Caseworker Experiences Working in the Child Welfare System by Tenure

Tenure: 

• More than one third (36.1%) of caseworkers reported working as a caseworker in their agency for 2 years or less, 34.1% for 3—5 years, and 29.8% for 6 years or more.  

Physical Safety: 

• There were no significant differences among caseworkers who reported ever being threatened or assaulted during interactions with clients by caseworker agency tenure. A smaller proportion of caseworkers with 2 years or less at their agency reported ever encountering threats to their physical safety (threatened or assaulted) during interactions with clients compared to those with more seniority (49.7% for caseworkers with 2 years or less at their agency vs. 76.1% for those with 3—5 years, and 78.8% for those with 6 years or more).  

• Caseworkers who reported experiencing a threat or assault during client interactions were asked whether any such incidents occurred within the past year. A statistically significant difference emerged based on caseworker tenure (p < .05) for incidents that occurred in the past year. Among caseworkers with 2 years or less, 84.1% reported a threat or assault within the past year; 76.0% of caseworkers with 3—5 years, and 43.7% of caseworkers 6 years or more at their agency reported a threat or assault during client interactions in the past year. 

Work-Life Balance: 

• Caseworkers were surveyed about the extent to which their job interferes with their family life. There were statistically significant differences for reported work-life balance by tenure (p < 0.05), with most of the caseworkers with 6 years or more of tenure indicating that their job interferes with their family life to “a great extent” or “a very great extent.” The significant differences are primarily driven by caseworkers with 3—5 years reporting having a better work-life balance than caseworkers with 6 years or more of tenure (p < 0.01).  

Quality of Caseworker Relationship With Their Supervisor: 

• Approximately 90.0% of caseworkers with 2 years or less at their agency, 70.2% of caseworkers with 3—5 years, and 71.4% of caseworkers with 6 years or more had a “high” or “very high” total score on a relationship quality measure between caseworkers and supervisors.  

Perceived Preparedness:  

• There was variation in caseworkers’ perceived preparedness across all aspects of their work—such as making decisions about family services and identifying dynamics and indicators of abuse—by caseworker tenure at agency, though very few caseworkers reported feeling poorly prepared to conduct any of the work activities assessed. 

Benefits, Compensation, and Recognition: 

• Findings showed statistically significant differences in reported access to specific benefits by caseworker tenure, including childcare assistance (p < 0.05), flexible work hours or location (p < 0.001), option to join a union (p < 0.01), and current union membership (p < 0.001). 

Job Commitment and Career Plans:  

• High levels of job commitment were reported by all caseworkers, regardless of tenure. The majority of caseworkers reported that they were “very likely” to be working at their current agency a year from now across all three levels of tenure. 

• Among caseworkers that were “not likely” or only “somewhat likely” to be working at their agency in a year, there were significant differences in future career plans by tenure: 63.3% of caseworkers with 3—5 years of tenure reported plans to continue a career in social work if they left their agency, in contrast with 47.8% of those with 2 years or less (p < 0.05).