Alice A. Lieberman

Assessing the role of agency services in reducing adoption disruptions

Abstract Successful placement of special needs children in adoptive homes presents a challenge to the child welfare worker. Identification of factors which predict placement outcomes can lead to more effective practices. The reported study examined data from six agencies for 235 placements, 27 percent of which resulted in disruptions or dissolutions. Findings indicate that disruptions are more a function of factors related to the child than family or agency variables. Age of the child is the single best predictor. While agency services appear to be targeted to the most needy children, they play a relatively minor role in predicting the placement outcome.

Work attitudes and intention to quit among workers in private child welfare agencies operating under performance-based contracts

Not much is currently known about how employment in child welfare agencies operating under performance-based contracts affects worker attitudes related to retention. This study focuses on the relationship of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and conflict between work and family to quit among privatized child welfare staff. An online survey was completed by 152 workers employed by private child welfare agencies operating under performance-based contracts. Results indicate that job satisfaction and work-family conflict predicted intention to quit. Implications for agency practice and further research, particularly in the area of work-family conflict, are discussed.

Child welfare standards for success

This paper suggests a set of standard outcome indicators for public child welfare systems. Just as private enterprises can evaluate their performance relative to such indicators as profit and return on equity, public child welfare systems should be able to assess their performance over time in comparison to other agencies

Barriers to Cross-Systems Collaboration in Child Welfare, Education, and the Courts: Supporting Educational Well-being of Youth in Care Through Systems Change

Cross-systems collaboration between child welfare, education, and the courts benefits when challenges and priorities are identified early. We measured perceptions of educational stability in foster youth with a statewide survey of 1,603 professionals in education, child welfare, and the courts. Results reveal commonalities among perceived challenges to collaboration across systems (e.g., multiple foster care placements; school changes) and differences in perceived importance or significance of a given issue by professional group. Results guided collaborative work in Kansas and may assist other states seeking strategies that inform cross-systems collaboration to improve educational well-being for youth in foster care.

The (Mis)Measurement of Job Performance in Child Welfare Using (Non)Experimental Design

This commentary explicates two principal arguments against the conclusions drawn by Robin Perry in his article “Do Social Workers Make Better Child Welfare Workers Than Non-Social Workers?” The first concerns the methodology used, whereas the second centers on the measurement of the dependent variable, performance expectation. Considering the difficulty of drawing any valid conclusions given these flaws, the authors suggest that the reader view this study with extreme caution. Suggestions for subsequent research efforts in this area are offered.

Respite care for the chronically mentally ill: focus for the 1990s.

ConclusionIf community based care is to remain the treatment of choice for the severely mentally ill, then acceptable, affordable, and accessible respite care must be available for the families who assume significant responsibility for their loved ones care.Based on what families are asking for, a clear mandate exists for communities to develop and implement some type of a respite care services. There is a substantial array of program models and service delivery mechanisms, as demonstrated by this paper. It is hoped that the community of professionals and families around the country will seize the initiative for the development of such programs, into the 1990s and beyond.