The Match between Engagement Beliefs of Child Welfare Professionals and Consumer Expectations

Engaging families, youth, and partners in working relationships with child welfare (CW) professionals is an essential interpersonal process and an important outcome influenced by beliefs and expectations of both parties. This study describes the match between beliefs and attitudes of CW professionals in one state agency (n = 989; 51% response rate) and the expectations of families, youth, and partners found in previous research. The Engagement Beliefs and Attitudes Scale was administered and tested with 19 items having adequate factor loadings, evidence of reliability, and support in previous research. Measuring subjective beliefs proved challenging; lessons learned with implications for future research and practice are explored.