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BULLETIN FOR 

PROFESSIONALS

April 2015

Supervising for Quality 

Child Welfare Practice

WHAT’S INSIDE

Understanding the 

importance of effective 

supervision

The role of supervisors 

in practice improvement 

Clinical supervision

Supporting and growing 

child welfare supervisors 

State and local 

examples of promising 

practices

Resources and tools for 

enhanced supervision 

Conclusion

References

Supervisors play a critical role in the delivery 

of effective child welfare services. They are 

responsible for ensuring that frontline workers 

have the requisite knowledge, attitudes, and 

skills to engage children and families; assess 

safety concerns as well as child and family 

needs, strengths, and resources; make sound 

casework decisions; and develop and implement 

effective service plans. Supervisors are key to 

translating agency policies and procedures for 

staff and ensuring that they are adhered to, in 

training and coaching staff and supporting their 

professional growth, and in helping workers to 

address the challenges of ensuring safety for 

children while strengthening and supporting 

their families. As child welfare agencies pay 

increased attention to ensuring quality through 

systematic continuous quality improvement 

efforts, supervisors must be particularly skilled 

in bringing the agency’s vision to life by teaching 

and coaching, monitoring, and supporting 

caseworkers in a stressful environment, as 

well as leading quality improvement processes. 

Supervisor success in these endeavors is 

critical for staff retention and for fostering 

positive outcomes among caseworkers.
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This bulletin for professionals presents an overview of 

child welfare supervision and explores the dimensions 

of supervision that agencies may want to consider 

as they seek to strengthen the effectiveness of their 

services to children and families. This bulletin is designed 

to provide child welfare supervisors, managers, and 

related professionals with examples of States’ efforts 

to strengthen supervisory capacity and with tools and 

resources to enhance supervisory skills. 

Understanding the Importance of 

Effective Supervision

Researchers have identified several keys to effective 

supervision, including the successful application of 

knowledge to practice, connecting caseworkers to the 

agency mission, building supportive organizational 

structures, being an effective leader, and promoting 

success among employees. Each of these elements is 

necessary for developing employee commitment and 

enthusiasm, for counteracting negative practice, and for 

getting caseworkers and the agency back on the right 

track when unfortunate incidents occur (Summers, 2010). 

There is an extensive body of research in the child welfare 

field linking effective supervisory practices to positive 

outcomes for staff, agencies, and the children and families 

that their organizations serve. Supervisory effectiveness 

is felt most directly by the caseworkers being supervised. 

Research indicates that high-quality supervision can 

prevent or reduce employee burnout and secondary 

trauma, which in turn reduces staff turnover rates (CollinsCamargo & Royse, 2010; Landsman, 2007; Brittain & 

Conrad, 2006).

A meta-analysis examining the impact of effective 

supervision on caseworkers found that positive 

supervisory skills are related to beneficial worker 

outcomes (Mor Barak et al., 2009). Specifically, studies 

indicate that effective supervision can mitigate 

caseworkers’ intention to leave their jobs, as well as actual 

staff turnover (Chen & Scannapieco, 2010; Fakunmoju et 

al., 2010; Renner, Porter, & Preister, 2009; U.S. Government 

Accountability Office, 2003). Supervision has even been 

identified as the organizational factor most consistently 

linked with caseworker retention (Child Welfare League of 

America, 2005). 

The positive impact of high-quality supervision on 

caseworkers goes beyond employee retention; it is also 

associated with higher levels of job satisfaction (Faller, 

Grabarek, & Ortega, 2010; Annie E. Casey Foundation, 

2003) and organizational commitment (Landsman, 2001). 

Furthermore, it has been shown to lessen stressful work 

conditions, offer protection from unreasonable job 

demands, provide emotional support during difficult 

times, and give guidance on negotiating the challenges 

of the job (Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001; Kadushin & 

Harkness, 2002). 

For some time, research has shown the importance of the 

supervisor by directly linking effective supervision with 

good practice. Supervisors offer valuable educational, 

social, and administrative support, which can in turn 

contribute to worker effectiveness that translates into 

quality service delivery (Kadushin & Harkness, 2002). 

