Keeping Public Child Welfare Workers on the Job

Abstract

Abstract The retention of public child welfare workers is of increasing concern in today's social work job market. This article presents results of a longitudinal study developing predictors of turnover among newly hired public child welfare workers. Comparisons are made between predictors of intention to leave and predictors of actually leaving the job as alternative outcomes. Attitudes of workers in response-to-job conditions are more likely to predict intention to leave than actually leaving. Time to receiving a full caseload, which is under the control of administrators, is an important predictor of leaving the job. Other lessons for administration are discussed. Key Words: Retentionturnoverpublic child welfareadministration