Investigating the Impact of Caseworker Characteristics and Work Experiences on Perceptions of Maltreatment and Case Outcomes in the Child Welfare System

Background and Purpose: With many children spending extended time in foster care, there is a critical need to investigate all factors that may contribute to children being placed in out-of-home care, including caseworkers themselves. Caseworkers wield considerable influence over the cases they serve as they are tasked with making key decisions, such as whether the alleged maltreatment is substantiated or whether a child is removed from their home. This study aims to explore the relationship between caseworker characteristics and work experiences on their perceptions and the link between these perceptions on key case outcomes.

Methods: This study analyzed secondary data collected in the first wave (2017-2021) of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being III (NSCAW III). NSCAW III represents the third cohort in a nationally representative study on the wellbeing of children and families involved with the child welfare system and includes data from interviews with children, caregivers, and caseworkers. The sample included 1,878 caseworker interviews. Dependent variables in this study included two measures of caseworker perceptions of maltreatment – caseworker perceived level of harm (none to mild or moderate to severe) caused by the alleged maltreatment and caseworker confidence (not at all, somewhat, very) that the alleged maltreatment occurred – and two dichotomous measures of case outcomes – whether the maltreatment was substantiated and whether the child was placed in out-of-home care. The primary independent variables were the number of hours caseworkers spent in contact with their supervisor monthly and the number of hours of ethnic/cultural training received annually. Additional predictors included education, age, and years worked in child welfare. Four logistic regression models, one ordinal and three binary, were run to test for statistically significant associations between the independent variables and each dependent variable.

Results: All four logistic regression models were significant (p<.001). Supervision hours were positively associated with caseworker confidence in their assessment of the maltreatment occurring (OR=1.003; p<.05). Age was also a significant predictor, with caseworkers 50 or older more likely to report higher levels of confidence in their assessments (OR 2.5, p<.001). Caseworkers who perceived that moderate to severe harm had occurred to the child were also more likely to report higher confidence in their assessments (OR=2.76, p<.001). In turn, caseworker perceptions of harm were significantly associated with substantiation (OR= 21.29, p<.001) and placement of the child in out-of-home care (OR=8.37, p<.001).

Conclusions and Implications: These findings suggest that caseworker perceptions are shaped by their personal characteristics and work experiences and that such perceptions shape key decisions. Older age and more supervisor support were related to greater confidence in assessments, and confident caseworkers were more likely to perceive the abuse as causing moderate to severe harm. While confidence alone did not predict substantiation or the placement in out-of-home care, perceptions of harm did strongly predict these outcomes. This suggests that it is a caseworker’s judgement about the impact of maltreatment that drives case decisions. Overall, the results point to the importance of supervisor support and the need for consistent guidelines for harm assessments.