Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Child Welfare Division (CWD) is a state-operated child welfare system. Louisiana has 64 parishes statewide organized into nine regions. The local parish offices provide child protective service (CPS), family services (FS), foster care (FC), and adoption services. CWD has approximately 1,500 employees including about 640 frontline caseworkers.

Spotlight on Prevention Teams

Louisiana created prevention teams to work with families who need support but may not need further involvement with CPS. Workers describe their new role in this video.

Watch the Video

Background

Exploration of Need

What is job redesign and why was it selected?

During the needs assessment process, the QIC-WD developed a theory of change in collaboration with the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Through a series of steps and causal links, a theory of change provides a roadmap to address the root causes of an identified workforce problem and describes how and why changes are expected to lead to the desired outcomes.

The Implementation Team

The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Louisiana Department of Children and Families to determine if a Job Redesign was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.

The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Child Welfare Division (CWD), in collaboration with the QIC-WD, implemented a frontline job redesign as its intervention. (For more information see Intervention Background.) An implementation team, including QIC-WD representatives, CWD leadership, child welfare staff from all levels of practice, and human resources and civil service representatives undertook development of the job redesign. Development of the intervention was guided by the following principles:

The Louisiana Child Welfare Division (CWD) of the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is a state-administered child welfare system. In 2016, the Secretary of DCFS separated child welfare from economic security and child support enforcement, creating CWD. CWD is organized into a state office and three regional “super areas” composed of three regions each.