Preparing Social Workers for Child Welfare Practice: Lessons from an Historical Review of the Literature

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Joan Levy Zlotnik
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
Review Of The Literature

Reframing the Orphan Mandate

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 33-49
Author(s):  
Bonni Goodwin ◽  
Angela Pharris ◽  
Dallas Pettigrew
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Liberation Theology ◽  
Colonial America ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Indian Child Welfare Act ◽  
Faith Tradition ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Indigenous Children

Caring for the orphan is a biblical mandate for those who follow the Christian faith tradition. Yet, far too often, this charge has led to coercion and exploitation of marginalized populations. This manuscript will examine this phenomenon through the adoption of Indigenous people starting in colonial America, when Christian missionaries from Europe believed it was their spiritual obligation to “save” young Indigenous children from their “heathen” culture. This belief still shapes many adoption practices today. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) is presented as a step towards legal reparations for the harm done to Indigenous people during this time period. The idea of reparations is discussed as a vital step towards another Christian biblical mandate calling for active repair of broken relationships. Ultimately, this manuscript concludes with an application of the model of praxis from liberation theology to reframe how Christian social workers may approach caring for the orphan.

Challenges of Street-Level Child Welfare Reform and Technology Transfer: The Case of Team Decisionmaking

2008 ◽  
Vol 89 (4) ◽  
pp. 512-520 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Crampton ◽  
Thomas M. Crea ◽  
Anne Abramson-Madden ◽  
Charles L. Usher
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Welfare Reform ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Research Team ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Diverse Communities ◽  
Child Welfare Reform

Team Decisionmaking (TDM) involves a meeting of community representatives, family members, and social workers who review every decision to remove children from their parents or change of placement, including reunification or adoption. Even when the leadership of child welfare organizations mandates the use of TDM, implementing TDM is very challenging. To understand these challenges, a research team visited five diverse communities and conducted 74 focus groups and interviews involving 180 administrators, caseworkers, community partners, supervisors, and TDM facilitators. This article reviews the findings of this TDM study through previous research on street-level bureaucracy and technology transfer. The results suggest successful TDM implementation requires attention to the discretion of street-level caseworkers and the organizational constraints they face.

scholarly journals First Nations Women Workers' Speak, Write and Research Back: Child Welfare and Decolonizing Stories

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Reid
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Women Workers ◽  
First Nations ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Meaningful Work ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Holistic Health ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
First Nations Women

This research is a similar study to Gold’s (1998) study on the promotion of physical and mental health of mainstream female social workers in child welfare. Six First Nations women Child and Family Service (CFS) Social Workers (FNWCFSSW’s) who work in First Nations agencies gathered with me to share individual and collective stories about our CFS experiences. First Nations women and I discussed the impacts of our work on our holistic health, how we coped with the work, and strategies to deal with the issues that we face. This study outlines the research process that we engaged in, and, essentially weaves together the challenges, resilience, innovations, and unique experiences of First Nations women CFS Social Workers in a First Nations setting under a delegated authority model. As a result of these discussions five major themes were identified. The five themes that emerged from this study include the stress of dual accountability, the stresses of unrealistic expectations and multiple roles, the emotional costs and benefits of the intensity of the relationships, the fact that meaningful work gives strength and how the women coped and maintained their holistic health. This study reveals the important need for future participatory research to be conducted with FNWCFSSW and First Nations peoples. Ultimately, this paper speaks to the importance of changing the nature of along-term colonial relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples within the child welfare system and in dominant mainstream research processes.

The Future of Decision Making in Child Welfare Practice: The Development of an Explicit Criteria Model for Decision Making

1985 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Meddin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Placement Decision ◽  
Decision Making Model ◽  
Explicit Criteria

AbstractThe paper examines the impact that a decision making model can have on child placement decisions. Using a pre and post test design with three different conditions, the research investigated the ability to increase the consistency of the placement decision by the use of a decision making model that includes explicit criteria.The study found that consistency of decision making was enhanced by the provision of the decision making model and that consistency could be further enhanced by the provision of training in the model. Implications for training of new workers and reduction of worker stress and burnout are discussed.The incident of child abuse and neglect continues to rise. The National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect estimates that approximately one million children will be abused or neglected this year in the United States. In the State of Illinois alone, during fiscal year 1981 nearly 80,000 reports of abuse or neglect were received. Almost 50% of those reports were found to be actual cases of abuse or neglect.Whether the incident in Australia of child abuse and neglect is increasing or not is difficult to assess, since currently there is no standardised way of collecting data. However, from all indicators a similar increase is indeed occurring. Boss in his book, “On the Side of the Child”, reports that the number of cases seen by the Western Australian Department of Community Welfare has steadily increased. This is corroborated by statistics compiled by that State’s Advisory and Consultative Committee in Child Abuse (ACCCA). Their Statistical Information Report for July-December 1983 indicates an 86% increase in reports of sexual abuse and 12.5% increase in physical abuse. In Queensland the number of child abuse and/or neglect case investigations went from 1 095 in 1981 to 1 631 in 1982 – an increase of more than one third. In Tasmania between 1980 to 1982 the number of reports increased by nearly one-third, from 228-302. The Montrose Child Protection and Family Crisis Unit of the Department of Youth and Community Services in New South Wales report similar increases.On almost a daily basis, social workers are called upon to make far reaching decisions that have the potential to be a life consequential both for the child who is the victim of abuse and/or neglect and that child’s family. Because these decisions, especially the placement decision, have such great ramifications, social workers should be expected to make decisions with great care, consideration and consistency. This may be due, in part because agencies have been slow to explicate, empirically validate, and systematically apply decision making criteria that assist workers in making case decisions.While research indicates that criteria do exist and are used by child welfare workers, the research also indicates that they are not used in any systematic fashion. The result is that idiosyncratic decisions are invited and the potential spectre of gross inequities in the delivery of social services exists. Unless asystematic, consensually based decision making model is used that explicates both the decisions that need to be made along with a specific set of criteria for making these decisions, it is impossible for the child welfare agency to guarantee a minimum level of service delivery.

Self-Care in an Era of Pathos: The Effects of the Trump Presidency on the Well-Being of Social Workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-107
Author(s):  
Sharon E. Moore ◽  
A. Christson Adedoyin ◽  
Sharon D. Jones-Eversley ◽  
Carla M. Curtis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Self Care ◽  
First Responders ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Egalitarian Society

ObjectiveThe importance of self-care for social workers as first responders is underscored in light of the sociopolitical, economic, and pandemic challenges that accompanied the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president of the United States.MethodsWe conducted an extensive review of the literature on the conceptualization, dimensions, benefits, importance, and indispensability of self-care for social workers, especially in stressful socio-political and toxic work environments. Chaos theory served as the theoretical scaffold of our research.ResultsInevitably our research found that the ability of social workers to effectively serve as first responders during chaotic times depends on a proactive and consistent practice of self-care by social workers as an essential best practice.ConclusionsThe consequences of the policies of the 45th president of the United States have taken their toll on the citizenry, with the increase in stress in the nation. Undoubtedly, social workers as first responders, therapists, and educators are at the receiving end of ensuing political and socioeconomic uncertainties. We posit that for social workers to remain steadfast, unshakable, and abiding in the solemn pursuit of social justice and an egalitarian society, this is the era for social workers to embrace and persistently practice self-care.

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