Charting the attitudes of county child protection staff in a post-crisis environment

Three children died while in the Erie County Child Protective Services (CPS) system between 2012 and 2014. The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to understand the impact on CPS workers in the post-crisis environment. The results of the ProQOL Ver. 5.0 survey we administered to Erie County CPS workers revealed low levels of compassion satisfaction, but surprisingly low levels of burnout and compassion fatigue as well. The qualitative phase of this study, consisting of 10 focus groups, revealed dissatisfaction with continued high caseloads, bureaucratic and punitive agency practices, work-life imbalance, inconsistent and inadequate supervision, unsafe work environments, unappealing office conditions and lack of workplace amenities, weak organizational support, inconsistent procedures and policies, limited opportunities for peer support, and shuffling of work teams with little to no input from CPS workers. We conclude that Erie County's CPS Division adheres to an antiquated machine bureaucracy (top-down) organizational structure which is out of step with efficient and effective management of the contemporary workforce in a field where child abuse and maltreatment is a persistent if not growing problem.