http://hdl.handle.net/10468/605 2013-05-21T08:29:16Z 2013-05-21T08:29:16Z Burns, Kenneth Christie, Alastair http://hdl.handle.net/10468/862 2013-02-18T09:09:16Z 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z

Employment mobility or turnover? An analysis of child welfare and protection employee retention Burns, Kenneth; Christie, Alastair This article challenges the commonly held assumption that there is a high level of occupational turnover of social workers in all child protection and welfare agencies. By analysing occupational mobility patterns (turnover, retention and attrition) in five child protection social work teams, the article demonstrates how occupational mobility is a complex phenomenon and needs to be understood within wider shifts in employment patterns and the gendering of professions. In this paper we argue that it is important to distinguish between employee turnover and employee mobility, and that an examination of the posts taken up after leaving, at least in Ireland, may provide a different perspective on the narrative of high turnover of workers in this sector. Within the five teams, it is estimated that there was a turnover rate of 8 percent in 2006 and 11 percent in 2010, with 72 percent of child protection workers in post at the end of 2005 being retained and still in post at the end of 2010. While this should not lead to complacency, or a failure to recognise and respond to the stressful nature of child protection, it does raise questions for employers about how they might plan for occupational mobility within a stable workforce made up of largely women, aged between 25 and 35, frequently newly-qualified, who are often the main carers for children and adults outside the workplace.

2013-01-01T00:00:00Z Burns, Kenneth MacCarthy, Joe http://hdl.handle.net/10468/732 2012-11-06T03:00:10Z 2012-09-01T00:00:00Z

An impossible task? Implementing the recommendations of child abuse inquiry reports in a context of high workloads in child protection and welfare Burns, Kenneth; MacCarthy, Joe de Róiste, Áine; Powell, Frederick W. This paper examines the issue of social workers’ caseloads in child protection and welfare in the Republic of Ireland. High caseloads impact on the type and quality of service provided to children and families, and on worker retention and job satisfaction. This exploratory paper examines the limited available evidence on social workers’ caseloads in the Republic of Ireland and presents data on child protection and welfare social workers’ perspectives on their caseloads drawn from a qualitative study. These analyses are set in the context of the Irish State’s commitments since the publication of the Ryan report. A central argument of this article is that the recommendations of successive child abuse inquiries in Ireland have given rise to expectations and demands on child protection and welfare teams that are not possible to meet given the increasing level of referrals and the high numbers of children for whom social workers are responsible.

2012-09-01T00:00:00Z Jenkinson, Hilary http://hdl.handle.net/10468/763 2013-03-08T03:01:30Z 2011-07-01T00:00:00Z

An exploration of the importance of supervision practice in the voluntary sector Jenkinson, Hilary This paper discusses the relevance of supervision practice within the voluntary sector and argues that it is necessary and important. The paper examines what is meant by supervision and explores the factors relating to the nature of the work that point to the necessity of supervision for workers. The nature of supervision is explored, providing a discussion of both the functions and the practical dimensions of supervision.

2011-07-01T00:00:00Z Burns, Kenneth http://hdl.handle.net/10468/607 2013-03-08T03:01:56Z 2011-04-01T00:00:00Z

'Career preference', 'transients' and 'converts': A study of social workers' retention in child protection and welfare Burns, Kenneth Both domestically and internationally, retaining social workers in statutory child protection and welfare work has been identified as a problem. However, this issue appears to receive only modest attention from researchers. This paper reports on the findings of a study that examined the retention of ‘front line’ child protection and welfare social workers in one Health Service Executive area in the Republic of Ireland. A qualitative study was undertaken with forty-four social workers with experience of this work setting. Whilst familiar themes, such as organisational supports, social exchanges with peers, amongst others, were highlighted as important in social workers' decisions to stay or leave, a grounded analysis of the data highlighted the importance of a theme not previously presented in this research. In this study, participants made links between their understandings of career pathways for newly qualified social workers and what they perceived as the key role play by child protection and welfare in 'proving' or inducting newly qualified social workers and the likelihood of their retention in this sector. This analysis led to the construction of a career preference typology with three 'types' of social worker: 'career preference', 'transients' and 'converts'.

2011-04-01T00:00:00Z