Table Of ContentContemporary Social Work Practice
Helen Cahalane Editor
Contemporary
Issues in
Child Welfare
Practice
C ontemporary Social Work Practice
Series Editor
Christina E. Newhill
F or further volumes:
h ttp://www.springer.com/series/8853
H elen C ahalane
E ditor
C ontemporary Issues
in Child Welfare Practice
E ditor
H elen C ahalane
C hild Welfare Education
and Research Programs
School of Social Work
University of Pittsburgh
P ittsburgh, P A, USA
I SBN 978-1-4614-8626-8 ISBN 978-1-4614-8627-5 (eBook)
D OI 10.1007/978-1-4614-8627-5
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P refa ce
C hild welfare is the oldest specialization within social work practice and the only
specialty area in which social work is the host profession. Following the creation of
agencies devoted to child protective services across the country, the recognition of
battered child syndrome, and the initiation of state and federal mandatory child
abuse and neglect reporting laws, child welfare entered into a period beginning in
the 1970s where the need to provide child protection required a workforce greater
than the number of social work practitioners with a specialization in child welfare
services. High personnel vacancy and turnover rates, less-than-desirable educa-
tional levels of staff, court determinations of inadequate service, and a dearth of
evidence-based practice models have contributed to the challenges experienced in
the child welfare system. At the same time, the need to educate child welfare profes-
sionals has been acknowledged for several decades. Increased recognition has been
given to the provision of services that result in measurable outcomes. There is also
increasing demand for the implementation of practice models that are driven by
evidence and for child welfare policies and practices to be informed by, and respon-
sive to, the youth and families who are served by the child protection system. The
recognition of organizational factors in infl uencing child welfare service delivery;
the retention of staff; and the outcomes achieved by children, youth, and families
have also resulted in a greater emphasis on effective organizational functioning and
the importance of larger systems-level intervention in child welfare.
C hild welfare practice is at a critical period of re-professionalization. Driving
forces in child welfare services reform include professional education of the work-
force, training and effective skill transfer to the fi eld, the implementation of
evidence-i nformed practices, demonstration of measurable outcomes and cost
effectiveness, attainment of performance standards, organizational excellence and
continuous quality improvement, and the provision of community-based, client-
informed models of service. Increased attention has been directed toward supervi-
sory practices and the importance of effective supervision in supporting a workforce
challenged by continual exposure to trauma; compliance with a myriad of policy
mandates; staff shortages due to worker turnover; position freezes or eliminations;
v
vi Preface
and fi nancing that is inadequate, infl exible, and geared toward institutional forms of
care. Clearly, the child welfare profession is at a critical juncture. Prior models of
practice and service delivery; the education, training, supervision, and support pro-
vided to the workforce; and the organizational structure and effectiveness of child
welfare agencies are being challenged by the demand for outcome measurement,
evidence-based practice, and youth- and family-driven policies and services.
F ew practice-oriented books are written for social workers who specialize in
child welfare services. This volume fi lls the gap by providing a unique and compre-
hensive overview of contemporary practice issues relevant to child welfare profes-
sionals who are entering the fi eld, as well as those already working in direct service
and management positions. This book can be used not only by undergraduate and
graduate students in social work but also by researchers and practitioners who have
an interest in intervention related to child abuse and neglect at the individual, fam-
ily, community, and organizational level. The emphasis is placed upon systemic,
integrated, and evidence-driven practices that are in keeping with child welfare’s
core mission of child protection, child and family well-being, family support, and
permanency for youth. Case examples are provided to connect theory with practice
and to incorporate the voice and perspective of youth, families, caregivers, and child
welfare caseworkers. Both challenges and opportunities are addressed within the
context of the contemporary practice environment that is increasingly driven by fi s-
cal limitations, the attainment of defi ned outcomes, and the need for an informed,
professionalized child welfare workforce.
T his volume begins with foundational material related to child-serving systems
of care by placing child welfare within the spectrum of community-based services
and supports for children and youth with or at risk for challenges across a range of
life domains. In Chap. 1 , “Child Welfare Practice in a Systems of Care Framework,”
Marlo Perry and Rachel Fusco highlight the evolution of an integrated approach to
providing services to children and families across categorical systems. They focus
on the challenges and opportunities unique to the child welfare system in maintain-
ing the core values of a child-centered, community-based, and linguistically and
culturally competent approach to care that includes partnership with families. This
theme of partnership and inclusion is taken up by Fusco and Mary Elizabeth Rauktis
in Chap. 2 , “They Brought Me in Like I Was Their Own Kid: Youth and Caregiver
Perceptions of Out-of-Home Care.” The authors provide powerful, fi rsthand
accounts from parents and children who have experienced separation and loss as
result of out-of-home care, prompting social workers and other helping profession-
als to recognize that home and family are critical to one’s identity. Fusco and Rauktis
remind us that when placement is unavoidable, we must ensure that youth and their
families are being nurtured, supported, and connected.
