Long-Term Retention Among Child Welfare Workers in Michigan: A Phenomenological Study

Long-Term Retention Among Child Welfare Workers in Michigan: A Phenomenological Study by Andrea Vajdic-Pena MSW, Andrews University, 2005 BSW & BA Spanish Studies, Andrews University, 2004 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Services Walden University May 2018 Abstract High turnover of child welfare workers is a problem to the children and families that receive services and the child welfare organizations that lose their staff. For children and their families, turnover of their assigned worker may interrupt their ability to achieve their permanency goals. Child welfare organizations encounter high costs for hiring staff due to the turnover and the staff that remain suffer with higher caseloads and not being able to provide the quality of services that they should be able to offer. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of child welfare workers who remained with the same employer for 3 years or more. The conceptual framework consisted of 2 theories: organizational climate and organizational culture theory. Two focus groups, consisting of 3 participants from an urban community and 5 participants from a rural community, were used. A snowball sampling method was used to obtain the sample. A content analysis was conducted to discover major and minor themes. This study revealed that 5 factors contribute toward retention: a) caseload size; b) educational background and training; c) recruitment, screening, and selection; d) supervisory support; and e) peer support were supported by all 8 participants. In addition, a new factor of self-care emerged as a result of this study. While all the child welfare workers experienced all the factors that could have resulted in their turnover, due to implementation of self-care techniques they ended up remaining from 3 years to 13 years. Exploring self-care as an answer toward retention is worth exploring and can contribute toward social change in the field of child welfare.High turnover of child welfare workers is a problem to the children and families that receive services and the child welfare organizations that lose their staff. For children and their families, turnover of their assigned worker may interrupt their ability to achieve their permanency goals. Child welfare organizations encounter high costs for hiring staff due to the turnover and the staff that remain suffer with higher caseloads and not being able to provide the quality of services that they should be able to offer. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of child welfare workers who remained with the same employer for 3 years or more. The conceptual framework consisted of 2 theories: organizational climate and organizational culture theory. Two focus groups, consisting of 3 participants from an urban community and 5 participants from a rural community, were used. A snowball sampling method was used to obtain the sample. A content analysis was conducted to discover major and minor themes. This study revealed that 5 factors contribute toward retention: a) caseload size; b) educational background and training; c) recruitment, screening, and selection; d) supervisory support; and e) peer support were supported by all 8 participants. In addition, a new factor of self-care emerged as a result of this study. While all the child welfare workers experienced all the factors that could have resulted in their turnover, due to implementation of self-care techniques they ended up remaining from 3 years to 13 years. Exploring self-care as an answer toward retention is worth exploring and can contribute toward social change in the field of child welfare. Long-Term Retention Among Child Welfare Workers in Michigan: A Phenomenological Study by Andrea Vajdic-Pena MSW, Andrews University, 2005 BSW & BA Spanish Studies, Andrews University, 2004 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Human Services Walden University May 2018 Dedication I dedicate my dissertation work to, most importantly, God, then my family and my children. This journey has been a challenging one, with many challenges and successes. I have seen His hand at work as I went through my journey to completion. Without Him, and His leading, I would not be where I am today. To my parents Milan and Lily Vajdic, you have provided me with love, encouraging words, and unwavering support even to the point of sacrificing yourselves in order for me to finish my doctoral program. There are not enough words to express the love and gratitude that I have for you. To my grandparents Felix and Dragica Mauko, you have always believed in me and provided support when I needed it the most. And Grandpa, while you were not able to see me complete my doctoral journey, I know that you would be beaming with pride that I earned my doctorate degree. To my husband Jose M. Pena, you helped me to persevere against all the obstacles that life was throwing my way during this journey and I have grown as a result. And finally, to my daughters Angelica and Liliana, I want you to know that you are the reasons why I started this doctoral journey. I love you girls from the bottom of my heart and I want you to know that you can achieve anything that your heart desires, as long as you have God on your side, and I will be there for you to support you through your journeys. Acknowledgments This dissertation, by far, has been one of the most challenging experiences I have encountered in my lifetime. I give my deepest gratitude to those who have provided support and encouragement during this journey. First, I would like to acknowledge my committee members. Thank you so much, Dr. Pamela Denning, for accepting the responsibility of being my chair member. Dr. Yvonne Chase, I am thankful that you also wanted to be a part of my journey. Both Dr. Denning and Dr. Chase devoted their time and effort to provide me valuable insight in the field of child welfare as well as their support during this journey and provided a foundation to my success. Next, I would like to thank Dr. Robert Ortega, who took time out of his very busy day to spend a few hours with me to help discover my passion about child welfare retention. I would also like to thank Dr. Robert Ward III, who provided continually reminded me about the importance of self-care so that I could achieve my goals. Next, I want to thank Dr. Gregory Hickman, who always took the time to answer my questions and provided continual support during my journey. To my closest friends and coworkers Jill, Adrienne, Tabitha, and Cindy, you girls have been there for me through my dissertation journey and helped me to manage work, school, and family while keeping me grounded and I am eternally thankful and grateful. And finally, to my dearest friends Tracy and Frances, we began this doctoral journey together. Throughout this journey, we have been there for each other through hard work, tears, frustration, and our successes. Thank you so much for your love, support, and encouragement. I would not have finished this journey without you both by my side. i Table of