Calculating child welfare separation, replacement, and training costs

Across the country, incoming child welfare caseworkers have an average tenure of 2 years, and states are being evaluated on the quality of caseworker training programs and their ability to provide child welfare services that meet federally mandated outcomes. Policy makers do not know the cost of workforce turnover and replacement or the cost of training child welfare workers. The objectives of the study were to (1) obtain the separation, replacement, and training (SRT) costs for four counties in a major Northeastern state; (2) compare the SRT costs for the three different child welfare pre-service training models; (3) incorporate hidden intercounty transfer and tuition reimbursement cost; and (4) extrapolate the four-county average SRT costs to statewide average SRT costs. Results revealed that one pre-service training model was more than the state tuition for a 4-year bachelor's degree. Further, additional costs were incurred if new caseworkers transferred to another county and/or used Title IV-B tuition reimbursement funds in the first few years of employment.