Moving Child Welfare Forward
Achieving Positive Outcomes for Children, Youth and Families

Class Two: Serving Children, Youth and Families -- Practice Perspectives

Topics

• Child welfare practice today with a focus on practice aimed at achieving safety, permanency and well-being for children, youth and families
• Diversity and multiculturalism
• What is a family?
• Involving families in decision-making throughout the casework process

Learning Objectives

When this class is complete the student should be able to:

• Identify the major phases in the casework process and the goal of each phase
• Discuss diversity and multiculturalism as they impact child welfare practice
• Explain recent trends in child welfare practice, including concurrent planning, family centered practice, kinship care and permanency planning
• Analyze the impact of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) on child welfare practice.

Suggested Assignments

• Student paper, 3-5 double spaced pages: Students will be asked to define and analyze the impact of ASFA on one aspect of casework practice, i.e., permanency planning, kinship care, family preservation, Termination of Parental Rights (TPR), family centered practice, concurrent planning, tightened time frames.

Suggested In-class Activities

• Video and discussion: Introduction to Mediation, Family Group Conferencing and Concurrent Planning: Pathways to Permanence.
• Discuss the major phases of the casework process.
• Small group activity: discuss possible challenges to caseworkers when assessing the needs of and planning services with children and families from diverse cultural, linguistic and ethnic backgrounds.
• Small group activity: A key finding of the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) is that the interactions a family has with the agency have very powerful effects on achieving positive outcomes for children, youth and families. What happens between the caseworker and the family during visits and contacts, how families’ needs are assessed and matched to services, the quality of the case planning and effectiveness of strategies used to engage the family can significantly impact outcomes. Break into 3 small groups: engagement, assessment and case planning. Ask each group to answer the following questions and prepare to report their discussion to the class:
  • What is the goal of this phase of the case work process?
  • What is the role of the social worker in this phase of the process?
  • What is the role of the family in this phase of the process?
  • What issues could arise in this phase of the process that could prevent achievement of positive outcomes and how can those issues be avoided?

Ask each small group to debrief with the whole class, process the reports back and then repeat the activity for the three other phases of the casework process, service implementation, monitoring and evaluation and closure.

Suggested Readings

• Bernstein, Nina. (2001). The Lost Children of Wilder: The Epic Struggle to Change Foster Care. New York: Random House. Part two.
• Cohen, Neil, A. (2000). Child Welfare: A Multicultural Focus. 2nd Ed. Chapter 3: The Continuum of Child Welfare Services. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 41-86. Describes various problems impacting children, youth and families with an emphasis on changes in the family structure and the increased role of women in the workplace.
• Crosson-Tower, Cynthia. (2002). Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect. 5th Ed. Chapter 16: The Social Worker and the System. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, pp. 350-364. Describes a ‘typical’ day in the life of a child protective worker.
• McCroskey, J. and Meezan, W. (Spring 1998). The Future of Children: Protecting Children From Abuse and Neglect. Family Centered Services: Approaches and Effectiveness. Vol. 8, No. 1. Describes an approach to serving children that helps stressed families prevent child abuse/neglect before it begins or enables families to provide appropriate care for their children.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. (November 2000) Rethinking Child Welfare Practice Under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, pp. 28 - 42. Provides a framework for reframing child welfare practice, supervision and management to reflect the intent of ASFA.

Suggested Videos

• Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. Introduction to Mediation, Family Group Conferencing and Concurrent Planning: Pathways to Permanence. Time 30:00. The video can be ordered, at no cost, from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, 4288 West Dublin-Granville Rd., Dublin, OH 43017 by calling 1-800-275-3832 or on line at www.davethomasfoundationforadoption.org. Looks at child protective services through the eyes of a former foster child.
• Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute and the Children’s Friend and Service of Rhode Island. Changing Child Welfare Practice. Time 12:00. This video can be ordered from the Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute, 401.456.4627 or www.ric.edu/cwi. The cost is $15.00 for the video (VHS or DVD format). This video defines Family Centered Practice and the related benefits to families, children and workers.
• Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute and the Children’s Friend and Service of Rhode Island. Best Practices Approaches. Time 23:00. This video can be ordered from the Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute, www.ric.edu/cwi or 401.456.4627. The cost is $15.00 for the video (VHS or DVD format). This video explores the components of Family Centered Practice and provides an understanding of the positive results.

Supplemental Reference Material

Readings

• Brown, A.W., & Bailey, E.B. (Jan./Feb.1997). An Out-of-home Care System in Crisis: Implications for African American Children in the Child Welfare System. Child Welfare, Vol. 76, Issue 1.
• Glantz, T. & Herz, L. (July 2004) Child Welfare Today, Enhancing Child Welfare practice and Outcomes for Children and Families: A Family Centered Approach, Rhode Island Child Welfare Institute.
• Horejsi, C., Heavy Runner Craig, B., & Pablo, J. (1992). Reactions by Native American Parents to Child Protection Agencies: Cultural and Community Factors. Child Welfare, 62(4), 329-342.

On-Line Resources

• www.rom.ku.edu University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, web-based training on results oriented management, Section 3: Evidence Based Practice for Achieving Outcomes highlights good practice for promoting outcomes.
  

Introduction

Objectives

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