Topic: Child Welfare Workforce Development and Support Programs
Definition for Child Welfare Workforce Development and Support Programs:
Child Welfare Workforce Development and Support Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs, interventions, and practices that assist with the recruitment, selection, development, and support of a diverse, skilled, and effective child welfare workforce to improve staff practice and retention. Programs may address the recruitment, selection, and hiring of new child welfare staff and/or the education, training, supervision, support, retention and leadership development of new and ongoing child welfare staff. Programs may also address methods for assessing and improving the workplace environment to make it more supportive of effective child welfare practice. In addition, programs may involve components and elements designed to: 1) mitigate and reduce work-related stress and trauma, 2) improve worker satisfaction, and 3) increase staff retention.
- Target population: Child welfare staff and practitioners (e.g., support staff, caseworkers, social workers, supervisors, managers, administrators, directors, etc.)
- Services/types that fit: Professional development, education, training, coaching and mentoring, supervision, individual and group interventions, incentive and reward programs, as well as programs to address organizational factors, agency climate, leadership development, supervision practices, career ladders, and caseload/workload reduction
- Delivered by: Child welfare professionals, trainers, educators, supervisors, clinicians, trained paraprofessionals
- In order to be included: Program must specifically target the recruitment, selection, development, support, retention, and/or leadership of Child Welfare staff as a goal.
- In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines outcomes, such as improvement in child welfare workforce, performance, satisfaction, or retention or the knowledge or skills of the child welfare workforce.
Programs in this Topic Area
The programs listed below have been reviewed by the CEBC and, if appropriate, been rated using the Scientific Rating Scale.
Topic Expert
The Child Welfare Workforce Development and Support Programs topic area was added in 2017. Robin Leake, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2017 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2017 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Leake was not involved in identifying or rating them.
