The implementation of family support services within the last decade has made an impact on child welfare in Georgia. I appreciated the statistics that Ms. Carter provided about the outcomes in this state since the early 2000’s. I was actually surprised at how well our state is doing in relation to child welfare. I myself tend to have a negative attitude toward CPS due to the horror stories presented by the media. It is encouraging to see that in recent years, the outcomes have improved. I was also not familiar with the child fatality review so I went back and reviewed the power point to get more details about that program.
One of the social workers that I work with came to our department from DFCS and worked in “family preservation”. I had a difficult time understanding why one would try to preserve a family where children were being either abused or neglected. I also have never worked with children, therefore, I tend to think of the most extreme types of child abuse and neglect. Sometimes neglect can come from lack of resources and education. Taking children away from their immediate family might not always be the answer. Offering parents education and resources needed to learn how to be a better parent and remove the barriers, can be beneficial in maintaining a family unit. I also think the entitlement program CAPS is helpful in that it helps low income families afford quality child care so that they can continue working. However, all these services that have been implemented require more assessment by the caseworkers. There is an assessment process for each service and the caseworker then must determine who is eligible for resources. This can make for more work for already overwhelmed caseworkers.
Child welfare policy is important in social work practice because social workers are advocates for children. Social workers need to be aware of current child welfare policy including data of recent statistics and what we have learned from past experience. Children from neglect or abusive home situations are vulnerable and the system needs to be designed to improve their well being either through family preservation or foster care.
I completely agree that case managers work load is significantly increased by having to assess whether a family qualifies for the various programs offered. The other problem that Ms. Carter mentioned is that most of the social workers that are employed at DFCS are new social workers with little experience and varying degrees of knowledge regarding what programs are even out there for families.
Before my experience with working at a group home, I too wondered why there was a pushed for reunification and permanency with families where the child experienced incidents of abuse and/or neglect. Similar to your comment, often times, neglect could be due to the parent’s lack of knowledge or the lack of resources necessary to parent a child effectively. In the cases where abuse was reported and proven, how much training and classes is really necessary for the parent or guardian? Even though the parent followed the service plan goals and did everything the court asked of them to get their child back, seeing the children that I worked with being placed back into the home was very difficult for me. Especially when I helped nurse the physical wounds of the abuse and had deep conversations with children. The idea that “the family is the best option” sometimes mystifies me, because sometimes, it’s NOT the best option and who’s to say that the parent will not revert back to their past behaviors (especially when they support their actions through religion or culture)?
With the shift to family preservation and the focus on the overall well-being of children within the system, the workload for case workers seems to have increased. I mentioned in my blog about the “wrap-around” approach to care that I often seen, which included child and family counseling, mental health evaluations, and connection to community and public assistance for the children and families. The case managers are sometimes responsible for the acquisition of all of those services and more for one case alone. It does seem like a lot for one individual to manage, which could contribute to the burn out rate for this profession.
Hi Leigh,
I understand where you are coming from when you say you didn’t understand why in the world the state would leave a child in a home where they were being neglected or abused. I actually have a first cousin whose boyfriend killed her 3 year old son so it kind of hits home when I hear about these stories. As I stated in my post, shortly after the death of my cousin’s child, I began volunteering as a child advocate. I was placed with 2 teenage girls who were in foster care. The goal for these girls was reunification and originally I was pretty skeptical. However, after meeting mom and talking to the girls I realized mom genuinely cared about her girls but she just kept messing up. She would miss appointments or show up intoxicated for visits. If I had to call it I would say she was severely depressed. It was extrememly frustrating because these girls wanted to go home and were so close when mom failed her drug test and the girls got into a fight at their group home and were both placed in juvenille detention. As a result I was taken off the case, but I am glad I atleast had the opportunity to meet them because it really opened my eyes to what CPS does and how foster care works.
Hey Lee,
I enjoyed your post and read the link you have on family support services. I found it very interesting. I like the idea of giving comprehensive assessment on children and providing a wrap around service. I wonder if they only offer the assessment once to a child or can it be done by request also since the onset of some mental disabilities happen later in age. Therefore, some assessments would be needed after the initial foster care interview. This makes me wonder what happens if the child is later diagnosed and the foster parents are unable to care for them. I also think you raised an important issue that has probably been around for a long time. How do we improve the service given by an overwhelmed case workers? I hope someone comes up with a solution for the high volume of case loads given to case/ social workers as well as the unrealistic expectations set for an overwhelmed case worker.
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