Challenging Assumptions: Using Research to Evaluate Child Welfare Worker Qualifications

Child welfare workers are the conduit between child welfare systems and children and their families. Required qualifications for practice include certain educational and practice experiences, skills, and knowledge. The overall goal of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the child welfare workforce. To meet this goal, the objectives of this dissertation are: 1) to assess the evidence for the necessary education and training qualifications required for child welfare practice; 2) to examine how worker qualifications have shifted in response to changes in child welfare system mandates and child and family needs; and 3) to contribute to the understanding of the role worker characteristics play in the ongoing services provision. Three studies were undertaken to meet the goal of this dissertation. The first paper is a synthesis of a portion of the child welfare workforce literature and reveals a lack of evidence regarding the specific educational background, skills, and experience that best equip child welfare workers for the demands of practice. Paper two is the first provincial study in Canada to examine how the profile of workers who conduct child maltreatment investigations has changed alongside shifts in child welfare legislation and mandate. Ontario data over the past 20 years illustrate changes in caseload size, training attendance, pre-service education, ethnicity, and years of child welfare worker experience. Paper three, the final study of this dissertation, uses multilevel analyses to examine the decision to transfer a family for ongoing services. Findings reveal that clinical and organizational characteristics predict this service provision, whereas worker characteristics (i.e., education, training attendance, experience, age, position, caseload size) did not. Overall findings suggest that there is little empirical evidence to suggest that valued qualifications actually equip workers with the skills and knowledge for effective child welfare practice and that the efficacy of these qualifications are based primarily on assumptions. Recommendations for future research and practice are provided.Ph.D.2020-07-10 00:00:0