RE: Child Welfare Caseworker Training

["Mayer, Pam" <pmayer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

You are right....but states still have to come up with match money for the
IV-E funding and many states have tightened budgets so there is no deep
pocket for the match--unfortunately, Pam

-----Original Message-----
From: Sandy Devos [mailto:devoss@dcfs.co.la.ca.us]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 11:08 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: RE: Child Welfare Caseworker Training


Funding for training is not the issue.  Title IV-E Federal funding is
available.  The issue especially for newly hired caseworkers is more how to
balance theoretical concepts with practice and have it tie into the daily
task of the job.  Training is not the end all, quality supervision and
support on the job is equally or more important to retention.   Much of the
learning/training cannot occur without practice experience with cases. 
-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Devere [mailto:CDEVERE@crs.loc.gov]
Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2001 7:00 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: Child Welfare Caseworker Training


Within the past 12 months, there were a number of emails to this list-serv
that provided information on child welfare caseworkers that illustrate the
importance of training for child welfare caseworkers.  I'm wondering whether
anyone is aware of information on whether states have adequate resources to
provide training for caseworkers.  Specifically, I'm interested in
identifying any attempts there have been to actually quantify this issue.
There's a lot of information on turnover and vacancy rates in the child
welfare workforce, but a question that's been difficult to answer has been
1) what role does lack of training play in retention issues and 2) has there
been a lack of training due to a lack of funding at the state level?  

Thanks in advance for your help -

Christine Devere
Analyst in Social Legislation
Congressional Research Service
101 Independence Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20540-7440
cdevere@crs.loc.gov