Studies found that relationships between quality 

supervision and improved worker capacity to define 

“next steps” and set limits in their cases (Banuch, 1999) 

increased service provision (McGrew & Bond, 1997), led 

to stronger client engagement (particularly with resistant 

individuals) (Bibus, 1993), and improved goal attainment 

among clients (Harkness, 1995).

When an agency implements a new model or reform, 

supervisors provide direction and support to caseworkers 

as they put new policies and procedures into effect 

and further provide workers with feedback on their 

implementation success. Supervisors also play an 

important role in increasing caseworker motivation, jobrelated critical thinking, and decision-making skills so that 

workers can better serve children and families (Fisher, 

2009; Lietz, 2010; Rzepnicki & Johnston, 2005). 

Child Welfare Information Gateway’s Management and 

Supervision web section offers a wide array of resources 

to help supervisors, managers, and administrators provide 

effective leadership and build a skilled workforce. The 

web section is available at https://www.childwelfare.gov/

topics/management/.
Supervising for Quality Child Welfare Practice https://www.childwelfare.gov

3

The Role of Supervisors in Practice 

Improvement

In August 2012, the Children’s Bureau released an 

Information Memorandum (IM) on continuous quality 

improvement (CQI), the process by which organizations 

identify, describe, and analyze strengths and problems 

and then test, implement, learn from, and revise solutions. 

The IM outlines five key components of an effective CQI 

system:

 A strong foundational administrative structure

 Quality data collection

 An effective case record review process

 Analysis and dissemination of quality data 

 Feedback to stakeholders/decision-makers and 

adjustment of programs and processes to continually 

improve CQI

CQI also has become an important component 

of the upcoming third round of the Federal child 

welfare monitoring known as the Child Welfare 

Services Reviews (CFSRs). More information 

about CQI and the CFSR process is available in 

the June 2014 Children’s Bureau Express (https://

cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?event=website.

viewSection&issueID=158&subsectionID=57), the Bureau’s 

monthly e-news digest that covers news, issues, and 

trends of interest to professionals in child welfare. 

Because supervisors play a key role in developing and 

enhancing the skills of child welfare professionals, they 

also play a pivotal role in implementing CQI processes 

and systems. They help to create an organizational 

climate where CQI is expected and valued, modeling the 

use of evidence-informed practice and those systems that 

promote it. An October 2012 issue of Training Matters, 

an e-newsletter published by North Carolina’s Division 

of Social Services’ Children’s Services Statewide Training 

Partnership, outlines the State’s work implementing 

its CQI model, the Reaching for Accountability and 

Excellence in Practice, and the importance of supervisors 

in this application. The October 2012 issue of Training 

Matters is available at http://www.trainingmatters-nc.org/

tm_v14n1/tm_v14n1.htm.

Supervisory Roles, Competencies, and 

Processes That Promote Continuous Quality 

Improvement

Supervisory responsibilities can be categorized into three 

overarching domains: (1) administrative, (2) educational, 

and (3) supportive (National Association of Social Workers, 

2013; Kadushin and Harkness, 2002). The combination of 

all three components is necessary for the development 

of competent, ethical, and professional caseworkers. 

Each of these domains is critical to effective supervision 

and quality practice, and each one experienced renewed 

emphasis from a quality improvement perspective.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and 

the Association of Social Work Boards produced a booklet 

that provides an indepth discussion of supervision in 

social work and provides standards to ensure uniformity. 

Best Practice Standards in Social Work Supervision is 

available on the NASW website at http://www.naswdc.

org/practice/naswstandards/supervisionstandards2013.

pdf. 

Administrative

Administrative supervision involves enacting managerial 

methods that enable caseworkers to provide effective 

services to their clients (Hess, Kanak, & Atkins, 2009). 

The administrative component of the supervisory role 

is oriented toward the accurate implementation of 

policy and practice, which sets the tone for an agency’s 

continuous quality improvement. As agencies evolve, 

supervisors are responsible for adopting new innovations 

and enabling reform. In order to do this, they must be 

skilled at anticipating, addressing, and managing change 

that is occurring within the agency. 

On a personnel level, administrative supervision requires 

managing the organizational demands that are placed 

on caseworkers in order to increase their ability to carry 

out responsibilities related to implementing change. 

