Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services

Building a Resilient Workforce

Nebraska Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) is a state-operated child welfare system. The Division is housed in the Department of Health and Human services and is divided into five service areas. DCFS has about 400 frontline child welfare workers (Child and Family Services Specialists or CFSS), 70 supervisors, and 15 field administrators. In 2017, DCFS had an annual turnover rate of about 30%. They applied to be a QIC-WD site with the goal of strengthening their child welfare workforce. 

The Restoring Resiliency Response(R) : Addressing Work-related Trauma in Nebraska

Restoring Resiliency Response ® is being piloted in Nebraska to address work-related traumatic stress through therapeutic sessions.

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Background

Exploration of Needs

What is Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and why was an intervention designed to address it?

Several workforce challenges were discussed as opportunities for intervention during the needs assessment  process conducted partnership with the Nebraska Department of Children and Family Services’ (DCFS) to address child welfare workforce turnover.

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) – Its Impact on the Child Welfare Workforce and Strategies for Agencies to Address It
Posted on November 2, 2021
Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) impacts both child welfare workers and agencies. This blog post highlights this issue and links to videos and tools agencies are using to address STS in the workforce.
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The Implementation Team

Coping with Secondary Traumatic Stress

This video features child welfare workers and supervisors discussing the coping skills they use to address secondary traumatic stress (STS).

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The QIC-WD evaluation was conducted with the support of the Nebraska Division of Child and Family Services to determine if an intervention to Address Work-related Traumatic Stress, known as CFS Strong, was effective in improving workforce and child welfare outcomes.