The QIC-WD is wrapping up its first survey of public child welfare agency directors. We know that staff recruitment and retention are persistent challenges for many child welfare agencies. What we don’t know is all the current initiatives and efforts in place across the county to address these challenges. The QIC-WD is conducting a national public child welfare workforce trends survey to learn more about what is currently being done in the field.
Ultimately, our goal is to identify workforce policies, practices, challenges, successes, and priorities. Through a series of surveys, we will collect data on topics such as workforce demographics; turnover and vacancy rates; and hiring, recruiting, and retention strategies. We will use this information to summarize emerging trends in the child welfare workforce.
Participation in this survey, and future surveys, will help answer pressing questions about common recruitment and retention challenges. The QIC-WD is seeking involvement from key personnel in state and county child welfare agencies. All the information gathered will be summarized to identify trends and will not be linked to particular states or agencies, unless the agency permits the QIC-WD to highlight their work. Together we can build a much-needed compendium of the HR strategies and practices from child welfare agencies across the country. If you are a public child welfare or HR director, please take our survey!