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BJSW Advance Access published online on November 13, 2007
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcm125
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved

Article

Retaining Novices to Become Expert Child Protection Practitioners: Creating Career Pathways in Direct Practice

Karen Healy 1 *, Gabrielle Meagher 2, and Joel Cullin 3

1 Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences, The University of Queensland, 4072 Queensland, Australia
2 Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, at The University of Sydney
3 Ph.D. student in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences at The University of Queensland

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Karen Healy, E-mail: k.healy{at}social.uq.edu.au


  Abstract

In many post-industrial countries, concerns have been raised about high turnover of professional staff and the high proportion of novice practitioners on the frontline in child protection agencies. High turnover imposes costs on individual practitioners, employing organizations, service users (particularly vulnerable children) and society more broadly. We analyze the views of employers, policy makers and researchers in Australia, England and Sweden about factors contributing to high turnover at the frontline. We find that a combination of retention disincentives (push factors) and alternative career opportunities (pull factors) contributes to high turnover among frontline practitioners. Based on these findings, we propose a strategy for enhancing workforce retention at the frontline in child protection. The strategy involves creation of a career pathway that enables, and encourages, novice child protection workers to become advanced practitioners.

Keywords: child protection, staff retention, novice practitioners, career pathways.
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