Policy & Practice | February 2022

from our partners By Danielle Barnes

How Child Welfare Agencies Can Help Reduce Secondary Trauma—and Increase Retention

I n the pandemic, child welfare workers have experienced high levels of secondary trauma. This trauma, isolation, and plentiful higher paying jobs have led many to leave the profession. Government agencies can do more to help. “The pandemic has worn employees out.” That sentiment echoed around the room when I met recently with people from government health and human services agencies around the country. While that may seem a common refrain—think about the news that abounds about the “Great Resignation”—the question at the top of their minds was what to do spe- cifically about child welfare workers quitting in droves. decreased child welfare caseloads, the families and children that child welfare workers have been seeing are among the most traumatized. This is because it is often mandated reporters such as teachers, doctors, and hospitals that are required to report any injury or suspicion of neglect to state agencies for investigation. In normal times, after investigation, a fair proportion of these cases are resolved without any action needing to be taken (e.g., injury due to an accident). But during lockdown when children were not leaving their homes, these types of routine and innocuous reports were not occurring as regularly. That leaves reports of just the most intense and traumatized cases. Reported Child Welfare Cases Have Been More Severe While the pandemic has often

situations themselves have resolved. Add that to the pandemic stress and isolation that we all have been feeling, their own individual and family situa- tions, and a plethora of available jobs in other industries that pay as well or better, and it’s easy to understand why child welfare workers are leaving the field (and why others are reluctant to enter it).

Spending the majority of their time trying to help children and families in the worst situations takes a large mental and emotional toll on child welfare workers. Many have found themselves experiencing secondary trauma, which mirrors the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and can be character- ized by compassion fatigue, anxiety, isolation, sleep disturbance, and a host of other physical and emotional ailments that may persist long after the

See Trauma on page 22

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February 2022 Policy&Practice