A statewide qualitative study of personal and organizational factors contributing to employees' decisions
to either remain or leave employment in child welfare is described. Of particular interest was
identifying factors related to employee retention. Professional staff (n= 369) in a state public child welfare
agency, representing all levels of the agency and regions of the state, participated in 58 focus group
interviews comprising some 1200 person hours of data collection. Core findings of the results are presented
and discussed in view of information from other recent child welfare workforce studies. Recommendations
and implications of the results for policy and practice are described.
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