- Albany, New York, United States
Sharon Kollar
SUNY: University at Albany, School of Social Welfare, Department Member
Workplace violence in public child welfare is prevalent, however, little guidance is provided to support child welfare leaders in moving their organizations through organizational trauma when violence strikes. This paper aims to provide... more
Workplace violence in public child welfare is prevalent, however, little guidance is provided to support child welfare leaders in moving their organizations through organizational trauma when violence strikes. This paper aims to provide the field with a resource that will (a) provide a brief overview on the prevalence of workplace violence in child welfare, (b) describe prevention strategies, (c) suggest a framework for responding to violence and (d) apply this framework to a recent event in public child welfare. Implications for policy and practice guidance are included.
Research Interests:
This article describes the implementation of an online peer network for social work traineeship students pursuing or continuing careers in child welfare. Literature on best principles and practices for facilitating an online community is... more
This article describes the implementation of an online peer network for social work traineeship students pursuing or continuing careers in child welfare. Literature on best principles and practices for facilitating an online community is reviewed, and an explanation of how these best practices were used is provided. Initial program design and program developments, which took place over four years, are described. An overview of the evaluation data and how the program evaluation was carried out is presented. The article concludes with a discussion about successes and challenges experienced in building the peer network and further research needed to understand benefits of the use of online communities and social media in social work education.
Research Interests:
Child welfare workforce turnover rates across private and public child welfare agencies are concerning. Although research about the causes of child welfare workforce turnover has been plentiful, empirical studies on the effects of... more
Child welfare workforce turnover rates across private and public child welfare agencies are concerning. Although research about the causes of child welfare workforce turnover has been plentiful, empirical studies on the effects of turnover on child outcomes are sparse. Furthermore, the voices and experiences of youths within the system have been largely overlooked.The purpose of this study was, first, to explore the experiences and opinions about child welfare workforce turnover and retention of youths in the child welfare system; second, to explore a relationship between the number of caseworkers a youth has had and his or her number of foster care placements; and third, to harness the suggestions of youths in resolving
the turnover problem. Youths in the child welfare system (N = 25) participated in focus groups and completed a small demographic survey. Findings suggest that youths experience
multiple effects of workforce turnover, such as lack of stability; loss of trusting relationships;
and, at times, second chances. The article concludes with suggestions for caseworkers, state trainers, local and state administrators, and social work researchers on engaging with youths in relationships that facilitate genuine systems change around social work practice and the child welfare workforce crisis.
the turnover problem. Youths in the child welfare system (N = 25) participated in focus groups and completed a small demographic survey. Findings suggest that youths experience
multiple effects of workforce turnover, such as lack of stability; loss of trusting relationships;
and, at times, second chances. The article concludes with suggestions for caseworkers, state trainers, local and state administrators, and social work researchers on engaging with youths in relationships that facilitate genuine systems change around social work practice and the child welfare workforce crisis.