Professional development opportunities as retention incentives in child welfare

Sherrill J. Clark, Richard J. Smith and Kazumi Uota

Children and Youth Services Review, 2013, vol. 35, issue 10, 1687-1697

Abstract: This study examined the career paths of 415 Title IV-E MSW graduates in one state retrospectively over 180months post-graduation to discover factors that could be important in affecting retention in public child welfare agencies. The Title IV-E educational program is designed to be a retention strategy at the same time as it is a professionalization strategy. We surmised that perceived organizational support (POS) contributes to retention by acknowledging the workers' needs for career development support. The median survival time for these child welfare social workers was 43months for the first job and 168months for the entire child welfare career. The initial analysis showed steep drops in retention occurred at 24–36months post-graduation, approximately at the end of the Title IV-E work obligation. Upon further examination, Kaplan–Meier tests showed organizational factors relevant to workers' professional career development predicted retention. Having access to continuing education and agency-supported case-focused supervision for licensure were correlated with retention at the 24–36month post-graduation mark. At 72months post-graduation, promotion to supervisor was a significant factor found to encourage retention. Being a field instructor for MSW students and being promoted to a managerial position were not significantly related to retention.

Keywords: Child welfare; Social work; Retention; Survival analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:35:y:2013:i:10:p:1687-1697

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.07.006

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