Calculating child welfare separation, replacement, and training costs

Across the country, incoming child welfare caseworkers have an average tenure of 2 years, and states are being evaluated on the quality of caseworker training programs and their ability to provide child welfare services that meet federally mandated outcomes. Policy makers do not know the cost of wor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social work in public health 2008, Vol.23 (6), p.39-54
Main Authors: Dorch, Edwina, McCarthy, Mary L, Denofrio, Daniel
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
benefits
Berufsbegleitende Ausbildung
Career Mobility
Child
Child Welfare
Child Welfare Services
cost
Costs
Costs and Cost Analysis - methods
Health administration
Humans
Kind
Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse
Labor Turnover
Models, Organizational
New England
Personnel Selection - economics
Professional Training
retention
Social Work - economics
Social Work - education
Social Workers
Sozialer Beruf
Staff Development
Title IV-E
training
turnover
USA
workforce
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Summary:Across the country, incoming child welfare caseworkers have an average tenure of 2 years, and states are being evaluated on the quality of caseworker training programs and their ability to provide child welfare services that meet federally mandated outcomes. Policy makers do not know the cost of workforce turnover and replacement or the cost of training child welfare workers. The objectives of the study were to (1) obtain the separation, replacement, and training (SRT) costs for four counties in a major Northeastern state; (2) compare the SRT costs for the three different child welfare pre-service training models; (3) incorporate hidden intercounty transfer and tuition reimbursement cost; and (4) extrapolate the four-county average SRT costs to statewide average SRT costs. Results revealed that one pre-service training model was more than the state tuition for a 4-year bachelor's degree. Further, additional costs were incurred if new caseworkers transferred to another county and/or used Title IV-B tuition reimbursement funds in the first few years of employment.
ISSN:1937-1918
1937-190X
DOI:10.1080/19371910802059585