Specifically, this requires managing the caseloads, 

workflow, and responsibilities of caseworkers, and 

holding caseworkers accountable for the quality of 

their practice by identifying, managing, and evaluating 

their performance. Supervisors must also be skilled at 

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facilitating communication when tackling issues related 

to the quality of caseworker practice. Tasks that fall 

under administrative supervision are best executed by 

supervisors who listen to and value their caseworkers in 

an effort to form strong, team-oriented partnerships. 

An article in the June 2010 issue of PracticeNotes, a 

newsletter produced by the North Carolina Division of 

Social Services and the Family and Children’s Resource 

Program, outlines the six principles of partnership as 

applied to supervision in child welfare. “Using Partnership 

in Supervision,” by Deb Vassar is available on the 

PracticeNotes website at http://www.practicenotes.org/

v15n3/partnership.htm.

Educational

Educational supervision focuses on advancing the 

practice of caseworkers by helping them develop 

knowledge and skills they can apply to specific cases. It 

may include helping staff to gain a better understanding 

of social work philosophy, as well as refining staff 

knowledge and skills related to assessment, treatment 

and intervention, identification and resolution of ethical 

issues, and evaluation and termination of services. 

Supervisors can promote a positive learning environment 

by placing emphasis on the implementation of evidencebased practice, using data to inform change, and 

conducting regular case reviews. 

Knowledge transfer is another key strategy in educational 

supervision. Positive relationships between supervisors 

and supervisees serve as a model for how caseworkers 

should interact with their clients (Van Berckelaer, 2011). 

Supervisors can also teach these techniques using direct, 

on-the-job training methods.

Supportive

Supportive supervision is intended to decrease staff 

stress that could interfere with performance and 

eventually lead to burnout. It also provides caseworkers 

with nurturing conditions that complement their 

success and encourages self-efficacy. Supervision that 

is empathetic and genuine fosters alliances between 

supervisors and caseworkers, which in turn can facilitate 

more effective learning. Supportive supervision also 

fosters an organizational climate of safety and trust where 

workers can develop a strong sense of professional 

identity. There are three methods: modeling, coaching, 

and reflective supervision.

Modeling and coaching are two of the key strategies 

that supervisors can use in educational supervision. 

Modeling appropriate behavior and high quality skills 

is imperative, as caseworkers look to their supervisors 

for cues on how to execute their job responsibilities 

effectively (National Association of Social Workers, 

2013). Coaching, a more deliberate technique, involves 

supporting new staff as they tackle various issues and 

scenarios that may arise in working with the children 

and families on their caseloads. Researchers have shown 

specific supervisor traits and strategies to be effective in 

the coaching relationship, including exercising empathy 

and trust, devoting individualized attention to developing 

workers, and creating a positive supervisor-employee 

feedback environment (Gregory & Levy, 2011). A list 

of mentoring and coaching resources used in several 

States to enhance supervisor-employee relationships 

and knowledge transfer, including a guidebook on 

teaming in child welfare, videos, and a Peer Quality 

Case Review toolkit from the California Social Work 

Education Center (CalSWEC) that offers facilitation, 

planning, and communications tools, is available on 

the CalSWEC website at http://calswec.berkeley.edu/

peer-quality-case-review.

Reflective supervision, or the regular collaborative 

reflection between a supervisor and caseworker that 

builds on the worker’s use of his or her thoughts, feelings, 

and values within a service encounter, is a necessary 

supportive process within the supervisor-caseworker 

relationship (Van Berckelaer, 2011). In order for reflective 

supervision to be effective, supervisors and caseworkers 

must meet on a regular basis—at least weekly with new 

workers—to process a worker’s emotions related to 

difficult cases. While this can be a resource- and timeintensive process, research suggests that investing in 

these practices can yield returns in staff retention and 

positive client outcomes, including greater success in 

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5

achieving permanency for children (National Council on 

Crime and Delinquency, 2006; Turner, 2009).

The Zero to Three National Center for Infants, Toddlers, 

and Families offers a resource that provides best practice 

guidelines for reflective supervision and presents a 

relevant case study. “Reflective Supervision: Supporting 

Reflection as a Cornerstone for Competency,” by 

Deborah Weatherston, Robert Weigand, and Barbara 

Weigand, is available in the Zero to Three journal at http://

main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/31-2_Weatherston.

pdf?docID=11942.

