph.D.
Columbia University
School of Social Work
622 113th Street
New York, NY 10025
Jessica Strolin, M.S.W.
University at Albany
State University of New York
P.O. Box 218
Voorheesville, NY 12186
James Caringi, M.S.W.
School of Social Welfare
State University of New York at Albany
135 Western Avenue
Husted 205B
Albany, NY 12222
View the complete list of presenters.
To purchase all available audio recordings, visit http://www.fltwood.com/onsite/nccan/.