CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Child Welfare Workforce Retention Research in New York State New York State Social Work Education Consortium

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Study Team Members Social Work Education Consortium NYS Office of Children and Family Services NYS Deans Association Commissioners University Faculty and Students

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Project History OCFS Turnover Survey Commissioners in counties with turnover over 25% meet Commissioners request a study Consortium agrees to lead the study

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Study Objectives Use a participatory approach to create knowledge to strengthen the child welfare workforce Help managers develop effective approaches to recruit and retain workers

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium County Characteristics Population: 31, ,419,369 FY 2000 Child Abuse Reports: ,569 Indicated Reports: ,820 Workforce size: Beginning Salary: $23,446 - $35,805 Average salary: $25,595 - $43,639

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Participatory (Action) Research 11 schools of participatory research Each is grounded in –Different traditions –Different philosophical and psychological assumptions –Different political goals (Reason and Bradbury, 2001) In all the research process is participative, grounded in experience, action oriented

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Study Approach Value the expertise and contributions of faculty, county commissioners, state policy and program staff, and students Respect, trust, and communicate

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Process Research team meetings Ongoing and regular feed back from all partners Consensus building

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Process Travel to counties to present the survey in person Travel to counties to present and discuss initial findings Meetings with commissioners to plan next steps of the study

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Benefits of the process Commissioners feel ownership of the study findings Commissioners are committed to future steps

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Challenges of the process Time Truly incorporating participants views resulted in scientific compromises Uncertain implications of team-member turnover

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Demographics  696 child welfare workers in all participating counties  409 child welfare workers participated in the study  59% of workers participated in the study

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Race of Participants African American3.0% Hispanic2.3 % American Indian0.3 % 2 or More Races1.5 % Pacific Islander0.3% Asian0.5% Caucasian91.3% Other1.0%

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Gender of Participants

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Age of Participants Average age of Participants is 39.8 years Average age of Supervisors is 44.3 years Average age of Workers is 38.2 years

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Age Brackets of Supervisors and Workers

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Years in Child Welfare Mean number of years is 8.5 Half of the participants have worked less than 5.8 years; half have worked more than 5.8 years. The median number of years worked by participants is 5.8 Time in Child Welfare ranged from 1 month to 40 years

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Average Years in Child Welfare

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Median Years in Child Welfare

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Annual Salary Range * 2 participants reported a salary of less than $20,000.

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Satisfaction with Salary and Benefits

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Annual Household Income 15.4% of participants in all counties combined hold more than one job

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Child Caseload Size Workers in all counties combined reported caseloads ranging from 0 – 400. Supervisors in all counties combined reported caseloads ranging from The average number of children in caseloads of supervisors is 165. The median number of children in caseloads of supervisors is 50.

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Child Caseload Size of Workers

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Caseload Size

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Foster Families and Biological Parents in Caseloads of all participants

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Supervisor Task Breakdown

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Worker Task Breakdown

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Task Breakdown for Workers and Supervisors in All Counties

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Work Experience *Other category includes: adult services, youth/PINS/JD, day care, income employment, child support, emergency services, foster home finding, homeless services, intake, and out of state.

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Casework as a Choice

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Organizational and Supervisory Factors Associated with Retention

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium  Clarity & Coherence of Practice  Life Work Fit  Goal Attainment, Job Satisfaction & Efficacy  Job Supports & Relationships  Technology, Training & Record Keeping  Salaries & Benefits Organizational Factors

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium  Supervisor Support  Supervisor Competence Supervisory Factors

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Logistic Regression Models Workers Only –with statistical significance Higher scores on all Organizational dimensions except salary & benefits reduces the likelihood of considering new job Higher Score on supervisor support reduces the likelihood of considering a new job.

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Analysis continued A higher score on satisfaction with organizational dimensions consistently reduces the likelihood of considering a new job, even when controlling for salary, caseload size and paperwork A higher score on supervisor support reduces by 42% the likelihood of considering a new job even when controlling for salary, caseload size and paperwork A higher score on supervisor knowledge is not related to considering a new job (at a level of statistical significance) when accounting for salary, caseload size and paperwork

CSWE Child Welfare Symposium Recommendations Organizational characteristics matter to worker’s retention (even when accounting for salary, caseload size and paperwork). Supervisor Support is important. Strategies to address this are unique to each county. Interviews to get specific ideas from workers and supervisors regarding specific improvements in their county to improve retention. Survey low turnover counties to see what the differences and similarities are.