I n keeping with an increased emphasis on strengths-based and family-centered
approaches to care, the child welfare fi eld has become more focused on effective
engagement strategies. In Chap. 3 , “Family Engagement Strategies in Child Welfare
Practice,” Helen Cahalane and Carol Anderson focus on the unique opportunity for
engaging with families in a partnership focused on solutions and change, despite the
involuntary nature of involvement with the child welfare system. Practical
Preface vii
engagement strategies are provided for child welfare professionals who are faced
with the complex task of forming a therapeutic relationship that will help families
make diffi cult changes. The origin, theoretical base, key elements, method of deliv-
ery, and evidence base of two models of child welfare intervention, Family Group
Decision Making and Family Finding, are summarized to illustrate practices that
effectively engage youth and families by facilitating connections between children
and their family network.
T ransformation of the child welfare system from one of legal authority over
youth and families to one of partnership and collaborative decision making is fur-
ther examined by exploring best practices related to establishing permanency and
the successful transition of youth to adulthood. Caroline Donohue, Cynthia Bradley-
King and Helen Cahalane tackle the various forms that permanency may take for
children and youth receiving child welfare services in Chap. 4 , “Permanency.” They
consider options involving biological family members, relatives, fi ctive kin, adop-
tive families, and/or long-term foster families. While recognizing that reunifi cation,
legal guardianship, and adoption all provide opportunities for a long-term sense of
connectedness, Donohue, Bradley-King and Cahalane argue that no placement, ser-
vice, or effort at larger scale community building can thrive in the absence of a
committed federal effort to reorganize child welfare fi nancing.
I n Chap. 5 , “Transitioning into Adulthood: Promoting Youth Engagement,
Empowerment, and Interdependence Through Teaming Practices,” Rauktis, Ben
Kerman, and Chereese Phillips provide a synthesis of family and youth teaming
models. They describe the important leadership role of youth and the essential need
for a supporting cast of family members as young persons transition into adulthood,
using the case illustration of a story not unusual among the 254,162 children who
entered foster care in 2012. Highlighting the growing evidence that suggests that
family and youth teaming practices such as Family Group Decision Making, Team
Decision Making, and Lifelong Family Connections offer a variety of options for
building secure interdependence for youth and a lasting support network to draw on
in the future, Rauktis, Kerman, and Phillips illustrate the ways in which teaming
practices that respect youth voice, promote emerging autonomy, and engage a broad
support system represent a needed step beyond traditional life skills curricula,
which focus on transitioning youth in isolation.
C hild welfare systems must be equipped with a competent workforce that is
capable and ready for the diffi cult work of child protection. The effectiveness of
child welfare services is dependent in large part upon the skills and acumen of the
caseworkers who work with youth and families. Chapters 6 and 7 provide cutting-
edge information to build cultural competence and cultural humility with specifi c
youth populations receiving child protective services. Elizabeth Winter elucidates
the elevated risks to the safety, well-being, and permanency of sexual minority
youth in Chap. 6 , “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, and Queer
Youth: The Challenge for Child Welfare.” She begins with the defi nitions of each of
the LGBTQ groups and then presents a thorough and comprehensive review of the
relevant literature to highlight particular challenges experienced by LGBTQ youth
both generally and in the child welfare system. Winter then explores the myths,
viii Preface
misperceptions, and facts of LGBTQ culture in child welfare and discusses the need
for an LGBTQ-inclusive organizational culture within the child welfare system. In
Chap. 7 , “Race, Disparity, and Culture in Child Welfare,” Bradley-King, Perry, and
Donohue survey the empirical literature and emphasize the central issue of racial
disproportionality in child welfare. They begin by reviewing relevant terms and
providing an overview of racial demographics in the USA and in the child welfare
system, then provide a historical context, and fi nally, review different positions in a
debate about disproportionality. The authors conclude with a discussion of cultural
competence and cultural humility, calling upon caseworkers to thoughtfully con-
sider how race and culture intersect with social and economic risk factors that con-
tribute to child welfare outcomes.
