Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision

• assigning ongoing cases to an experienced and a less experienced practitioner as a twomember
team to provide mentoring to the new worker and functional support to the
experienced worker;
• over-hiring so that staff are trained and A serious obstacle for child welfare supervisors
prepared to move into positions as they
is not having a stable staff. Our most
come open
experienced worker in one unit is one year.
• strategies to secure increases in salaries
Supervisors often end up being a 5 th worker
and other benefits such as partnering with
universities and other organizations to
instead of a supervisor. – Administrator
provide non-monetary professional
development opportunities; and
If we can retain workers, it’s better for families.
• other factors documented in the literature
and/or identified through exit interviews,
focus groups, surveys, etc.
– Supervisor
Such plans should also identify and implement a variety of proven recruitment tools, including
realistic job previews (Dickinson 2007) and competency-based
recruitment, pre-screening tools to assess suitability to child If stress isn’t addressed,
welfare and supervision, and regular use of Employee
burnouts are more likely to
Assistance Programs (EAP) to address staff issues related to occur. – Administrator
stress and burnout (such as at team meetings and retreat days)
(Dill 2007).
Identify and examine proven and evolving
recruitment and/or retention strategies. To
support such efforts, the organization should draw
upon information concerning successful recruitment
and/or retention initiatives in several states. For
example, the Delaware Department of Services to
Children, Youth, and Families implemented a range
of workforce initiatives that reduced staff turnover
from 40 to 20 percent in a two-year period. Among
these initiatives is a focus on mentoring and
coaching (Robison 2006). Maine conducted a
“reengineering” study that identified a number of
recommendations to improve retention, including
reducing the time spent by caseworkers on locating
placement for children in custody; providing
recognition and rewards for longevity; authorizing
non-emergency overtime pay; and offering
workshops to help caseworkers bridge the two-three
year transition period (Bernotavicz 1997).
Child welfare liaisons in the state agency
provide policy interpretation, case
consultation, etc. Supervisors have easy
access to that, so that is helpful. However, the
state liaisons are in an authoritative position,
so a good balance to that is the supervisor
mentors. They aren't in positions of authority
over the supervisors, so supervisors can feel
free to ask whatever they want. In addition,
case consultation groups meet monthly,
facilitated by a professor from the local
university. The facilitator comes from outside
the agency chain of authority. Only
supervisors attend, so they are free to discuss
their concerns. These have been great
resources for support. – Administrator
New strategies, such as realistic job previews, and
curricula, are also available providing training to address issues related to recruitment, selection,
and retention of qualified child welfare workers (Brittain 2005; Dickinson 2007).
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