NCJ Number
236232
Journal
Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 35 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2011 Pages: 582-591
Date Published
August 2011
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study explored the association between organizational climate, casework services, and youth outcomes in child welfare systems.
Abstract
The study found that maltreated children involved with child welfare systems that had more engaged organizational climates experienced lower levels of problem behaviors over the longer term. This finding was significant after controlling for family income, child demographic variables, level of maltreatment, and location of the family (urban versus rural). The study also found that quantity and quality of casework services did not interact with the organizational climate of the welfare systems to affect the outcomes of the children involved with the system. This study explored whether a welfare system's organizational climate and the quantity and quality of its casework services affected the long-term outcomes of maltreated youth involved with the system. Data for the study were obtained from a nationwide sample of 1,678 youth aged 4 to 16 who participated in the Survey of child and Adolescent Well-being (NSCAW). The sample also included 1,696 caseworkers from 88 child welfare systems. Hierarchical linear models analyses were applied from all five waves of the survey to determine the effect of organizational climate and quantity and quality of casework services on the long-term outcomes of the youth. The findings indicate that organizational climate is an important factor in improving the long-term outcomes of maltreated youth involved with the child welfare system. Implications for future research are discussed. Figure, tables, and references