Reflective supervision comprises a set of techniques 

that are used to build trust between caseworkers and 

supervisors. Three identified building blocks of reflective 

supervision are:

 Reflection: taking time to think about workers’ 

experiences, thoughts, and feelings directly connected 

to their work with children and families. Reflection 

involves active listening and thoughtful questioning by 

both parties in the pursuit of identifying interventions 

and services that best meet a family’s needs.

 Collaboration: sharing the responsibility and control 

of power between the supervisor and caseworker. 

Collaborative relationships enable staff to express their 

abilities to handle various situations and encourage 

supervisors to recognize opportunities to share 

responsibility and decision-making.

 Regularity: meeting and interacting on a regular basis 

to facilitate reflection and collaboration. 

For more information on the three building blocks of 

reflective supervision, visit the Zero to Three website at 

http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/areas-of-expertise/

reflective-practice-program-development/three-buildingblocks-of-reflective-supervision.html. 

Supervisors play an important role in addressing or 

mitigating the effects of compassion fatigue—also known 

as vicarious trauma or secondary trauma—on staff. The 

spring 2012 issue of the Center for Advanced Studies in 

Child Welfare’s publication CW 360o: A Comprehensive 

Look at a Prevalent Child Welfare Issue (CW360o) was 

focused on secondary trauma. The issue notes that 

the topic of burnout has been widely researched and 

connected to child welfare over the years and highlights 

the emergence of secondary trauma or secondary 

traumatic stress in the human services field. Largely 

associated with first responders and mental health 

professionals, the field of child welfare had previously 

focused on turnover related to burnout rather than the 

issue of vicarious trauma. This issue of CW360o offers 

articles that explain the symptoms of posttraumatic 

stress, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout; research 

on the role of workplace supports and worker retention; 

and the role supervisors play in helping workers stave off 

the effects of secondary trauma. Read the entire issue 

at http://ncwwi.org/files/Incentives__Work_Conditions/

Secondary_Trauma__the_CW_Workforce_CW360.pdf.

Supervisory Roles in Planning for Innovation 

and Reform

Over the last decade, many States have enacted largescale, system-wide reforms in an effort to meet new 

Federal standards and improve outcomes for children and 

families. Child welfare supervisors are important agents of 

change during these periods of organizational innovation 

and reform. They must communicate the specifics of 

new practice implementation and coach caseworkers 

on how to adapt to changing job responsibilities. 

Managing caseworker stress surrounding agency change 

is perhaps the most critical role of a supervisor during 

transitional periods. Research shows that roughly 50 

percent of change efforts across organizations fail 

as a result of employee resistance to change (Self, 

Armenakis, & Schraeder, 2007). Research indicates that 

supervisors can help relieve caseworker stress during 

these periods by clearly communicating job expectations 

under new practice models and by providing support 

to help alleviate the stress caused by the uncertainty of 

organizational change (Cooksey-Campbell, Folaron, & 

Sullenberger, 2013).

As changes are being implemented within an agency, 

supervisors must play an active role in the CQI process. 

This involves planning for and modeling new practice 

techniques, evaluating workers’ abilities to implement 

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6

new techniques, and assessing whether or not the new 

initiatives are leading to better outcomes for children and 

families. Strategies that supervisors can use to model new 

practices during periods of organizational change include 

the following (Frey et al., 2012):

 Discussing how to apply new practice techniques to 

cases

Providing field observation and support as a worker is 

directly serving clients

 Modeling or demonstrating relevant skills or 

techniques that workers are trying to implement

Once caseworkers begin using new practices, supervisors 

should evaluate metrics connected to implementation 

success and child and family outcomes. Supervisors can 

draw data from such sources as (Frey et al., 2012):

 Basic case measures, such as the number of children 

and youth caseworkers are serving, service plan goals, 

and services provided

 Compliance measures that examine adherence 

to agency policy and procedures, such as timely 

completion of assessments

 Service response measures and outputs, such as 

placement settings and stability

 Benchmarks of progress toward, and timely 

achievement of, permanency outcomes such as exits 

from the system to permanency

Clinical Supervision

The child welfare field has shifted its supervision 

focus away from the idea that the primary role for 

supervisors should be to provide case management and 

administrative oversight. Instead, the field began to place 

greater emphasis on clinical supervision, a specific set of 

strategies geared toward applying caseworker knowledge 

to overall agency practice in a successful manner. 

