Survey Overview and Summary of Findings

Professional workers in child welfare agencies across the country assume an enormous responsibility. For too many of our nation’s children, child welfare workers represent their greatest, and perhaps last, chance to be safe -- safe from their own parents. Why parents neglect and physically or emotionally abuse their children is a complex question, beyond the scope of this survey. But whatever the cause, by the time these workers enter the life of a child at risk, the child’s health and safety is severely in jeopardy.

The workers who are the subject of this survey have an incredibly daunting job. They investigate allegations of abuse and neglect and make determinations regarding whether or not children should be removed from their families’ homes. They provide ongoing protective services to families whose children are at risk of being removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect -- helping to arrange for services ranging from substance abuse and mental health counseling to homemaker services and respite care to after school programs and physical exams, or whatever else a family may need. They work with families and children who have been placed in foster care, in an effort to reunify the family, if possible, or to terminate parental rights and find an adoptive home for the child, if not. They recruit and train foster and adoptive parents. They develop case plans, fill out myriad forms and appear regularly in court. In the course of their work, they often must travel in unsafe neighborhoods and deal with angry parents and troubled children. . . The list goes on.

In order to learn more about the conditions under which child welfare workers must accomplish such tasks, the Public Policy Department at AFSCME has surveyed AFSCME affiliates which represent professional child welfare workers. Not only does this survey represent the first time any organization has undertaken to detail workers’ perspectives on the child welfare system, it also represents the first national survey of any kind for many of the issues addressed. In addition to painting a clearer picture of the roughly 13,380 child welfare workers represented by 29 AFSCME affiliates in 10 states which responded to the survey and the systemic problems they face, the survey also highlights some of the creative solutions developed by AFSCME affiliates.

The survey covers such issues as salaries and qualifications, caseloads, training, and violence in the workplace. The results are alarming. Confirming the reports which workers have been making informally for years, the survey found:

• Violence in the workplace and in the neighborhoods where workers must go is a serious problem. Over 70% of the affiliates responding to the survey reported that front-line workers in their agencies have been victims of violence or threats of violence in the line of duty.
• Workers in well over half of the child welfare agencies represented in the survey carry average caseloads which exceed the recommended guidelines published by the Child Welfare League of America. Over 60% of the affiliates reported an increase in caseloads in recent years. Under 15% reported that caseloads have not risen.
• Time spent in court, filling out paper work and other documentation, and attending staff and case meetings consumes a sizable chunk of the workers’ time, making it even more difficult for them to meet the demands of their heavy caseloads.
• The wages paid these professional workers -- virtually all of whom must have a minimum of four years of college -- are not commensurate with the job demanded of them. Most entry level salaries fall in the mid-$20,000 range.
• Training for many workers is inadequate, and workers lack a voice in shaping the training received.

A discussion of the survey results is presented below. The appendix contains tables and charts which break down the results presented in more detail.