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Administrative Supervision

An often overlooked but major task of child welfare supervisors is administrative, which includes assessing worker and client needs, planning, tracking worker and client activity, ensuring compliance with business processes and information systems, managing work flow, and staffing. Supervisors in small offices may have multiple duties that also include facility and office management. The following resources address administrative aspects of supervision, including State and local examples.

Building and Sustaining Collaborative Community Relationships (PDF - 648 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2017)
Highlights the importance of effective, ongoing collaboration between child welfare agencies and community-based partners to strengthen assessment and decision-making, increase understanding of the family’s needs, promote communication and information sharing across systems, and provide better overall support to children and families.

Competency-Based Workforce Development: A Synthesis of Current Approaches (PDF - 514 KB) 
Brittain & Bernotavicz (2015)
National Child Welfare Workforce Institute
Explains the use of competency models to guide the recruitment, selection, preparation, and retention of new hires into the child welfare workforce. These models contain the competencies necessary for specific child welfare roles at multiple levels, including supervisor and manager.

Conducting Comprehensive Workforce Needs Assessments in Child Welfare
Paul & Harrison (2019)
Children's Bureau Express, 20(5)
Explores the work of the Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development, which examined how child welfare agency directors often lack the capacity or strong relationships with human resources departments to hire and keep the right child welfare staff. Several lessons learned and plans for continuous workforce development are discussed.

Inventory of Innovations: Workforce Development (PDF - 882 KB)
Capacity Building Center for States (2018)
Examines recent research on child welfare workforce management, including worker recruitment and retention, professional development, and organizational culture. This brief describes innovative programs that have implemented some of the suggestions discussed in the research. It also addresses considerations for innovative solutions related to workforce management in child welfare.

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State and local examples

How Has Stable, Skilled Leadership Driven Change in Allegheny County?
Casey Family Programs (2019)
Features a question-and-answer session with Marc Cherna, director of the Allegheny Department of Human Services, that focuses on his leadership style. Cherna discusses personal and organizational tactics he used to achieve his vision and the importance of building relationships with a network of community stakeholders.

Introduction to Supervision for Child Welfare Services: Participant Workbook (PDF - 2,632 KB)
North Carolina Division of Social Services (2018)
Shares a workbook for the course, Introduction to Supervision for Child Welfare Services, provided by the North Carolina Division of Social Service. The workbook includes information on competencies, supervisor roles, and a review of curriculum, values, and expectations.

Leading Through Understanding the Role of Life Stories [Video]
National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (2019)
Offers a video real-life story that explores how the director of Missouri's Children's Division has worked to shape his leadership style around understanding the life stories of supervisors and workers.

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Spotlight On

Child Welfare Organizational Capacities

Capacity Building Collaborative (2015)

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