A study of the characteristics of AFDC cases active in Linn County , Oregon in June 1966 and of the difference in characteristics between those cases closed by September 1, 1967, and those cases remaining active on that date. The source of data was the case records of the Linn County Department of Public Welfare. There were 212 cases in the study with 200 suitable for full analysis. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that there is a difference in selected characteristics between cases remaining active and cases that close. Case records were read and then characteristics tallied. The cases that were in closed status at the end of 15 months were compared with the characteristics of the cases remaining active. Findings confirmed the hypothesis with respect to two characteristics in which there were statistically significant differences. These were family composition and work experience. A large family limited the possibility of termination, but experience in a trade increased the probability of termination. Education level and age of mother were not found to be significant. The unmarried mother tended to remain active, but this finding was influenced by size of family. Question was raised about the reliability of information in case records concerning sexual behavior and use of alcohol. The woman with chronic medical problems was found to have a better than average frequency of termination. The impact of vocational training and group therapy was not significant for remaining active or terminating.

xi, 106 p. : ill., map. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This study assesses the implementation of Oregon-based child welfare models in Ukraine in the context of the Family For Children (FCP) curriculum. Both trainees' and trainers' perspectives on these issues were surveyed. The assessment shows that the implementation of Oregon-based models needs some adjustment to local socio-economic conditions and current child welfare policies in Ukraine. Nine recommendations have emerged as a result of this study that relate to logistical, organizational, and communicational aspects of the training. None of the recommendations concern the conceptual content of the training, and overall all participants judged the curriculum and training to be very successful. / Committee in Charge: Dr. Kathie Carpenter, Chair; Dr. Daniel Close; Daniel Lauer

This is a descriptive study of the community process by which a complaint is made to a protective service agency. It is by this process that deviant child care is first identified and the decision to take action is made. The study develops a typology of the complaint process and identifies seven elements as significant in complaints that reach community agencies. The elements were: the complaint situation, the precipitating events that brought the complaint situation to the attention of someone outside the nuclear family, the relationship between the complainant and family, the complainant's motivation for responding to the complaint situation, the complainant's justification for making the complaint, the social support for making the complaint sought and received by the complainant, and the complainant's knowledge of an established channel of communication for making the complaint. Essentially the question asked was who complains about what to whom and why. Data were obtained from questionnaires representing l01 complaints about ninety-six families. These questionnaires were completed with information from the Women's Protective Division of the Portland Police Bureau, the Multnomah County Juvenile Court, and the Multnomah County Public Welfare Commission on complaints received primarily during a one month period. Statistical analyses consisted of computer cross tabulations of the study variables. Two - thirds of the complainants were from the private sector of the community while one-third were agency personnel. Private individuals usually knew of the complaint situation through first hand observation over a period of time. A vast majority of the relatives and one -fourth of the non-relatives who complained had cared for the children in the past. Although only one - fourth of the complainants actually suggested an investigation, three - fourths of the referrals were accepted for service and investigated. It was found that all of the complaint situations could be classified as neglect, abuse, or inadequate supervision. Abuse situations were rated highly serious for the child(ren) involved while inadequate supervision situations were rated least serious. In half of the situations reported a breakdown in or a lack of a child care arrangement led to the complaint, usually of inadequate supervision. The data suggested that a primary element of a successful complaint process is social confirmation and support, especially in situations of neglect which were the most difficult for complainants to evaluate. Motivations for complaints fell into three categories: concern for the child, self concern, and mixed concern. Child concern was most prevalent in situations determined to be highly serious. A universal characteristic was the complainant's need to legitimize the complaint through discrediting the parents involved-- "discrediting information" is defined as information which was negative and unrelated to the complaint situation. Strong evidence of discrediting information, however, was associated with neglect rather than with either abuse or inadequate supervision. The evidence converged on a typology of the complaint process in which each different complaint situation involved a different profile of the complaint process. The essential element of a successful abuse complaint was a highly serious situation; for a successful neglect complaint it was the presentation of discrediting information; and for a complaint of inadequate supervision it was the lack of a child care arrangement. Knowledge of the complainant's early diagnosis and motivation for action is essential to the building of a system that will facilitate the reporting of neglect and abuse.