P rofessional development of the child welfare workforce is discussed by Anita
Barbee and Marcia Martin in their overview of the knowledge and skills a child
welfare worker must possess. In Chap. 8 , “Skill-Based Training and Transfer of
Learning,” these seasoned and experienced child welfare academicians and research-
ers recognize the critical importance of preparing the child welfare workforce to
address the complexities of achieving safety, permanency, and well-being for chil-
dren and families who present with multiple needs and a host of challenges involv-
ing concrete resources, social support, and personal autonomy. Barbee and Martin
point out that classroom training builds a foundation that must be reinforced in the
fi eld through coaching, mentoring, and specifi c feedback on key practice behaviors.
They also elucidate the fact that simply possessing knowledge and skills is insuffi -
cient; child welfare workers must be able to translate a sense of knowing and doing
into distinct situations by transferring learning as they engage with each new client
and each new situation.
C hild welfare work is extraordinarily rewarding and full of opportunities to make
a critical difference in the lives of children and families. With this also comes the
diffi culty of dealing with the stressful aspects of the job and exposure to the details
of the suffering of maltreated children and their families. Added to the mix for both
individuals and organizations are environmental stressors, such as a lack of under-
standing of the work of child welfare and the ambivalence of a society that recog-
nizes the need to safeguard vulnerable children on one hand while also viewing
child welfare intervention with suspicion and mistrust. In Chap. 9 , “Stress and Child
Welfare Work,” Winter describes the individual and organizational exposure to trau-
matic events that is an ongoing reality in child protective services. She details the
signifi cant distress that can affect individuals, their quality of work, and the atmo-
sphere within child welfare organizations and provides an overview of suggested
ways that agencies, administrators, supervisors, and caseworkers can work toward
self-care within a trauma-informed culture. Likewise, supervision is an important
factor in creating an agency culture that is responsive and attuned to the needs of
child welfare workers. A number of studies have confi rmed that supervision not
only is critical for worker satisfaction and retention but also has an impact on the
quality and outcomes of services provided to children and families. Rauktis and
Tammy Thomas address the challenge of keeping committed, compassionate, and
well-educated workers in the fi eld of child protection in Chap. 1 0, “Refl ective
Preface ix
Practices in Supervision: Why Thinking and Refl ecting Are as Important as Doing.”
Using examples from a qualitative study of caseworker decision making, they
describe refl ective supervision and other refl ective practices that offer the potential
to move child welfare work beyond a narrow focus on investigation of abuse and
compliance with procedural mandates. Rauktis and Thomas propose that refl ective
supervision practices help workers manage the stressful nature of child welfare
work by providing a space to refl ect on their own thoughts and feelings. Thus, child
welfare practice can move to a point where thinking, problem solving, and explor-
ing emotions are part of standard practice, ultimately improving the decisions that
are made when working with children and families.
C hild welfare practice occurs within the context of dynamic, multifaceted orga-
nizational systems that are ripe with opportunities to positively impact children,
families, and the professionals who dedicate their careers to improving the lives of
young persons. As with all complex, hierarchical social structures, child welfare
agencies can vary in performance and effi ciency. In Chap. 1 1 , “Organizational
Effectiveness Strategies for Child Welfare,” Phil Basso, Helen Cahalane, Jon Rubin,
and Kathy Jones Kelley describe a practice model for enhancing agency function-
ing, capacity, and ability to meet client outcomes. Drawing on applied work in orga-
nizational development, performance management, quality improvement,
organizational learning, and leadership, the authors delineate a set of key strategies
for helping child welfare agencies leverage their strengths, address performance
gaps, and continuously improve across all areas of work. The parallels between
intervention with individuals, groups, families, and communities and the process of
organizational effectiveness within child welfare agencies are highlighted through
the use of case examples that illustrate both micro and macro practice. Megan Good,
Erin Dalton, and Marc Cherna demonstrate the critical connection between case-
work practice and organizational performance in Chap. 1 2, “Managing for Outcomes
in Child Welfare.” These authors provide social workers with a greater understand-
ing of how performance is measured and monitored in child welfare, fi rst describing
the process of federal accountability and then discussing the principles necessary to
implement continuous quality improvement within a child welfare framework.
A case study demonstrates that performance tools and data serve a purpose beyond
simply reporting and monitoring. Good, Dalton, and Cherna argue that agencies
with cultures that embrace continuous quality improvement and feedback from all
levels of the organization are those most able to utilize information to their advan-
tage in improving the lives of children and families.
I n sum, this volume is designed to enhance the knowledge, skills, and compe-
tence of social workers who practice in the fi eld of child welfare. Given the enor-
mous responsibility for protecting children, supporting families, and assuring
permanency for youth, the authors hope that this volume contributes to increased
knowledge and effectiveness in child welfare practice, a fi eld described as one of the
toughest jobs you will ever love.
P ittsburgh, P A, USA H elen C ahalane
