Alabama’s foster care caseworker turnover is at 50%. What can be done?

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Alabama is struggling to keep foster care caseworkers on the job. The state reports a turnover rate of 50%in 2024. Why does the state have such a high turnover rate and what is being done to fix this?  WBHM’s Kelsey Shelton sat down with reporter Noelle Annonen after she talked with people in the industry here in Birmingham to learn more. 

The following conversation has been edited for clarity.

The state turnover rate is at 50 %. How long has this been an issue?

The state’s turnover rate has been spiking since 2021. Back then, turnover was roughly 46%, according to Nancy Buckner, Department of Human Resources commissioner. Just two years later, that number jumped to over 60%. As of now, that number is back down to 49%. This is an improvement, but it’s still not ideal. 

This rate actually sits right in the middle of nationally reported turnover in this industry. The nonprofit Child Welfare League of America reported in 2022 that turnover rates are typically between 23 and 60 % across private and public welfare agencies. 

I spoke with people here in Birmingham who have experience with the foster care system, both as a foster parent and as a foster child, and this high turnover rate has a pretty direct impact on families in the system. 

How has it been impacting them?

I met with Taylor Hanson, who grew up in the foster system. She and her two sisters spent six years working through the court and foster care systems and altogether they had 16 caseworkers. 

“Sometimes there were times where I would meet with a caseworker once and then the next time we’d have another meeting, we would have a different caseworker,” Hanson said. 

Caseworkers do hand off information to each other when a new worker takes on their cases, but there’s only so much a packet can do. Over time, Hanson had to repeat her story a lot, which was retraumatizing for her. Moreover, constantly changing the people handling her case made it really difficult for her to trust these new caseworkers who were supposed to help her deal with some very personal and emotional family problems.

In Hanson’s case, she and her siblings were able to find a permanent home with their grandparents but not every foster child is so lucky. The child welfare league reported that children with only one caseworker are able to find a permanent living situation 74% of the time. But the more caseworkers that get involved, the worse things get. That permanency rate drops to 17% with just two caseworkers per case. It drops down even further to .1 percent for children who had six or more caseworkers. 

What’s leading to the high turnover rate of caseworkers?

I actually don’t know for sure. I spent a few months trying to speak with former or current caseworkers and a lot of them are not comfortable speaking about their experiences in the industry. And that’s not an uncommon problem. I’ve talked to other people in the foster care industry and they’ve also struggled to get caseworkers to speak with them, on the record, about what’s going on. 

That said, the Department of Human Resources reports that there are more than 150 caseworker vacancies in Alabama. Staff added that each case worker has an average of 15 cases at a time with an average salary of just under $50,000 a year. 

When I spoke with people who have experience in the system, they say this is not enough. They argued that caseworkers are overworked, underpaid, and undertrained. 

The University of Chicago did a study that found that burnout and low pay are some major factors contributing to caseworker turnover. Caseworking in foster care is emotionally intensive work and when it’s taking up all of your time, your mental health can suffer, especially if you’re not prepared for it. 

How does this problem get fixed?

Paul Berry, founder of the Birmingham-based Foster Coalition, an organization of public and private foster care agencies and resources, says caseworkers may be able to withstand the job if they were better prepared for it by the state. 

“This is a very stressful job that needs a lot of equipping and training so that caseworkers can know what they’re getting into,” Berry said. “That way, they are not surprised by what’s happening and they know how to respond and handle it.”

One thing to note is that the Department of Human Resources reports that it has really focused on improving its training program so that new caseworkers are better prepared to handle the serious situations they are assigned to handle and to better respond to the trauma that children in foster care are dealing with. 

Alabama is struggling to keep foster care caseworkers on the job. The state reports a turnover rate of 50%in 2024. Why does the state have such a high turnover rate and what is being done to fix this?  WBHM’s Kelsey Shelton sat down with reporter Noelle Annonen after she talked with people in the industry here in Birmingham to learn more. 

The following conversation has been edited for clarity.

The state turnover rate is at 50 %. How long has this been an issue?

The state’s turnover rate has been spiking since 2021. Back then, turnover was roughly 46%, according to Nancy Buckner, Department of Human Resources commissioner. Just two years later, that number jumped to over 60%. As of now, that number is back down to 49%. This is an improvement, but it’s still not ideal. 

This rate actually sits right in the middle of nationally reported turnover in this industry. The nonprofit Child Welfare League of America reported in 2022 that turnover rates are typically between 23 and 60 % across private and public welfare agencies. 

I spoke with people here in Birmingham who have experience with the foster care system, both as a foster parent and as a foster child, and this high turnover rate has a pretty direct impact on families in the system. 

How has it been impacting them?

I met with Taylor Hanson, who grew up in the foster system. She and her two sisters spent six years working through the court and foster care systems and altogether they had 16 caseworkers. 

“Sometimes there were times where I would meet with a caseworker once and then the next time we’d have another meeting, we would have a different caseworker,” Hanson said. 

Caseworkers do hand off information to each other when a new worker takes on their cases, but there’s only so much a packet can do. Over time, Hanson had to repeat her story a lot, which was retraumatizing for her. Moreover, constantly changing the people handling her case made it really difficult for her to trust these new caseworkers who were supposed to help her deal with some very personal and emotional family problems.

In Hanson’s case, she and her siblings were able to find a permanent home with their grandparents but not every foster child is so lucky. The child welfare league reported that children with only one caseworker are able to find a permanent living situation 74% of the time. But the more caseworkers that get involved, the worse things get. That permanency rate drops to 17% with just two caseworkers per case. It drops down even further to .1 percent for children who had six or more caseworkers. 

What’s leading to the high turnover rate of caseworkers?

I actually don’t know for sure. I spent a few months trying to speak with former or current caseworkers and a lot of them are not comfortable speaking about their experiences in the industry. And that’s not an uncommon problem. I’ve talked to other people in the foster care industry and they’ve also struggled to get caseworkers to speak with them, on the record, about what’s going on. 

That said, the Department of Human Resources reports that there are more than 150 caseworker vacancies in Alabama. Staff added that each case worker has an average of 15 cases at a time with an average salary of just under $50,000 a year. 

When I spoke with people who have experience in the system, they say this is not enough. They argued that caseworkers are overworked, underpaid, and undertrained. 

The University of Chicago did a study that found that burnout and low pay are some major factors contributing to caseworker turnover. Caseworking in foster care is emotionally intensive work and when it’s taking up all of your time, your mental health can suffer, especially if you’re not prepared for it. 

How does this problem get fixed?

Paul Berry, founder of the Birmingham-based Foster Coalition, an organization of public and private foster care agencies and resources, says caseworkers may be able to withstand the job if they were better prepared for it by the state. 

“This is a very stressful job that needs a lot of equipping and training so that caseworkers can know what they’re getting into,” Berry said. “That way, they are not surprised by what’s happening and they know how to respond and handle it.”

One thing to note is that the Department of Human Resources reports that it has really focused on improving its training program so that new caseworkers are better prepared to handle the serious situations they are assigned to handle and to better respond to the trauma that children in foster care are dealing with.