Attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of child welfare workers toward LGBTQ youth

ABSTRACT

This study explored workforce opinions toward LGBTQ youth and the LGBTQ community. A total of 1,196 child welfare employees answered a series of surveys measuring their attitudes, perception of climate, knowledge, and behaviors toward LGBTQ. Findings suggest that child welfare workers have adequate knowledge about the LGBTQ community and responses indicate the workforce has some potential to engage in supportive behaviors toward youth, but do not believe the child welfare climate is protective or supportive for LGBTQ youth and reported they “don’t know” how they feel about the LGBTQ population. Implications for practice and policy are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• Child Welfare Attitudes and Behaviors
• LGBTQ
• Training
• Workforce

Notes

1. The terminology in this paper will alternate between LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQ+ and diverse SOGIE depending on the population included. Both diverse SOGIE and LGBTQ+ are used to represent the inclusive spectrum of sexual and gender identities.

2. Due to space constraints, results from the t-test, ANOVAs and chi squares for this paragraph are not presented, but are available upon request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elizabeth Greeno

Dr. Elizabeth Greeno is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work. She specializes in child welfare research. Dr. Greeno has direct experience and expertise with evaluation design and methodology and is currently involved in several research efforts that involve state and federally-funded evaluation research.

Marlene Matarese

Dr. Marlene Matarese is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work and the Deputy Director for the Institute for Innovation and Implementation. She specializes in content focused on evidence-based and evidence-informed intervention design; and best practices in implementation science within the context of the public child-, youth-, and family-serving systems as well as LGBTQ+/sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, workforce development; and systems of care.

Angela Weeks

Dr. Angela Weeks is the Project Director for the National Quality Improvement Center on Tailored Services, Placement Stability, and Permanency for LGBTQ2S Children and Youth in Foster Care. She specializes in program implementation and LGBTQ+ populations. She also leads the Center of Excellence for LGBTQ+ Behavioral Health Equity for the Institute for Innovation and Implementation at University of Maryland, School of Social Work.