Page 6 - Palm City Spotlight - March '21

Page 6, Palm City Spotlight DOUBLE SPACE

good workS

Martin County Professional the main reasons for leaving had to do with job practice,” Smith said. “We have also added information
on self-care to the curriculum, and enhanced the system
responsibilities, such as working too many hours or
Firefighters And Paramedics having too many cases, especially right out of training. of care training.”
Association Local 2959 Come That was followed by reports of unrealistic expectations Other changes include a new field-day form that will
provide more structure to field experiences for trainees
or similar problems related to agency environment. For
To The Rescue For ARC Of example, the average employee worked 9.6 days of and reviewing the onboarding process to ensure trainees
monthly overtime in their first year on the job, held a
have the information necessary to ensure success working
Martin County Services caseload of 16 families and spent a quarter of their time as a child welfare professional.
driving. Case management has also implemented an early hiring
“Friends are angels that lift us to our feet when our wings Overall, 18 percent of participants left their agencies process so trainees have some field experience prior
have trouble remembering how to fly.” within the first six months following preservice training, to starting class and a retention committee that makes
The ARC of Martin County (ARC) recently received reporting higher initial caseloads than those who recommendations to support retention of staff, Smith said.
a delightful surprise. Unbeknownst to ARC, the Martin remained. The study also found that these early leavers Implementing change was particularly tricky this past
County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Local were 8 percent more likely to leave with every additional year when all aspects of social work, including training
2959 dropped by one sunny January day to present a case assigned during their first week in the field. and the onboarding of new employees, has been impacted
$10,000 donation! Their kindness and the kindness of Some of the most startling findings involve employee by COVID-19. Frontline workers engage with clients
our community is the generosity that keeps the children well-being – or lack thereof. All measures of physical and facing increased financial stress, social isolation, mental
and adults of ARC thriving. emotional well-being – such as psychological distress and health issues and substance misuse. And, in a lateral study
sleep disturbances – worsened over the first 12 months done during the spring of 2020, social work professionals
of employment and never returned to baseline levels. reported personal and professional impacts from the
Likewise, participants indicating excellent or very good pandemic.
mental health worsened steadily over the course of the
study, starting at 72.5 percent and decreasing to 46.5 Local Foster And Adoptive
percent midway through the study. Some of the study’s Parent Teaches ‘The Power To
more positive findings reveal that workers are satisfied
overall with their supervisors and benefits and, while Stand’ From Wheelchair
largely dissatisfied with their salaries, did not generally
leave due to pay. Chris Norton was given a 3 percent chance to move
The study was commissioned in 2014 by the Florida again after suffering a spinal-cord injury on the football
Legislature in an attempt to better understand the reasons field his freshman year of college. He defied those odds
that drive case managers and child protective investigators and inspired the nation with a now famous walk across
to leave their agencies and to prevent turnover. Iowa’s Luther College graduation stage.
“High staff turnover directly impacts the stability of He and his then fiancée, Emily, moved to Port St.
children in care by impeding timely access to services Lucie, started the Chris Norton Foundation, published a
and interfering with permanency,” said Christina Kaiser, book and became a motivational speaker with his mantra,
community relations director for CCKids. “And while the power to stand.
we’ve known for a long time that the social work Then fatherhood taught him something new: that the
Once a year, these outstanding men and women send profession comes with a high turnover rate, this study power to stand – especially for those you love – can come
out a request by mail, called their fundrive, to raise funds gives us a very in-depth understanding of why – what without ever leaving your seat.
that support lifesaving initiatives and other community are the triggers that lead people away, and what can we
outreach programs in our area. These are the men and do to overcome them?”
women who respond to our 911 emergencies 24/7. In At Communities Connected for Kids, that means
addition to saving lives and putting out fires, they give reviewing recommendations every time the study released
of themselves in multiple ways to their community. findings from a new wave and implementing changes on
With 2020 being an extremely challenging year for the local level.
ARC and all nonprofits, with lost revenues from canceled, CCKids Director of Organizational Development and
yet relied upon, fundraisers, the donation was truly a gift Learning Nicky Smith said those changes include ensuring
from angels, one that will assist the ARC in their ability that what is taught in preservice training is an accurate
to provide much needed services to over 400 children reflection of real-world experiences. “Our CCKids
and adults across the Treasure Coast with intellectual training specialists are in the field to provide mentoring The Nortons and their foster and adoptive family
and developmental disabilities. and coaching support, and to ensure consistency between
The ARC of Martin County, (Advocates for the the information provided in the classroom and field Good Works on page 7
Rights of the Challenged) is a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit
organization dedicated to empowering children and adults
with intellectual and developmental disabilities to achieve
their fullest potential through residential, vocational,
educational, behavioral, and other healthcare services.
“Our goal,” said ARC President and CEO Keith
Muniz, “is to provide support, assistance and training
that will enhance the abilities for children and adults with
disabilities to thrive each day and achieve their fullest
potential. Without the support from our many wonderful
partners and individuals, we would not be able to provide
many of the supports that we currently do.”
Find out how you can support and empower these
amazing children and adults today, visit our website
at https://www.arcmc.org; and follow us on Facebook,
Instagram and LinkedIn. We are all angels … just learning
how to fly.

Retention Study Reveals Hard
Truth

A multiyear study that followed 1,500 newly trained
child-welfare professionals for five years wrapped up
earlier this year with these not-so-startling results:
social work – particularly the work of dependency case
managers and child protective investigators – is hard.
In fact, the study found that 81 percent of those who
signed on to the study had left their hiring agencies by
the final wave of surveys. Many of those employees,
however, remained in the child-welfare field but at a
different agency or in a different position.
Communities Connected for Kids, the nonprofit
organization that oversees the child-welfare system in
Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties,
experienced a slightly better retention rate, with 76.5
percent of participants leaving the agency.
Employees who left their hiring agency indicated