Clinical supervision focuses on the actions, responses, 

and decisions of a caseworker in providing services to 

the children and families they serve. Effective clinical 

supervision is critical to building worker competencies, 

including reinforcing social work ethics and values, 

encouraging self-reflection and critical thinking skills, 

building upon training to enhance performance, and 

supporting the worker through caseworker decisionmaking and crises. Common components of the clinical 

supervision model include the following activities (CollinsCamargo & Millar, 2010): 

 Scheduling regular individual or group supervision 

meetings

 Enhancing caseworker critical thinking skills

 Encouraging and providing caseworkers with time to 

engage in self-reflection so as to examine and consider 

ways to improve their own practice

 Facilitating the identification of crucial casework 

questions that are meant to critically evaluate 

issues related to family maltreatment and applying 

knowledge gained from the critical thinking sessions to 

assessment and treatment activities

 Developing workers’ skills and focusing on evidencebased practice by looking to the professional literature 

for guidance in casework and implementing successful 

programs that promote positive outcomes for children 

and families

 Establishing an organizational culture in which support, 

learning, and clinical supervision are encouraged

 Using case review and observation to assess workers’ 

skills and evaluate progress

Findings from a qualitative study examining the impacts 

of these clinical supervisory techniques in public child 

welfare agencies provide initial evidence supporting 

the use of such practices (Collins-Camargo & Millar, 

2010); however, more empirical research needs to be 

conducted in order to make more conclusive statements 

about the effects of clinical supervision on outcomes for 

caseworkers and children and families.

Child Welfare Information Gateway’s website offers a 

web section on Clinical Supervision at https://www.

childwelfare.gov/management/mgmt_supervision/

clinical/.

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Supporting and Growing Child 

Welfare Supervisors: How Agencies 

Can Provide Direction, Supports, and 

Infrastructure to Facilitate Continuous 

Quality

In order for child welfare agencies to develop an effective 

supervisory workforce, they need to invest in recruiting 

and training strong candidates who are prepared to 

meet the intense demands of the position. Agencies can 

further foster the growth of a qualified staff by providing 

employed supervisors with professional and leadership 

development opportunities. 

Information and resources from 37 States on training 

and supporting supervisors is available through the 

former National Child Welfare Resource Center for 

Organizational Improvement’s Supervisor Training 

& Support Research Project on the website for the 

University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of 

Public Service at http://usm.maine.edu/muskie/cutler/

nrcoi-supervisor-training-support-research-project.

Selecting and Training Supervisors

Recruiting skilled supervisors is of the upmost importance 

given the challenges presented by the position and 

their role in ensuring effective practice. In addition, 

agencies should develop internal processes to identify 

practitioners, including caseworkers already working for 

the agency and job candidates from outside the agency, 

who have sufficient child welfare knowledge and whose 

skills align with the organization’s practice model (Hess, 

Kanak, & Atkins, 2009). In addition to selecting individuals 

who are a good fit for the agency, the following 

qualifications should be considered in identifying 

potential supervisors:

 An ability to display beginning competence in 

supervisory skills 

 Excellent performance in current positions 

 High levels of motivation to undertake the demands of 

the position 

 A commitment to continue professional development 

through supervision and mentoring

Supervisor training should begin by providing an overview 

of the responsibilities that fall under the administrative, 

educational, and supportive supervisory domains. Lecture 

content is most effective when supplemented with 

relevant tips, examples, role playing, and other interactive 

activities. Agencies should also provide supervisors 

with access to outside resources and tools that have 

been shown to enhance supervisory performance and 

capabilities.

The University of Iowa School of Social Work, in 

collaboration with the Iowa Department of Human 

Services, developed, implemented, and evaluated a 

statewide training program for Iowa’s child welfare 

supervisors. The curriculum, including supplemental 

handouts and presentation materials, and a supervisor 

toolkit, are available on the National Resource 

Center for Family Centered Practice website at 

http://www.uiowa.edu/~nrcfcp/training/recruitment.

shtml#supervisortraining.

Providing Professional Development 

Opportunities for Supervisors

Providing supervisors with professional development 

opportunities is critical to both their job satisfaction 

and their ability to provide effective supervision to 

caseworkers (Hess, Kanak, & Atkins, 2009). Professional 

development starts in the early stages of the job. 

