The impact of the number of caseworkers on youth protection service dissatisfaction
Youth under the care of Quebec’s youth protection services are required to meet a large number of new caseworkers, due mainly to staff turnover, but also the organizational structure of these services. The number of caseworkers likely impacts the provided quality of service. Using data from the longitudinal Youth Leaving Care study (EDJeP), we examine the relationship between the number of assigned caseworkers and service dissatisfaction among youths aging out of placement care. Two indicators are used to examine satisfaction with the services received by EDJeP youth : satisfaction with the help received from caseworkers and satisfaction with the placement experience. Our logistic regression analysis reveals a negative relationship between the number of assigned caseworkers and service satisfaction : a higher number of caseworkers is related to service dissatisfaction. Lastly, we discuss the implications of these findings, including instability, staff turnover, hiring, case assignment and case transfers.