Supporting child welfare supervisors to improve worker retention.

Recent child welfare research has identified supervisors as key to retaining qualified and committed workers. This paper describes implementation of a federally funded child welfare training initiative designed to improve worker retention largely through developing, implementing, and evaluating a statewide supervisor training program in a Midwestern state. Unique to this collaborative effort was involving all child welfare supervisors in identifying needed content components, developing competencies, and conducting self-assessments. The challenge of recruiting and retaining qualified and committed employees in public child welfare agencies has long been a topic of concern (Russell, 1987; Kamerman & Kahn, 1989; Gibelman & Schervish, 1996; Hopkins, Mudrick, & Rudolph, 1999; Alwon & Reitz, 2000; Pecora, Whittaker, Maluccio, & Barth, 2000; Child Welfare League of America, 2001). The performance demands on public child welfare agencies continue to increase, despite the documented trend over two decades toward the deskilling of public social services, including child welfare (Pecora & Austin, 1983; Vinokur-Kaplan & Hartman, 1986; lieberman, Hornby, & Russell, 1988; Hopkins et al., 1999; Pecora et al., 2000; Dickinson & Perry, 2002). Currently greater federal oversight over state agency performance exists than ever before; child welfare policy under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 requires more expeditious resolving permanency and safety than previous policy; and public child welfare agencies are serving families with greater and more complex needs in the face of reduced agency resources. Thus it is no surprise that the workforce challenge continues, though the emphasis is changing from a focus on turnover to one of retention. This is in line with the direction current research is taking on the public child welfare workforce. Researchers are now considering how the structural conditions of work and the organizational environment affect retention in public child welfare agencies (Glisson & Durick, 1988; Vinokur-Kaplan, Jayaratne, & Chess, 1984; Landsman, 2001), a significant departure from studies which focused primarily on burnout or turnover using frameworks of psychological stress and distress (for example, Harrison 1980; Jayaratne & Chess, 1984, 1986; Norvell, Walden, Gettelman, & Murrin, 1993; Drake & Yadama, 1996). Current research indicates that many of the factors that affect the ability to recruit and retain staff have more to do with supervision and organizational issues in public child welfare agencies than with the attributes of their staff. In particular, studies have found that support from supervisors is positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and intentions to stay in child welfare (Rycraft, 1994; Landsman, 2001; Dickinson & Perry, 2002; U.S. General Accountability Office, 2003; Smith, 2005). Despite the key role attributed to supervisors in staff retention, few training resources have been available for supervisors and managers. Among organizational factors influencing retention noted in current research are salary (Dickinson & Perry, 2002; Ellett, Ellett, & Rugutt, 2003); workload (Bernotavicz, 1997; Landsman, 2001; Dickinson & Perry, 2002; Scannapieco & ConnellCarrick, 2003; U.S. GAO, 2003); safety (U.S. GAO, 2003); coworker support (Nissly, Mor Barak, & Levin, 2005); promotional opportunities (Landsman, 2001); and role conflict (Mor Barak, Nissly, & Levin, 2001). Research on the role of supervisors has identified supervisors as key to helping their child welfare workers develop knowledge and skills that they apply on the job (Gleeson, 1992). Given combining factors including the cutbacks in training resources within many state agencies (Fox & Burnham, 1997) and the dearth of preservice training programs for child welfare workers (Breitenstein & Rycus, 1997), the supervisor's responsibility in providing onthe-job training for staff has likely increased in recent years. …