Development of a Measure of Child Welfare Practice Excellence

Abstract

Purpose: Many elements contribute to practice excellence within child welfare services, yet there are limited measures available to assess these elements. This article describes the process of developing and pilot-testing a measure of child welfare practice excellence. Method: The Elements of Child Welfare Practice (ECWP) measure was developed following an extensive literature review, with input from child welfare research experts and an anti-colonial practitioner. The ECWP was part of a comprehensive online survey administered during site visits with three Indigenous child welfare agencies in Canada. Results: Polychoric correlations and ordinal alpha revealed the ECWP had strong internal consistency and convergent validity. The ECWP had three subscales related to the importance and delivery of practice elements, and workers’ perception of their practice. Conclusions: This measure showed the potential to be useful in assessing the degree to which child welfare workers intend to and actually engage in elements associated with practice excellence.