• Realistic Job Preview Video Gallery
  Realistic Job Preview (RJP) videos are now live on Child Welfare Information Gateway. Videos and materials from over 15 State and county child welfare agencies provide an overview of what RJPs are and various ways they can be used to screen, select, and retain potential child welfare staff. The RJP video gallery, an addition to the Learning Center, was created through a collaborative effort with the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI).
  
  
• Child Welfare Matters Newsletter: Coaching in Child Welfare
  This issue of Child Welfare Matters, the newsletter of the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement (NRCOI), provides information on a growing trend in child welfare – using managers, supervisors, peers, trainers, and others to coach staff. This issue highlights seven key components of coaching programs, illustrated by examples from current coaching initiatives in child welfare. It also offers a brief definition of coaching and the coaching process, profiles the experience of one participant in the Leadership Academy for Middle Managers (LAMM) coaching program, and provides links to coaching resources. (Summer 2012)

• Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision
  The National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning and the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement jointly developed this resource, "Building A Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision" at the request of the Children's Bureau to examine the responsibilities and needs of supervisory staff and develop an organizational framework to support effective child welfare supervision. The resulting document is intended to serve as a roadmap for agency leaders as they think through ways to build and sustain effective child welfare supervision in their agencies. It is a state of the art compendium of an emerging model of supervision in child welfare and ideas and practices that, if implemented by agency leadership, can radically improve the ability of supervisors and the agencies that employ them to serve the needs of children and families in their cities, states and tribes.
  
  
• Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision: NRCOI Fact Sheet
  This two page fact sheet from the National Resource Center for Organizational Improvement provides as overview of the document, "Building a Model and Framework for Child Welfare Supervision." (See the resource above for more information and to access the document.)This fact sheet introduces the elements of an emerging model of supervision in child welfare and the components of an integrated organizational framework that empowers child welfare supervisors to effectively carry out their administrative, educational, and supportive functions.
  
  
• The Western Regional Recruitment and Retention Project: Final Report
  The purpose of the Western Regional Recruitment and Retention Project (WRRRP) was to develop, field test, revise, implement, evaluate, and disseminate effective and comprehensive training models for recruiting and retaining a competent work force in public child welfare agencies in four states in the Rocky Mountain Region. Ultimately, the project served five sites in three states representing both urban and rural locations. Major findings of the project include: Both Burnout and Job Satisfaction were significant predictors of Intent to Stay in both 2004 and 2006 data; Factors that significantly predicted Burnout in 2006 included: Child Welfare Stress: Time (Increases Burnout); Motivation (Decreases Burnout); Supervisory Support (Decreases Burnout); Promotional Opportunities (Decreases Burnout); Factors that significantly predicted job satisfaction were: Motivation; Promotional Opportunities; and Supervisory Support; and Positive changes were found in work environment across the two years in several important scales measuring areas that were the focus of site planning and intervention. Focus group discussions reinforce these findings. (2009)
  
  
• Supervision: The Key to Strengthening Practice in Child Welfare
  The Winter 2009 issue of the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare’s journal, CASCW Practice Notes, focuses on the pivotal role supervisors play in assuring best practices are implemented in child welfare services. It includes articles that address: common tasks of the supervisor; different functions of a supervisor; how supervisors can boost the morale of workers; support for supervisors; the SOAP (Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan) documentation style for supervisors; supervision and the beginning social worker; cultural competency and group supervision; reflective supervision and the supervisor as change agent; managing situations when the worker is not a good fit; and ethical considerations in supervision. (2009)
  
  
• Ensuring Quality in Contracted Child Welfare Services
  The purpose of this paper is to assist public agency child welfare administrators to better monitor and assure quality of contracted services within the context of the agency’s overall quality assurance/improvement system. This paper explains the importance of planning contract monitoring and accountability systems and training staff to be effective contract monitors. It describes the types of monitoring activities, as well as methods for collecting and using monitoring information. The paper provides examples of some of the decisions that must be made about what will be measured, and how child welfare agencies have worked collaboratively with providers to develop realistic and constructive approaches to contract monitoring. (2008)
  
  
• Caseload and Workload Management
  This resource from the Child Welfare Information Gateway discusses the problems of large caseloads and workloads for child welfare workers and examines the benefits of caseload and workload management. Catalysts and motivating factors for managing caseloads and workloads are reviewed in the context of workload studies and other tools. Strategies for caseload and workload management are provided, along with State and local examples of caseload and workload strategies. Links to organizations and resources are included. (2010)
  
  
• Child Welfare Workload Compendium
  Child Welfare Information Gateway's Child Welfare Workload Compendium, a searchable database of State and local child welfare workload initiatives, was created to help public child welfare managers, administrators, and policymakers address workload issues by providing information and tools to improve workload management.

• Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice
  To further our understanding of the complex and crucial role of supervisors in child welfare, the Social Work Policy Institute (SWPI) of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) convened an invitational symposium, Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice, on November 18, 2010. The full report from the symposium including an overview of research on child welfare supervision, and recommendations for action, as well as an Action Brief, can be downloaded from the link above. Videos of the presentations (and accompanying PowerPoints) are also available, as well as information about how social workers can earn CEUs from viewing the videos and purchasing a post-test.
  
  

Trainings and Training Curricula

• Results Oriented Management in Child Welfare
  This free web-based training for child welfare managers and supervisors consists of 21 separate interactive modules. It covers: using outcome data to inform and target program improvement efforts; understanding and interpreting outcomes performance data; developing effective action plans; establishing a results-oriented organizational culture; learning what the research literature says about factors impacting outcome attainment; and understanding the outcome oriented policy context.

• Supervising for Comprehensive Relative Identification and Exploration This document is a supervisor curriculum developed by the University of Southern Maine that focuses on identification of relatives of children involved in child welfare services. The goal of the training is to increase the overall OCFS practice in identifying and exploring relatives for each and every child involved with child welfare services so that every child has lifetime family connections even in situations where children cannot live with family members. Supervisors are the most important link between policies and practice and improving the lives of the children and families we serve. Management relies on the direct line Supervisors to carry out the mission of the agency, which joins with families and the community to promote long-term safety, well-being, and permanent families for children. Supervisors are responsible for not only knowing the laws and policies but also for ensuring that staff are carrying them out in a way that is consistent with agency beliefs. This training works to develop the skills of supervisors in meeting the needs of both the children and the staff that they serve. (January 2009)

• Key to Success: Transfer of Learning: A Tool for Child Welfare Supervisors
  Transfer of Learning (TOL) is the application of skills and knowledge learned in one context (the classroom) and applied to another context (the job). Research shows that successful TOL will result in a higher level of performance and increased quality of services provided to clients. Also, staff that performs better on the job is more motivated to stay on the job. This tool has been developed to assist supervisors in planning activities for new child welfare workers that will apply classroom skills and knowledge on the job. It is a guide and intended to supplement on the job training. Included in each section of the standardized Core classes are: competencies and learning objectives; suggested TOL activities for you to review and/or assign to new staff, and; supporting handouts. This tool for child welfare social workers is California’s standardized social worker core curriculum; the curriculum is authored by Nancy Kail and is available from the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC). (March 2009)
  

• Performance Management: Linking Individual Performance to Agency Outcomes
  This document, from the Child Welfare Training Institute, is a supervisor curriculum developed by the University of Southern Maine that focuses on Performance Management and the connection between individual performance and agency outcomes. The goal of the training is for supervisors to learn to promote the use of consistent performance management, evaluation and professional development to achieve agency goals related to safety, permanency and well-being. The Curriculum teaches supervisors about performance management as a balance between encouraging professional growth and holding workers accountable for achieving agency outcomes. Supervisors learn about performance management as an ongoing process, and learn sources and assessment tools to use for analyzing worker strengths and weaknesses. The training also emphasizes ways to provide ongoing feedback, and conduct effective performance evaluation reviews. (2008)

• Ethics in Child Welfare Supervision
  This free online training module is available through the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare at the University of Minnesota. The training, comprised of three sections, provides general information on ethics, ethical dilemmas and ethical decision making with a focus on ethics in child welfare supervision. It also describes an ethical rules screen to be used in decision making in supervision. The option of earning Continuing Education Hours is available – this requires a processing fee.  (2009)

Information Packet

• Quality Assurance Systems in Child Welfare by Teija Sudol (May 2009)

Websites

• Child Welfare Information Gateway: Management and Supervision Webpage
  This section of the Child Welfare Information Gateway website provides the resources that help child welfare managers and supervisors provide effective leadership and build and maintain a skilled workforce. This webpage addresses a vast array of topics relevant to the delivery of effective child welfare services, which include: Administering and Managing Child Welfare Agencies and Programs; Ethical Practice and Client Rights; Evaluating Program, Practice, and Service Effectiveness; Disaster Preparedness and Response; Funding; Information Systems and Data; Service Improvement; Supervising Child Welfare Services; System Reform; Training; and, Workforce.

• NRCOI Supervisor Training  Project Website
  Earlier this year, the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Organizational Improvement (NRCOI) began collecting information on how States train and support Child Welfare Supervisors. They reached out to all States asking that a representative from their child welfare training staff participate in a one-hour phone interview, and 34 States participated in this process. Information on the current approaches these States are taking has been compiled on this website, along with any available curricula and materials. NRCOI hopes that both State agencies and the Children’s Bureau T/TA Network will use this information to generate training ideas and to understand how other States approach supervision training and support.