Redefining Child Welfare
Child Welfare’s technical definition is “a field of services that aims to protect children and ensure family have the tools to care for their children successfully.” However, if we take a look at the direction Child Welfare and our roles as social workers, you may quickly see it is not just about protection and care. What do I mean by this? Well let’s take a look at Child Protective Services (CPS), for example.
CPS has a sole purpose of investigating abuse and neglect allegations. Their first step in intervening is when they receive an allegation report. Then it’s to investigate and interview. After that the CPS worker has to make a final decision as to whether or not they have grounds to remove the child from their home. During the investigative process the CPS worker interviews multiple people that may have seen or heard what has been going on inside the home. This includes, but is not confined to, the parents, alleged abuser, caregiver, and children in the home. This is where a social worker must keep their promise of being a listener, acknowledging culture(s), being non-racist, and being an overall good person that wants to see positive change for the better of the family. No, CPS doesn’t want to just snatch children out of their homes because they think it’s fun. They want to see the family heal and possibly stay together if the child isn’t in any danger.
Just based on the role of CPS, Child Welfare’s current definition still stands, but it doesn’t include the vast “tools” social workers must have to care for the children. The redefinition of Child Welfare that I came up with: Child Welfare provides a range of supportive services for family’s and their children by involving knowledgeable and exemplary workers with a passion for understanding every unique circumstance. 1
Child Welfare is there to help children get out of sketchy situations. But, how can we change the child welfare approach to make it more holistic for everyone involved?2 After some brief searching I came across Wraparound Services. What is Wraparound? Wraparound is a client-based service delivery system. This means that when a family comes to you for help, instead of giving them a bunch of resources that you think may work, you ask them which programs they would like to try out. Wraparound Services work best when a majority of the family wants to heal to prevent the removal of a child. Another way Child Welfare can take a more holistic approach is by using family preservation. Family preservation techniques provide the parents and children with education and support in a non-judgmental environment. This helps the entire family learn about their trauma and helps the parents move in the right direction to give their children every opportunity they can. Some examples of programs include family therapy, parenting classes, and family violence intervention programs.
Engagement of Children & Families
Speaking of including children and families in the Child Welfare process, we can’t forget about the inclusivity of marginalized and/or underserved communities. They are often separated from the bigger picture and need a revolutionary social worker to aid them in voicing their concerns for their families well-being. For social workers on the micro levels, they can begin to use Wraparound Services to ensure they get the best care possible that is customized to the family’s specific needs. This will help underserved communities find food assistance programs, mental health assistance, and many more adjusted to their location.
On the macro level, social workers can become a voice for marginalized communities by getting involved in town meetings, legislation, etc. They can also help build on what the community already has instead of knocking it down for what it doesn’t. For example, there’s a heavy need for childcare and there’s an excessive amount of retirees that want something to do in their spare time. Maybe suggest in the next town get-together that the grandparents who have space in their home and hearts, open their doors to a couple of children. Of course this would have to be run by several state laws first, because they wouldn’t be running a daycare. However, it would be a great way for the community to help each other.
For Child Welfare to keep up with its forever changing community, as social workers, we should continuously learn, engage, and reflect.
- Learn: Participate in cultural classes that pertain to the community you live in, keep up with current social work practices, and learn from what clients have to say. After all, the families we serve have an insight on high traffic problem areas.
- Engage: Speak with the community we serve in and see where we can step in to help, participate in community events to spread program awareness, and ask the families what we can do better to help them.
- Reflect: Reflect inwards on our mistakes, what we think we can improve on, and revolutionize our thinking to better serve our community.
Systemic Change & Advocacy
For me to even begin thinking about systemic change and how to advocate for it, I wanted to narrow down to a singular topic; caseloads. This is the biggest problem I’ve heard every single time I even begin to mention Child Welfare or Social Work. Among this issue is continuous burnout. Burnout is something that happens to all of us (eventually) for those who consistently overwork themselves. However, we all need a break every once in a while in order to reset our minds. Breaks are essential to keeping focus and keeping up all of the hard work to the best of our ability. I think to change how we view caseloads, case workers need mental health breaks. Whether this means a small room where there’s literally just a coffee maker and a comfortable chair that you can visit when you are feeling overwhelmed in the middle of the work day or coming up with a plan to get an extra day off every once in a while to spend time with your own family. In the future, we are going to have to advocate so much for our community that we might forget to advocate for ourselves. That’s why I wanted to focus on caseloads.
Shifting the focus to not just social workers, but those who are involved in the community. They are able to collaborate with Child Welfare workers by starting early intervention programs.3 Early intervention programs aren’t like the typical school structure. School’s who participate in early intervention have consistent contact with families. At the beginning of the school year, they sit the parents down and ask what they would like to see their child learn while enrolled. Then, the school will take these goals into consideration when teaching the child. Early intervention aims to support healthy childhood development. This helps prevent childhood trauma from occurring or at least decreasing the chances of it. This program points to community involvement in systemic and revolutionary change in child welfare.
