The purpose of this research is to compare public child welfare workers' perception of job conditions, unmet
expectations, and burnout to those of social workers in other settings. Using data from a sample of 408 social
workers identified from a cross-sectional random survey of California registered social workers, a series of
ANOVA and multiple regression analysis was performed. Results of ANOVA revealed that public child welfare
workers experienced higher workloads, greater role conflict, and depersonalization, and had lower personal
accomplishment. However, they had similar levels of unmet expectations and emotional exhaustion as other
social workers. Adjusted for perceived job conditions and demographic characteristics, regression analyses
revealed that public child welfare workers had significantly higher levels of depersonalization than those of
private child welfare workers. Finally, workers in public settings exhibited significantly lower levels of
personal accomplishment than social workers in private settings did, regardless of their practice field.
Implications for organizational practices and future research are discussed.