The purpose of this study was to develop and test an instrument to measure client satisfaction among families who are clients of a child protective services agency. With the growing numbers of families coming into contact with CPS agencies, the burgeoning numbers of children in foster care, and the increasing attention to the effectiveness of services within this population, client feedback is one approach that has been largely ignored by CSP administrators. The basic problem this dissertation addressed is the issue of obtaining feedback from the involuntary client, such as the family in a child abuse case. Specifically, this dissertation addressed the following four research questions: 1. Can a client satisfaction instrument be developed for CPS clients largely through the input of the clients? 2. What are the domains of satisfaction that are applicable to CPS families? 3. How much involvement do the CPS families feel that they have in the planning and decision-making in their cases? What impact does this have on their overall level of satisfaction? 4. What are the relationships among the various domains of satisfaction and the overall level of satisfaction? Two rounds of interviews were held with families who had been clients of the CPS agency serving the State of Oregon, Children's Services Division. These interviews served as the major source of information for the identification of satisfaction domains and for the development of a closed-ended instrument to measure these domains. The responses to the interviews were content analyzed and four specific domains of client satisfaction were identified. These were: (a) Helpfulness, (b) Partnership, (c) Choice, and (d) Information Sharing. Items were also developed to comprise a "General Satisfaction" domain. A closed-ended instrument was constructed and pre-tested in two large Branch offices of the agency. This instrument included five items to address the interest of the agency in the issue of "convenience." It also included seven items to gather information concerning the opinions of clients on the agency mission and goals. Results of the pre-test were analyzed and the instrument revised. The final instrument was mailed to a population of 4,337 CPS families. Surveys were returned by 489, or 11%, of the families. Analyses, including correlational analysis, factor analysis, and internal consistency reliability analysis, provided empirical support for the domains identified through the client interviews Analysis provided very little support for the "convenience" domain. Satisfaction on the four scales measuring the four domains of satisfaction was positively correlated with measure of overall satisfaction. The overall theme which ran through the entire client survey instrument was that of empowerment. Three of the four domains of satisfaction which were identified were: Ca) "Partnership," (b) "Choice," and (c) "Information Sharing." The challenge is for CPS agencies to incorporate these issues into their practice.

The thesis describes the development of a questionnaire to evaluate the services provided by Clackamas County Children's Services Division, including the process of interviewing past clients, examining caseworker statistics sheets, and developing the evaluation instrument.

The link between child welfare and juvenile justice is well established, with over forty years of research that focuses on the increased risk of delinquency associated with child maltreatment. However, with over 700,000 children in the United States being victims of abuse and/or neglect in 2010 (DHHS, 2011), it is important to continue investigating this connection. Few studies are able to identify the same youth in both systems, therefore this study provides the unique opportunity using child welfare and juvenile justice administrative data from Oregon, to compare juvenile offenders that have been in the child welfare system, otherwise known as "Crossover" youth, to Non-Crossover juvenile offenders. The study attempted to examine if Crossover youth differ in terms of demographics, as well as if they committed offenses with higher severity scores than Non-Crossover youth. It also investigated whether an individual's status as a child welfare youth impact processing decisions in the juvenile justice system. Results indicate that Crossover youth have a higher percentage of females, African Americans, and are significantly younger. Crossover youth also have higher severity scores than non-crossover youth, and have a higher percentage of more intense adjudicated delinquent sanctions. Limitations of these findings and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Social worker stress and burnout are pervasive problems that harm workers, organizations, and clients. Past research has identified burnout, a psychological response to work stress, as an important predictor of intent to leave and ultimate turnover. An emerging body of research has examined work engagement, considered to be the opposite of burnout, as a predictor of retention. The problem of burnout and turnover within organizations employing social workers has been addressed in the literature for many years. This dissertation responded to a call in the literature for a greater emphasis on burnout prevention and enhancement of workforce engagement and retention. The three goals of the study were: (1) to measure levels of work engagement; (2) to examine the psychometric properties of two new instruments that measure burnout and engagement; and (3) to use the Job Demands-Resources model to test a hypothesized model of the unique relationships between job demands, resources, burnout, engagement and intent to leave. Survey data were collected from 243 public child welfare workers employed with Oregon's Department of Human Services, Children, Adult and Families Division, Service Delivery Area 2 serving Multnomah County. Findings revealed that half of the workers were highly engaged and that engagement explained 18% of the variance of intent to remain employed. An alternative measure of burnout, the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, demonstrated good internal consistency, convergent validity with the MBI, and explained 26% of the variance of intent to leave. A series of path analyses indicated support for a partially-mediated model. The findings demonstrate that burnout and engagement mediate the effects that demands and resources have on intent to leave. Supervisor support exerted both direct and indirect effects on intent to leave. The results support the inclusion of work engagement in burnout research, demonstrate the psychometric soundness of two new instruments to measure engagement and burnout, and support the applicability of the Job Demands Resources Model to a sample of social service workers employed in public child welfare. The findings indicate that job demands and resources play an important role in worker intent to leave. Research, education, policy, and practice implications are addressed.