Title
Authorizing the Committee on Children and Youth to conduct hearings to examine the state of Philadelphia's child welfare workforce.
Body
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Child Welfare Workforce Task Force is a collaboration of providers, including community umbrella agencies (CUAs) and advocates that convened to reevaluate workforce-related aspects of Philadelphia's child welfare system and identify opportunities for system improvements. In November 2022, the Task Force issued its report - The State of Philadelphia's Child Welfare Workforce: Findings and Recommendations; and
WHEREAS, In the years immediately preceding the pandemic, the child welfare workforce struggled with a turnover rate that hovered around 30 percent. In 2022, however, agencies estimated an average turnover rate of approximately 45 percent. This turnover rate is worse than the rate for early childhood educators (30 percent) and not far off from the rate for retail workers during the height of the pandemic (57.3 percent); and
WHEREAS, Through a survey of 281 child welfare workers, the Task Force identified three main causes that are negatively impacting both recruitment and retention of child welfare workers: 1) salary, rates, and other funding needs, 2) caseloads and workloads, and 3) professional development; and
WHEREAS, Many child welfare workers identify salary as the most fundamental factor driving the exodus of workers for the workforce. Simply put, the starting salaries for CUA and foster care workers is too low. The salary structure is not competitive with similar public sector positions - such as social worker positions with the Department of Human Services (DHS) or similar positions within the School District of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Furthermore, the salaries for these positions are even less competitive with other fields where social work positions exist, including our regional medical institutions, such as Jefferson Health, Penn Medicine, the Children's Hospital of Philad...
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