Rural Child Welfare Practice: Experiences of Burnout and Commitment From Child Protective Services Workers and Supervisors

Rural child welfare agencies face persistent workforce challenges, yet little research has examined how these workers navigate burnout while sustaining commitment to their profession. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with 27 caseworkers and supervisors, the current study explored how rural child welfare workers experience burnout while maintaining commitment to the profession. Guided by concepts of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction, findings highlight how emotionally demanding work, workforce shortages, and limited resources contribute to worker burnout. At the same time, participants described meaningful relationships with children and families, a strong sense of purpose, and deep community connections as key sources of professional fulfillment that support continued commitment to child welfare practice. Policy implications include a greater investment into rural areas for both child welfare services specifically and social services more generally; and intentional organizational practices to build on the strengths of the rural caseworkers.