title: Improving the retention of child welfare workers by strengthening skills and increasing support for supervisors.
abstract: Increasingly, effective supervision has been found to be critical in the retention of child welfare workers. In 2006 the State of Missouri Children's Division implemented a supervisory strategic plan to concentrate on supervisory training and effectiveness, with the expectation that emphasis on supervision would improve the retention of frontline workers. Using annual responses to the survey of organizational excellence and retention data, this study examines perceptions of child welfare workers and supervisors on three workplace constructs. Analyses support hypotheses that retention of workers improved in the year following the implementation of the supervisory plan, and measures of supervisor effectiveness, team effectiveness, and job satisfaction also increased. Explanations of primary findings are provided and implications for practice and policy are discussed.
authors.affiliation: The University of Iowa, School of Social Work, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA. lynette-renner@uiowa.edu
authors.forename: Lynette M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Renner
authors.forename: Rebecca L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Preister
mesh_terms: D000288:Administrative Personnel / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008923:Missouri; D010558:Personnel Loyalty; D010563:Personnel Turnover / Q000639:trends*; D011361:Professional Competence; D012944:Social Support; D012947:Social Work / Q000458:organization & administration; D013192:Staff Development / Q000379:methods; D000078329:Workforce