Re: Child Welfare Caseworker Training

Subject: Re: Child Welfare Caseworker Training
From: "Jason McCrory" <jmccrory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 25 May 2001 12:14:48 -0500
Message-tag: 2621

At 10:00 AM 5/24/01 -0400, you wrote:

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?

I'm with the Protective Services Training Institute of Texas, a collaboration of schools of social work providing training and certification to staff of the statewide CPS agency.

I don't know who may be tracking the topic -- although CWLA may be a place to look, since they do a salary study on a regular basis. Another potential lead is the National Staff Development and Training Association, NSDTA, http://www.buffalostate.edu/~nsdta/. APHSA has done some recent studies on the workforce, but I don't know if training was considered... http://www.aphsa.org/

The interaction between training and retention seems complex, to say the least -- as other members of the listserve have begun to point out. A TDPRS study on worker retention in the agency back in 1993 (n=1500 CPS and APS staff) showed that workload and a perceived lack of supervisor support were the factors most associated with worker decisions to leave. Other important reasons were pay/benefit factors, role conflict, and in general, the challenges of working in a bureaucratic environment.

The largest percentage of "Reasons to Stay" were in the area of job satisfaction, pay/benefits, work environment, job stability, and co-workers.

Interestingly, in the summary of the report I am looking at, training is not mentioned among the major response categories for Reasons for Quitting, Reasons to Stay, or Suggestions for Improvement.

Certainly, training is only one factor in the support an agency gives its staff to help them perform as professionals. Texas CPS experienced serious retention problems in the late 90s (annual turnover in the 40+ % range in some regions), and in response has implemented a broad strategy of training, certification, promotion, salary increases, and reducing the supervisor span of control. I think this is much more likely to be effective than training alone as a turnover remedy. Still, during the recent good economic times with low unemployment rates, it has been difficult for CPS to recruit competitively, even with other public sector employers.

I have heard one interesting theory that, if true, would confound the attempt to establish a direct relationship between training and retention: Some who want a human services career see CPS as a great place to get solid training and a good ground of experience for a few years, but then they plan to put that on their resume as "time in the trenches" and leave the agency for less demanding human services positions that pay more. In other words -- the better trained they are, the more prepared they are to take a different job.

Jason McCrory

The Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory services (
<http://www.tdprs.state.tx.us/> http://www.tdprs.state.tx.us/) conducted a
media campaign on this issue a few years ago and produced posters and such
to educate people. Here in Texas, the focus was on how hot the car can
quickly become.

Susan Mapp, LMSW
DePelchin Children's Center
Houston, TX

-----Original Message-----
From: Christine Walsh [mailto:walshc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2001 8:09 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: Abandonment of Children in Cars

Is any one aware of literature regarding the health consequences of children
being left unattended in cars. Is there any information available on
preventative measures that address this issue?

Christine Walsh
Canadian Centre for Studies of Children at Risk
Patterson Building
Chedoke-McMaster Hospitals
1200 Main Street West
Hamilton, Ontario
Canada L8N 3Z5
Tel: (905) 521-2100 ext. 74357
Fax: (905) 574-6665
Email: walshc@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:walshc@xxxxxxxxxxx>

>From ???@??? Fri Aug 31 09:34:48 2001
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To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
From: Jason McCrory
Subject: protective services/child welfare web resources
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Colleagues,

I maintain a list of more than 500 websites and web resources related to protective services on the website for the Protective Services Training Institute of Texas. I invite you to visit our site some time at
http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/psti

To go to the links, click on Links in the left column.

Note that many of the sites we list have great links listings themselves. Links lead to links lead to links!

I also welcome "nominations" for additions to my links lists. Please send any suggestions to me back-channel at < jmccrory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >.

Best wishes,
Jason McCrory

|||||    Jason McCrory MSSW
|||||    Project Coordinator
|||||    Protective Services Training Institute of Texas
|||||    UT-Austin School of Social Work
|||||    1925 San Jacinto ~ Austin, TX 78712-1203
|||||    (512) 471-5743 ~ fax (512) 232-9585
|||||    jmccrory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||||| http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/psti >From ???@??? Fri Aug 31 09:34:48 2001
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To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
From: Jason McCrory
Subject: Re: Vicarious worker trauma
In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.1.20010806130800.00aab420@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
References: <200107311116.f6VBGFZ04766@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

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Kym and colleagues,

Sorry for the delay in making this response.

