Background

� Nearly one million children are victims ofchild abuse or neglect each year.

� In one year alone, 513,000 children wereplaced in foster care.

� Each year, an estimated 20,000 young people“age out” of the U.S. foster care system.

� Currently, 90% of states report difficulty inhiring and retaining qualified staff to work intheir child welfare agencies.

� Child welfare agency staff turnover is associatedwith multiple foster care placements.

� Staff vacancy rates in child welfare agenciesare higher than other child-serving programs.

� High caseloads and staff turnover hurtchildren and families.

Social Workers Are Needed inChild Welfare

Although evidence demonstrates that social workersimprove outcomes for children, nationally, fewer than40% of child welfare workers are professional socialworkers.

Research shows that social workers in child welfareagencies were more likely to find permanent homes forchildren who were in foster care for two years or more,and were better prepared to help children and familiesachieve child welfare outcomes.

Social workers cite increased administrative burdens andreduced supports within agencies that serve children andfamilies as factors that hinder staff retention. Socialworkers in child welfare also report lower salaries andhigher levels of unaddressed safety issues compared tosocial workers in other areas.

Action Needed

Support the introduction and passage of legislation inthe Senate and House to establish loan forgivenessprograms for social workers and to expand the TitleIV-E Child Welfare Training Program.

Child welfare agencies that hiresocial work staff have lowerturnover than those that do not.

National Resource Center for Managementand Administration, 1987

CHILD WELFARE FACTS

Loan Forgiveness for StudentsMaking a Difference for Hurt, Abused and Neglected Children

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750 First Street, NE, Suite 700Washington, DC 20002www.socialworkers.org

Loan Forgiveness Will Improve Recruitment and Retention ofSocial Workers in Child Welfare

� Financing higher education is increasingly difficult, especially forgraduates who seek positions in child welfare where salaries can belower than in other settings.

� Developing state and federal loan forgiveness programs will provideincentives for social workers to work with children in public orprivate non-profit child welfare agencies.

� Expanding national loan forgiveness programs for professional socialworkers who stay employed in child welfare will help retain membersof this workforce.

Improve the Title IV-E Training Program for Social WorkersWorking with Abused and Neglected Children

The major federal child welfare training program, Title IV-E of theSocial Security Act, offers training for current staff and those preparingfor employment. The Title IV-E training provisions need to be maintainedand enhanced to include social work education and training through bothpublic and private universities.

CHILD WELFARE FACTS

For More Information on PromotingProfessional Social Work in ChildWelfare

Advocacy Toolkit for Loan Forgiveness:www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/issues/loanForgiveness.asp

Fact Sheet, Title IV-E Training:http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/updates/2003/081204a.asp

NASW Center for Workforce Studies:http://workforce.socialworkers.org/

Institute for the Advancement of SocialWork Research Child WelfareWorkforce Initiative:http://www.iaswresearch.org

Debt Burden of Social Workers:http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/resources/CSWE%20Loan%20Debt%20Data-States-FINAL0505.pdf

For more information, contact NASW GovernmentRelations at advocacy@naswdc.org or202-408-8600.Social workers who participated in a

IV-E educational partnership programare more likely to stay in childwelfare than other workers hired atthe same time, and are more likelyto demonstrate self-efficacy andcommitment to child welfare.

University of GeorgiaSchool of Social Work, 2003

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