Agencies should provide job preparation programs both 

for supervisors new to the position and for experienced 

individuals. The programs should include clear 

communication on supervisory responsibilities within 

the agency, access to mentors, frequent and regularly 

scheduled supervision, and peer learning opportunities.

Once supervisors are acclimated to the agency, they 

should have opportunities and resources to develop 

knowledge and skills in advanced or specialized areas 

that support their professional goals. Examples of 

such opportunities include workshops, conferences, 

job-related training classes, and advanced degree 

programs, such as master of social work programs. 

Midlevel managers should also have access to 

management training for those with more advanced 

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skills. All supervisors should have plans for professional 

development that identify goals, knowledge and skills 

necessary to reach these goals, and concrete steps 

toward achieving goals (Hess, Kanak, & Atkins, 2009). 

Developing Supervisory Leadership

Another avenue for building supervisory skills and 

investment—particularly leadership skills—is to 

bring supervisors into the assessment, planning, and 

implementation of agency initiatives and reforms. 

Whether the agency is developing a new strategic plan, 

developing a work plan to respond to a State’s Program 

Improvement Plan (a Federal requirement to improve 

child welfare services in areas identified by the CFSRs) or 

court order, or designing and implementing a new child 

welfare practice model, supervisors can be invaluable 

sources of information every step of the way and 

important champions of change moving forward. 

The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) 

offers a wide range of supervisor and manager training 

opportunities designed to increase overall child welfare 

practice effectiveness. The organization’s Leadership 

Academy for Supervisors (LAS) is a free, web-based 

training program geared toward the development of 

leadership skills. Its modules are based on the latest child 

welfare research findings and are presented by national 

experts in the field. NCWWI’s Learning and Living 

Leadership toolkit facilitates acquisition of leadership 

knowledge and skills, and the Core Curriculum of the 

LAS includes training in the following areas (for more 

information, refer to the NCWWI website at http://ncwwi.

org/files/LAS_Core_Curriculum.pdf):

 Understanding leadership foundations and principles

 Building collaborative relationships with families, 

youth, and communities

 Developing a workforce through recruitment, 

selection, development, support, and performance 

management of staff

 Ensuring accountability by creating a knowledge 

culture and using data to improve practice

 Managing change through goal setting

State and Local Examples of Promising 

Practices

A solid agency supervisory framework or plan is necessary 

to support quality supervision practices. A number of 

organizations have, or are working on, strengthening their 

approach to supervision to produce positive outcomes 

for workers and the children and families they serve. 

This section provides some examples of State and local 

agencies that are using evidence-based supervisory 

practices strategically to increase morale and job 

satisfaction among workers and to implement agency 

practice models effectively.

Alaska Office of Children’s Services Strategic 

Supervision Plan—In response to findings from Round 2 

of the CFSR, the Alaska Department of Health and Social 

Services developed a strategic plan to address concerns 

surrounding agency supervisory practices. As a result 

of targeted discussions and workshops, agency staff 

identified goals and action steps within the following key 

areas: supervisor recruitment, training, and professional 

development; supervision support; caseworker 

supervision; administrative and management; and 

supervisory roles and responsibilities within communities 

and agencies. The strategic planning document presents 

the plan in a chart that includes the specific tasks that are 

needed to complete each action step. The full text of the 

document can be found on the agency’s website (Alaska 

Office of Children’s Services, 2011) at http://www.hss.

state.ak.us/ocs/Publications/pdf/strategicplan.pdf.

Missouri Children’s Division Supervision Advisory 

Committee—Missouri’s Department of Social Services’ 

Children’s Division undertook an initiative to enhance and 

support effective supervision of frontline child welfare 

staff. The agency implemented a series of strategies and 

action steps to address issues surrounding supervisor 

recruitment, training, and professional development; 

supervisor support; clinical supervision of caseworkers; 

administrative and management supervision; and the 

supervisory role within agencies and communities. The 

strategic plan, improvement efforts, major outcomes 

and accomplishments over a 5-year period, and lessons 

learned are presented in a webinar that can be found 

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on the archived webinars section of the National Child 

Welfare Workforce Institute’s website (National Child 

Welfare Workforce Institute, 2012) at http://ncwwi.org/

index.php/webinars.

