Charting the attitudes of county child protection staff in a post-crisis environment

• Published in: Children and youth services review 2018-02, Vol.86, p.166-175
• Main Authors: Rochelle, Sharon, Buonanno, Laurie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bureaucracy; Burnout; Caseloads; Child abuse & neglect; Child welfare; Child welfare workers; Children; Compassion; Compassion satisfaction; County government; Crises; Discontent; Fatigue; Imbalance; Labor force; Organizational structure; Organizational support; ProQOL; Protection; Secondary trauma; Social support; Street level bureaucrats; Supervision; Sympathy; Teamwork; Unsafe; Work environment; Work life balance; Workers; Workplaces
• ISSN: 0190-7409; 1873-7765
• DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.01.032

Three children died while in the Erie County Child Protective Services (CPS) system between 2012 and 2014. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to understand the impact on CPS workers in the post-crisis environment. The results of the ProQOL Ver. 5.0 survey we administered to Erie County CPS workers revealed low levels of compassion satisfaction, but surprisingly low levels of burnout and compassion fatigue as well. The qualitative phase of this study, consisting of 10 focus groups, revealed dissatisfaction with continued high caseloads, bureaucratic and punitive agency practices, work-life imbalance, inconsistent and inadequate supervision, unsafe work environments, unappealing office conditions and lack of workplace amenities, weak organizational support, inconsistent procedures and policies, limited opportunities for peer support, and shuffling of work teams with little to no input from CPS workers. We conclude that Erie County's CPS Division adheres to an antiquated machine bureaucracy (top-down) organizational structure which is out of step with efficient and effective management of the contemporary workforce in a field where child abuse and maltreatment is a persistent if not growing problem. •Child protection workers need to be thought of as citizen-servants rather than civil servants.•ProQOL produces disparate results in studies of child welfare workers.•Child protection workers are street-level bureaucrats who desire more control over their workday and decision-making.•Local governments should not assume that well-functioning child protection units can be measured by caseloads.•Coping, supervision, and environmental/organizational factors are key in improving child welfare worker satisfaction.