IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v34y2012i4p851-858.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An organizational view of privatization: Is the private foster care agency superior to the public foster care agency?

Author

Listed:
  • Steen, Julie A.
  • Smith, Sarahlin

Abstract

Foster care privatization is emerging as an increasingly popular policy option. One of the assumptions behind this movement towards privatization is a belief in the superiority of the private foster care agency. In an effort to assess this assumption, literature regarding public and private foster care agencies was reviewed with a special attention to the organizational and environmental factors derived from systems theory. Overall, the evidence did not support this assumption, as both public and private foster care agencies had their own areas of relative advantage. Recommendations are offered for future study of organizational characteristics in the foster care field.

Suggested Citation

  • Steen, Julie A. & Smith, Sarahlin, 2012. "An organizational view of privatization: Is the private foster care agency superior to the public foster care agency?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 851-858.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:34:y:2012:i:4:p:851-858
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.01.016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074091200031X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2012.01.016?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McBeath, Bowen & Meezan, William, 2009. "Interorganizational disparities in foster care service provision," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 513-525, May.
    2. Hollingsworth, Leslie D. & Bybee, Deborah & Johnson, Elizabeth I. & Swick, Danielle C., 2010. "A comparison of caseworker characteristics in public and private foster care agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 578-584, April.
    3. Ryan, Joseph P. & Garnier, Philip & Zyphur, Michael & Zhai, Fuhua, 2006. "Investigating the effects of caseworker characteristics in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(9), pages 993-1006, September.
    4. Blackstone, Erwin A. & Buck, Andrew J. & Hakim, Simon, 2004. "Privatizing adoption and foster care: Applying auction and market solutions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(11), pages 1033-1049, November.
    5. Wulczyn, Fred W., 2000. "Federal fiscal reform in child welfare services," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 131-159, February.
    6. McCullough, Charlotte & Schmitt, Barbara, 2000. "Managed care and privatization: Results of a national survey," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 117-130, February.
    7. Faller, Kathleen Coulborn & Grabarek, Marguerite & Ortega, Robert M., 2010. "Commitment to child welfare work: What predicts leaving and staying?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 840-846, June.
    8. Meezan, William & McBeath, Bowen, 2008. "Market-based disparities in foster care outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 388-406, April.
    9. Collins-Camargo, Crystal & Sullivan, Dana & Murphy, April, 2011. "Use of data to assess performance and promote outcome achievement by public and private child welfare agency staff," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 330-339, February.
    10. Auerbach, Charles & McGowan, Brenda G. & Ausberger, Astraea & Strolin-Goltzman, Jessica & Schudrich, Wendy, 2010. "Differential factors influencing public and voluntary child welfare workers' intention to leave," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1396-1402, October.
    11. Zullo, Roland, 2002. "Private Contracting of Out-of-Home Placements and Child Protection Case Management Outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 583-600, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Griffiths, Austin & Holderfield-Gaither, Emily & Funge, Simon P. & Warfel, Erin T., 2021. "Satisfaction, willingness, and well-being: Examining the perceptions of a statewide sample of public and private foster parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    2. Kroeger, Sarah & Monahan, Tess & Perry, Brendan, 2022. "How Can Research Improve Foster Care Policy and Practice?," MPRA Paper 113969, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Stanley, Nicky & Austerberry, Helen & Bilson, Andy & Farrelly, Nicola & Hussein, Shereen & Larkins, Cath & Manthorpe, Jill & Ridley, Julie, 2013. "Turning away from the public sector in children's out-of-home care: An English experiment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 33-39.
    4. Huggins-Hoyt, Kimberly Y. & Briggs, Harold E. & Mowbray, Orion & Allen, Junior Lloyd, 2019. "Privatization, racial disproportionality and disparity in child welfare: Outcomes for foster children of color," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 125-131.