1. I'm with the Protective Services Training Institute of Texas. We did a newsletter for CPS staff on compassion fatigue, at:
http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/psti/newsletter/index.html

Our most recent issue, with a feature article on "Coping with Death in the Workplace', should be posted to the website by mid-September.

2. You may also check these excellent newsletters done in North Carolina for information of interest, for CPS staff:
http://www.sowo.unc.edu/fcrp/Cspn/cspn.htm

...and for foster parents:
http://ssw.unc.edu/fcrp/fp/

3. We have the following websites listed on our links list, of more or less relevance. But look around each, if only to check out their own links lists. Most of these do have some reference to secondary traumatization somewhere:

http://www.cpd.fsu.edu/humanserv/trama.html

http://www.tsicaap.com/

http://www.sidran.org/index.html

http://www.ncptsd.org/index.html

http://www.istss.org/

http://www.trauma-pages.com/

4. We present a one-day course to Texas CPS staff called "Reducing the Emotional Cost of Caring." Write back if you are interested in more info on the course.

Best wishes,
Jason McCrory

At 01:13 PM 8/6/01 +1000, you wrote:

Dear fellow list-members,
Has anyone any information and/or 'immunisation' tips for case-workers in regard to vicarious trauma (ie becoming traumatised from hearing/witnessing the trauma of clients). I have a paper by Mark Horwitz (1998) that addresses this to some extent but would other input
Regards,
Kym
Regards,

Kym.

Kym Kilpatrick, Ph.D.,                     e-mail: kkilpatr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Psychology Department,             phone: + 61 67 73-2568
University of New England,         fax:   + 61 67 73-3820
Armidale NSW 2351, Australia

>From ???@??? Mon Sep 10 11:23:10 2001
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To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
From: Jason McCrory
Subject: help with contacts, please
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Listserve Colleagues,

One of my colleagues may soon be involved in a project to develop recommendations for enhancement of a state's child welfare system. Who would you suggest as contacts who are veterans of other court-ordered state child welfare system reviews?

Thanks,
Jason McCrory

|||||    Jason McCrory MSSW
|||||    Project Coordinator
|||||    Protective Services Training Institute of Texas
|||||    UT-Austin School of Social Work
|||||    1925 San Jacinto ~ Austin, TX 78712-1203
|||||    (512) 471-5743 ~ fax (512) 232-9585
|||||    jmccrory@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
||||| http://www.utexas.edu/ssw/psti >From ???@??? Mon Aug 14 13:25:05 2000
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To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 10:28:32 -0600
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On 14 Aug 2000, at 10:57, E. Michael Bohlig wrote:

> Hi all,
> I am a graduate student in Educational Psychology at the University of
> North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My dissertation involves the use of item
> response theory and structural equation modeling to demonstrate a
> process for shortening assessment instruments that maintains the
> dimensionality and validity of the original instrument with minimal
> impact on reliability. In my proposal I have stated that, while
> teachers assessment of behavioral and emotional problems are an
> important component of the evaluation and treatment planning process,
> teacher response rates are disappointingly low. Having made this
> statement, however, I do not have any data to substantiate it.
>
> I would be very grateful if list members could share with me your
> experiences. I would like to collect the following information:

My experiences contradict your statement about teachers. Teachers I have
known are willing to fill out any inventory I ask of them, as often as I ask
(up to daily for short periods), as long as they believe that the information will
help them work with their students. Teachers may feel less willing to help just
for the sake of research. I've had much more difficulty with administrators
who want to judge every word and punctuation mark before letting a form be
administered for research purposes.

Jody Crowley

>
> 1) Sample size and number of teachers responding,
> 2) Assessment instrument used
> 3) Incentives offered to teachers to complete the assessment
> instrument, if any.
>
> After I compile this information I will share the results with the list.
>
> Thanks in advance for your generous assistance.
> Sincerely,
> Michael Bohlig.
>
> --
>
> E. Michael Bohlig (m.bohlig@xxxxxxx)
> 306 Rushingwater Dr.
> Cary, NC 27513
> Phone: 919-460-6850
>

Joan (Jody) Crowley
Assistant Professor
Department of Criminal Justice
New Mexico State University
Box 30001, MSC 3487
Las Cruces, NM 88003-0001
505-646-5376
Fax 505-646-2827

Follow-Ups:
- Re: Child Welfare Caseworker Training
  - From: John Kriger

References:
- Child Welfare Caseworker Training
  - From: Christine Devere

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