- The definition I came up with kind of reminds me of Farmer’s Insurance and the their slogan. “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.” ↩︎
- Alright, I must admit, I used ChatGPT for this one because I’m way too focused on a lot of other things that are going on in my life right now. One of them being child care for my little one. With that in mind, out of all the answers ChatGPT gave me, I decided to further explore Wraparound services outside of ChatGPT. ↩︎
- This idea came from looking into daycares earlier. You can see where my mind is today: child care. ↩︎
Neveah Reese
This was incredibly thorough and informative. I feel like you have a many great ideas on how to get the child protective services to function with more effectiveness and competence of families. I believe that your redefined definition, “Child Welfare provides a range of supportive services for families and their children by involving knowledgeable and exemplary workers with a passion for understanding every unique circumstance.” SHOULD be the definition and mission of CPS. Working closely with the family side of the process, specifically parents currently battling CPS cases, there are way too many times that children are taken from homes for unreasonable reasons. Instead of finding way to help these families, they system is disconnected, overworked, and seem to lack compassion. I think CPS is an important system and I am one of the biggest ado vacate for children’s health and safety, but I also think that reform is needed, and lighter caseloads (as you mentioned), further training, and more awareness is crucial for truly helping and protecting families in our communities.
Jaelynn Anderson
I completely agree with you! I am on the outside, looking in and a reform is needed! I want to believe in the system, but it appears to not be working. Maybe with more wholesome people like you, CPS will come together for its original intentions along with the things you mentioned (further training, lighter caseloads, and more awareness).
John Da Broi
I have never had a experience with CPS but have heard other peoples experiences from it and I think it could be truly traumatizing for young children being taken away from the only thing they may love being their parents because they don’t know yet but they are not in a environment that is promoting a healthy and safe environment.
Ian Miller
Hi Jaelynn! Your points about caseloads and burnout are so accurate. Any case manager, CPS or other, are all over worked and to go to a job that is so reactive to the environment and communities they serve, it is no wonder that the turnover rate is so high and the retention rate is so low. It reminds me of the metaphor of the river where people keep falling in and getting swept downstream. Luckily, not far downstream there is a village and a couple of the members have become well known for rescuing these individuals who keep surfacing near their houses. But nobody is asking the important questions: where are these people coming from and why are they falling into the river. Early intervention programs and prevention programs are few and far between. I remember when I was struggling financially and was at risk for losing my house. I went to the local programs for assistance and because I hadn’t defaulted yet, there was no help available. Instead of preventative and early intervention services, they would only help me if I was already in the negative.
I love that you touched on parenting classes. That is another huge gap that I have seen in communities. Especially since many courts will require parents to attend these classes but the community doesn’t provide the service. So frustrating!
Jaelynn Anderson
Super important questions! I remember growing up when my parents tried to apply for SNAP benefits and they ended up not qualifying because they made slightly too much, but the food on our table was few and far between. It made no sense to me then and it doesn’t now. I hope we can shed light on preventative and early intervention services. Maybe that’ll be my next project for this class.
Ben Woods
Hi there Jaelynn, great post! I wanted to shed a little light on burnout and caseload. This isn’t the only career that is having trouble with this. It’s law enforcement, fire service, the medical field, the legal field, corrections, and so many more. I recently watched a YouTube video on burnout and the message I got was that burnout is caused when you put so much time and energy into something you’re passionate about and never see a return. Doing that process over and over again can make you question what efforts you’re exerting are actually making a difference. I think you’re idea about child welfare. If a community that is struggling creates a way to come together and support each other, then I feel that community will improve overall. I believe we all have the helping hand characteristic when we see someone in need. When we see someone grieving, hurt, and or scared, we have a tendency to offer our assistance to hopefully improve the situation. Think about when natural disasters happen, people will invite a stranger into their car with no room left to help escape a wildfire or a hurricane. They see value in life! That’s amazing!
Jaelynn Anderson
Burnout is increasingly growing despite all of the research that has gone into it. I’ve seen on social media that some companies have created shorter shift times/work days per week with greater production outcomes than the standard 40-hour/5 days per week companies. I think it’s because the employees have time for self-care and can spend quality time with their families before returning to work. Then, when they do work, they have a well-rested brain and can focus on their work rather than being exhausted.
Robi Naranjo
This was a really good read, with lots of good information and ideas. OCS is important and needed and I like the idea of more community input and strategies.and the wrap-around services and intervention are really important. I like how you added a part on burnout because I’ve heard the social work field in general goes through so many people and they get burnout quickly.
Trinity Podbicanin
Your blog was very informative. I think it is so essential for people to understand that CPS workers are not just trying to take a child away from their home because they want to but because the situation is not safe for the child. The change in the child welfare approach you mentioned, being the Wraparound Services and Family preservation techniques, seem pretty beneficial. I had never heard of them before, but they seem like they could help families get on the right track to make sure the children stay in their homes. I like the method in which revolutionary social workers use their voices to promote community involvement that you mentioned. I think it is very beneficial for social workers to stay involved in the community and help in any way they can. I really like that you touched on caseloads and continuous burnout. I think having a day just to relax and take a break is so important. This is super important in keeping the passion for their job and ensuring they do not get too stressed and have good mental health.