Friday, 14 January 2005 - 2:00 PM

This presentation is part of: Workforce Issues in Child Welfare

Commitment in Public Child Welfare

Purpose: The challenges faced by public child welfare agencies in recruiting and retaining qualified and committed personnel have been a subject of considerable interest in the research and practice arenas (Alwon & Retiz, 2000; Child Welfare League of America, 2001; Gibelman & Schervish, 1996; Hopkins, Mudrick, & Rudolph, 1999). This presentation describes the results of a research study that used structural equation modeling to estimate a causal model of commitment and intention to stay among public child welfare employees. The theoretical framework is derived from an extensive body of research from the sociology of work and occupations. The model estimates the relative effects of structural conditions of work, job stressors, and professional identification variables, on commitment and intent to stay in the public child welfare agency and in child welfare as a field of practice. Methods: The study sample was the entire public child welfare workforce in a state-administered child welfare agency in a Midwestern state, and yielded a mail survey response rate of seventy-seven percent (n=990). LISREL (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993) was used to analyze the measurement model and the pattern of linear structural relationships among latent variables in the causal model. Results: Results of this study found that support from a number of sources--including the supervisor, the agency, and the community-- had significant explanatory power over child welfare workers’ job satisfaction, commitment to the agency and intentions to remain working in the agency. Promotional opportunities, service orientation, and work overload also had significant explanatory effects. Results also support the existence of dual commitments to the organization and to child welfare as a field of practice. Implications for policy and practice: Results of this study were used in developing a five-year, federally funded child welfare training project to improve recruitment and retention in public child welfare. The training model emphasizes enhancing supervisory and managerial support for workers, developing internal career ladders, examining workload issues, building community support for the public child welfare agency, and improving recruitment strategies to identify employees with a strong service orientation and to recruit a diverse student body at four branch campuses of the state university’s School of Social Work. References: Alwon, F., & Reitz, A. (2000). The workforce crisis in child welfare. Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.

Child Welfare League of America (2001). The child welfare workforce challenge:Results from a preliminary study. Washington, D.C.: Author.

Gibelman, M., and P.H. Schervish (1996). Social Work and Public Social Services Practice: A Status Report. Families in Society, 77:117-124.

Hopkins, K. M., N.R. Mudrick, and C.S. Rudolph (1999). Impact of University/Agency Partnerships in Child Welfare on Organizations, Workers, and Work Activities. Child Welfare, 78:749-773.

Joreskog, K.G., and D. Sorbom (1993). LISREL VIII and PRELIS 2: Comprehensive Analysis of Linear Relationsihps in Multivariate Data. Chicago: Scientific Software International.

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