Title

Leadership Development: A pathway to transformation of the public child welfare system.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Publication Title

Families in Society: Journal of Contemporary Social Services

Keywords

child welfare, system reform, leadership

Abstract

Calls for systemic reform within public child welfare have been consistent, yet the system has struggled to respond adequately. This article discusses the issue of system reform by examining perspectives of caseworkers and supervisors on organizational readiness for change. It presents data from semi-structured qualitative interviews with 29 public child welfare employees. The findings indicate that organizational leadership is the core determining condition for employees' perceptions of readiness for change. The article discusses practice and policy recommendations for child welfare leadership in order to effect organizational transformation and, ultimately, meaningful and long-term change for the families served by the system.

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