Child Welfare Current Projects

Project: Interprofessional Education to Promote Equity in Mandated Reporting: A Certificate Approach (PI: Dr. Catherine LaBrenz; funded through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention)

Over two-thirds of reports of alleged child maltreatment come from professional mandated reporters (usually comprised of social service, education, healthcare, and criminal justice workers). Yet, only a fraction of alleged reports are substantiated, often due to misunderstandings of what constitutes maltreatment. Furthermore, individuals who work in child- and family-serving professions often report feeling unprepared to identify and report potential maltreatment. This three-year project will develop and pilot three interprofessional education modules to better prepare the workforce for mandated reporting of child maltreatment. In Fall 2025, the new interprofessional education modules will be integrated into courses in social work, nursing, criminal justice, and education to increase preparation for the workforce and knowledge and skills to critically identify and report potential child maltreatment.

Related Publications: Online interprofessional education to identify and response to child maltreatment

Project: Understanding and Preventing Burnout and Turnover in Child Welfare

The nature and demands of child welfare often trigger high levels of stress and burnout in workers over time, which increases turnover. Turnover among child welfare workers and supervisors is prevalent, negatively affecting the outcomes of children and families in the child welfare system. High turnover of child welfare professionals is costly due to the need to recruit and train new staff to secure a competent and qualified workforce and to ensure a manageable workload. Moreover, filling vacancies can be time-consuming. We examined factors related to burnout and turnover in the child welfare workforce, using both primary and secondary data. We also conducted an intervention study to pilot test using external group supervision for child welfare supervisors, and found external group supervision helps with reducing STS and stigma, improving supervisory skills, and was perceived as a source of support, but had little impact on other outcomes.

We have worked with Our Community Our Kids (OCOK), the Single Source Continuum Contractor (SSCC) that provides Community-Based Care (CBC) in Region 3 West to examine their employee satisfaction data, with the purpose to provide findings for management decisions.

Related Publications:

Informational justice, job autonomy, and child welfare workers’ intention to stay

Sinking or swimming: perspectives of the children without placement crisis

Why do child welfare supervisors leave their jobs?: pathways to supervisors’ resignation behavior

Project: Keeping Families Together: Preserving and Reunifying Families with Substance Use Disorder through a Family Recovery Court. (PI: Dr. Catherine LaBrenz; co-PI: Dr. Hui Huang; co-PI Dr. Philip Baiden; Co-PI Dr. Yeonwoo Kim; funded through State Justice Institute)

This project consists of a collaboration with the Family Recovery Court of Williamson County to conduct an evaluation of their innovative model to support reunification and recovery for families involved in child welfare with histories of parental substance use. Since 2020, Dr. LaBrenz and her team have used an implementation science framework to assist the Family Recovery Court with identification of its core components, explore participant experiences with the program, and compare outcomes for families enrolled in the Family Recovery Court to a matched comparison group.   For more information about the Family Recovery Court, visit: https://www.wilcotx.gov/502/Family-Recovery-Court

Recent publications related to reunification:

Systemic family engagement to preserve and reunify families: Lessons from the U.S. and Chile

Family reunification as a case goal is influenced by maltreatment type and the occurrence of caregiver-specific abuse

State-level policies and reunification: A multi-level survival analysis

Children removed for inadequate housing are less likely to be reunified than peers: analysis from AFCARS data

Through ongoing collaborations with colleagues at UTA and beyond, the CWRC leadership team examines post-adopt experiences of children, youth, and families. Recently, Dr. LaBrenz served as an Asistente de Investigación on TransformAdopción, a project to transform the child protection and adoption systems in Chile.

Recent publications related to adoption:

A better adoption? Evolution, challenges, and projections of Chilean adoption policies and practices

Walking toward adoption: A critical analysis of the PRI Program in Chile

Project: Former Foster Youth’s Educational Expectations and Experiences (PI: Dr. Hui Huang, Supporting: Dr. Catherine LaBrenz, Dr. Eusebius Small; funded by Wolen’s Impact Fund)

Higher education has been a driver in promoting social mobility. It is widely acknowledged that obtaining a college degree is now the minimum threshold for entry into the middle class. In the US, 38% of the population aged 25 and older have bachelor’s or higher degrees. However, the college enrollment and graduation rates are much lower among former foster youth: significantly fewer enroll in college (40% compared to 72% of the general population), and less than 10% graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Literature on higher education needs among former foster youth highlights financial hardship, academic struggles, mental health challenges, and life stressors as common reasons for college dropout. There are limited studies on former foster youth not yet in college and former foster youth in community colleges. This project aims to address the knowledge gap by studying former foster youth not yet in college as well as former foster youth at UTA, many of whom came from community colleges. We have conducted a needs assessment of barriers and facilitators of enrollment and completion of college among former foster youth. Our rationale for conducting this needs assessment is to use the findings to inform the development and piloting of interventions to increase college graduation rates among former foster youth.

Project: Evaluation and Supervision Support to the UTA Emerging Mavericks (EM) Program

Related to support for transition age youth, we have provided technical support to the UTA Emerging Mavericks (EM), a campus support program designed to support students with lived experience in foster care or homelessness. Our technical support include design intake assessment, needs assessment, case management database, student engagement strategies, and community engagement strategies.  We also provide weekly supervision to social work students who are placed for their foundation or advanced practicum at the EM Program.

Related Publications:

Focus group meetings with the Transition Resource Action Center (TRAC)

Project: County Built and Social Environments Associated with Substance Misuse among Children and Parents At-Risk for Maltreatment (PI: Dr. Yeonwoo Kim; Co-PI: Dr. Catherine LaBrenz; September 2021 – August 2022; funded through the UTA Interdisciplinary Research Program)

Through the Interdisciplinary Research Program at the University of Texas at Arlington, this project explored county and state factors associated with family preservation among families referred to child protective services for substance use. Utilizing national data, Dr. LaBrenz led a series of studies that examined state policies such as accessibility of alternative response and in-home services, and subsequent foster care entries.

Related publications:

Adolescents with substance use referred to child protective services: Does substance use treatment prevent foster care entry?

State child maltreatment policies and disparities in substantiation: A study of state-administered child welfare systems in the US