Resources and Tools for Enhanced 

Supervision

This section presents resources and tools that agency 

personnel can use to enhance the quality of supervision 

within their organizations.

Tools for Supervisors

Planning Framework for Team-Based Supervision—

This article presents a comprehensive planning framework 

for quality supervision, with emphasis on the role 

supervisors play in child welfare team practice models. 

Components of the framework include: (1) the leader 

and manager roles and responsibilities for supervisor 

development, learning, and evaluation, (2) the supervisor’s 

role with regard to an agency’s learning, development, 

and improvement systems, (3) the supervisor’s role in 

mentoring and coaching caseworkers, (4) the supervisor’s 

role in ensuring effective casework practice, (5) the 

supervisor’s role in implementing best practices, and 

(6) the supervisor’s role in creating a positive agency 

climate and fostering effective teamwork. The article 

is available for download by request on Research Gate 

(Lawson & Claiborne, 2010) at http://www.researchgate.

net/publication/242690818_A_Planning_Framework_

for_Agencies_Adopting_Team-based_Supervision_and_

Practice_A_Starter_List_of_Operational_Principles_

Along_with_Key_Indicators_of_Their_Implementation. 

Developing Workers’ Interpersonal Skills—ACTION 

for Child Protection developed a guide for supervisors 

that discusses strategies they can use to develop the 

interpersonal skills of their workers. The suggested 

action steps are based on research findings that indicate 

supervisors who are effective at developing workers’ 

interpersonal skills possess certain qualities and 

characteristics, purposefully prepare themselves to coach 

their employees, and use planned and relevant consulting 

and coaching activities. The guide utilizes a case study 

example to demonstrate suggested practices in action. 

Find the guide on the ACTION for Child Protection’s 

website (ACTION for Child Protection, 2010) at http://

www.actionchildprotection.org/documents/2010/pdf/

March_Supervisors_develop_worker_interpersonal_skills.

pdf. 

Supervisory Training Curricula and 

Approaches

Curriculum Overview and Learning Expectations 

Guide for Supervisors—The Florida Department 

of Children and Families published a curriculum 

overview guide aimed at assisting supervisors in 

understanding the depth and scope of preservice 

training content for caseworkers. The guide, which is 

intended to assist supervisors in the training of new 

workers, provides information on learning expectations, 

activities, and useful resources for the certification 

process. Find the guide on Florida’s Center for Child 

Welfare website (Florida Department of Children and 

Families, 2011) at http://centerforchildwelfare2.fmhi.

usf.edu/kb/PreServiceCurriculum/Guide%20for%20

Supervisors_030111.pdf. 

Putting the Pieces Together—This competencybased supervisor curriculum was developed by 

the Butler Institute. It is rooted in self-reflection 

and focuses on the three areas of administrative, 

educational, and supportive supervision. The 

training session is available upon request. For more 

information, visit the website for the Butler Institute 

at http://www.thebutlerinstitute.org/pd/training/

supervisory-training-putting-the-pieces-together/. 

Conclusion

Supervisors are key to achieving positive outcomes 

for children and families, building capacity in the child 

welfare workforce, and ensuring that agencies meet new 

Federal standards. To strengthen supervision and the role 

that supervisors can play in ensuring improved services, 

child welfare agencies will benefit from taking a close 

look at their overall approach to engaging supervisors 

in improvement efforts and how to enhance supervisory 

effectiveness. While there is no one prescription, research 

and practice experience suggest that careful attention 

This material may be freely reproduced and distributed. However, when doing so, please credit Child Welfare Information Gateway. 

This publication is available online at https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/effective-supervision/.
Supervising for Quality Child Welfare Practice https://www.childwelfare.gov

10

be paid to recruitment and selection, training, leadership 

development, the use of a participatory assessment and 

planning approach throughout the agency, and providing 

the organizational supports that enable supervisors to 

not just be part of, but to actually lead the way to more 

consistent, quality practice. 

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Suggested citation:

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2015). Supervising 

for quality child welfare practice. Washington, DC: U.S. 

Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s 

Bureau.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 

Administration for Children and Families 

Administration on Children, Youth and Families 

Children’s Bureau