Child Welfare System Agency Organizational Culture and Climate

Nationally representative data on the organizational cultures, climates, and morale of child welfare agencies and caseworkers during the period of 2021 to 2022 demonstrated considerable variation of key organizational factors that can influence child welfare caseworkers and their relationships with the children and families they serve. While the organizational culture, climate, and morale T-scores varied considerably across agencies and caseworkers, the mean T-scores were within the normal ranges of nationally normed scores for several OSC scales, including rigid and resistant cultures, functional and stressful climates, and caseworker morale. Additional key findings include (but are not limited to): 

• Organizational Culture measures the extent that an organization’s behavioral expectations guide the way that work is completed by employees. The organizational cultures of child welfare agencies were assessed using three scales — proficiency, rigidity, and resistance.
  • The proficiency scale T-scores of child welfare agencies ranged from 10.0 to 59.0, with less than half (46.9%) of agencies in the normal range of T-scores (i.e., T-scores between 40 and 60). The mean T-score was 33.7 and nearly 2 standard deviations lower than the national-normed T-score of 50.0, indicating a substantially lower level of proficient cultures among child welfare agencies.
  • The rigidity scale T-scores of child welfare agencies ranged from 21.5 to 89.4. The mean T-score was 49.1, indicating a normal level of rigid cultures among child welfare agencies.
  • The resistance scale T-scores of child welfare agencies ranged from 21.0 to 83.0. The mean T-score was 42.3, indicating a level of resistant cultures within national norms among child welfare agencies.
• Organizational Climate measures the extent that employees perceive that their organization’s work environment impacts their personal well-being and functioning. The organizational climates of child welfare agencies were assessed using three OSC scales — engagement, functionality, and stress.
  • The engagement scale T-scores of child welfare agencies ranged from 10.0 to 60.2, with 53.1% of agencies in the normal range. The mean T-score value was 38.1, indicating that child welfare agencies, on average, were slightly lower than national norms for engaged climates.
  • The functionality scale T-scores ranged from 28.6 to 70.4, with 56.3% of child welfare agencies in the normal range. The mean T-score value was 46.1, indicating that child welfare agencies had functional climates that were similar to national norms.
  • The stress scale T-scores of child welfare agencies ranged from 11.1 to 73.9. The mean T-score value was 43.4, indicating that child welfare agencies had normal levels of stressful climates.
• Morale measures the satisfaction of employees with their jobs and their feelings of commitment to the organization.
  • The morale T-scores of caseworkers ranged from 18.6 to 70.7, indicating considerable variation in caseworker morale. More than 60% of caseworker morale scores were within the normal range, and a mean T-score of 45.8 indicates that morale within child welfare agencies, on average, was similar to national norms. 

T-scores for the NSCAW III agencies that contributed OSC data were constructed using a normative sample of NSCAW II child welfare agencies, with the means and standard deviations of the normative sample used to calculate T-scores. The resulting T-scores range from 1 to 99, with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. The normal range of OSC T-scores, where most child welfare agencies fall, is between 40 and 60.  

This brief summarizes the results of descriptive analyses related to the organizational cultures, organizational climates, and morale of the 159 caseworkers representing 32 child welfare agencies (representing 86.9% and 66.6%, respectively, of the NSCAW III Workforce sample) that had valid OSC scores.