Satisfaction of contract provider agencies with a State's Child Welfare Agency

In a time when more and more services are being “outsourced” by state agencies to private service providers, few studies have examined the relationship between the public agencies and contract providers from the perspective of the latter. Administrators of all provider agencies holding contracts with a Midwestern state's child welfare agency received a survey asking them about their experiences with and perceptions of the state agency. The relationship between the state agency and its contract provider agencies appeared to be generally positive. Respondents were particularly satisfied with their primary contact person from the state agency. Respondents from smaller agencies and from agencies serving relatively more minority clients, however, reported significantly lower satisfaction on some measures. Problems cited by this Midwestern state's contract providers centered on the frequency and quality of their interactions with the state agency (especially communication problems), and the timeliness of their payments. Consistent with these findings, interaction quality and timeliness of payments emerged as the most important predictors of contract providers' willingness to continue their relationship with the state agency.