    5. Armstrong, Mary I. & Swanke, Jayme R. & Strozier, Anne & Yampolskaya, Svetlana & Sharrock, Patty J., 2013. "Recent changes in the child welfare system: One state's experience," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1712-1718.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wells, Rebecca & Jolles, Mónica Pérez & Chuang, Emmeline & McBeath, Bowen & Collins-Camargo, Crystal, 2014. "Trends in local public child welfare agencies 1999–2009," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 93-100.
    2. Chen, Yi-Yi & Park, Jisung & Park, Aely, 2012. "Existence, relatedness, or growth? Examining turnover intention of public child welfare caseworkers from a human needs approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2088-2093.
    3. Kim, Hyosu & Kao, Dennis, 2014. "A meta-analysis of turnover intention predictors among U.S. child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 214-223.
    4. McBeath, Bowen & Collins-Camargo, Crystal & Chuang, Emmeline & Wells, Rebecca & Bunger, Alicia C. & Jolles, Mónica Pérez, 2014. "New directions for research on the organizational and institutional context of child welfare agencies: Introduction to the symposium on “The Organizational and Managerial Context of Private Child Welf," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 83-92.
    5. Claiborne, Nancy & Auerbach, Charles & Lawrence, Catherine & Liu, Junqing & McGowan, Brenda G. & Fernendes, Gretta & Magnano, Julie, 2011. "Child welfare agency climate influence on worker commitment," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(11), pages 2096-2102.
    6. McBeath, Bowen & Meezan, William, 2009. "Interorganizational disparities in foster care service provision," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 513-525, May.
    7. McCrae, Julie S. & Scannapieco, Maria & Obermann, Ann, 2015. "Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 171-176.
    8. Courtney, Mark E., 2000. "Managed care and child welfare services: What are the issues?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 87-91, February.
    9. Steen, Julie A. & Smith, Kenneth Scott, 2011. "Foster parent perspectives of privatization policy and the privatized system," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1483-1488, September.
    10. Chuang, Emmeline & Collins-Camargo, Crystal & McBeath, Bowen & Wells, Rebecca & Bunger, Alicia, 2014. "An empirical typology of private child and family serving agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 101-112.
    11. Kruzich, Jean M. & Mienko, Joseph A. & Courtney, Mark E., 2014. "Individual and work group influences on turnover intention among public child welfare workers: The effects of work group psychological safety," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-27.
    12. Li, Yong & Huang, Hui & Chen, Yi-Yi, 2020. "Organizational climate, job satisfaction, and turnover in voluntary child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    13. Hollingsworth, Leslie D. & Bybee, Deborah & Johnson, Elizabeth I. & Swick, Danielle C., 2010. "A comparison of caseworker characteristics in public and private foster care agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 578-584, April.
    14. Unruh, Jennifer K. & Hodgkin, Dominic, 2004. "The role of contract design in privatization of child welfare services: the Kansas experience," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(8), pages 771-783, August.
    15. Strolin-Goltzman, Jessica & Kollar, Sharon & Shea, Karen & Walcott, Cindy & Ward, Sarah, 2016. "Building a landscape of resilience after workplace violence in public child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 250-256.
    16. Burns, Desirée D. & Langenderfer-Magruder, Lisa & Yelick, Anna & Wilke, Dina J., 2023. "What else is there to say? Reflections of newly-hired child welfare workers by retention status," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    17. Ahn, Haksoon & Keyser, Daniel & Hayward-Everson, R. Anna, 2016. "A multi-level analysis of individual and agency effects on implementation of family-centered practice in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 11-18.
    18. Meezan, William & McBeath, Bowen, 2008. "Market-based disparities in foster care outcomes," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 388-406, April.
    19. Hubel, Grace S. & Schreier, Alayna & Hansen, David J. & Wilcox, Brian L., 2013. "A case study of the effects of privatization of child welfare on services for children and families: The Nebraska experience," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2049-2058.
    20. Schudrich, Wendy Zeitlin & Liao, Aries & Lawrence, Catherine & Auerbach, Charles & Gomes, Anne-Marie & Fernandes, Gretta & McGowan, Brenda & Claiborne, Nancy, 2013. "Intention to leave in social workers and educators employed in voluntary child welfare agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 657-663.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:34:y:2012:i:4:p:851-858. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.