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Educating BSW and MSW Social Workers to Practice in Child Welfare Services

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Evidence-Informed Assessment and Practice in Child Welfare

Abstract

Child welfare generally refers to a broad range of services provided by agencies charged with maintaining the safety and well-being of children according to legally mandated or socially sanctioned standards of conduct. For the purpose of this chapter, child welfare specifically denotes services provided to at-risk children and their families who have been referred to Child Protective Services (CPS) agencies because of confirmed maltreatment, neglect, or the likelihood of this occurrence.

This chapter offers a basis for deciding which professional staff positions in CPS agencies are most effectively filled by social work graduates with specific levels of education. Underlying the recommendations made herein is the conviction that masters-level graduates should have direct field experience with at-risk children and their families before performing duties in the areas of supervision, evaluation, or administration. Conversely, the authors recognize that some valued employees may leave a child welfare agency if promotional opportunities are, in effect, limited by an absence of meaningful financial support for graduate education.

Bachelors in Social Work (BSW) and Masters in Social Work (MSW) graduates have important but different roles to play in CPS, where an expansive array of responsibilities demands many skills and functional competencies to perform critical activities. In an era of shrinking resources, it is incumbent on CPS administrators to determine how they can most effectively and efficiently serve at-risk families. The cases worked on a daily basis by screeners, preliminary investigators, and direct service workers are extremely complex. Supervisors and managers must ensure that program goals and mandates are satisfied and that workers are adequately trained for the services they are expected to deliver.

Children enter CPS because there is evidence of harm or because there is adequate reason to suspect that they are at risk for harm. As child welfare programs have become progressively more subject to public scrutiny, emphasis on the understandable need to balance educational requirements against resource availability has developed. The realities of administration and decision-making in CPS strongly suggest that differential educational levels should be reflected in the hiring criteria for functionally diverse professional positions. A key concern is how quality services can best be provided to children and their families while remaining responsive to the economic problems impinging on publicly funded child welfare systems. Standards for minimal educational criteria in CPS staff positions should be clearly indicated by the inherent demands of those positions and the knowledge and skills needed to effectively execute attendant responsibilities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Prof. Michael J. Holosko

  2. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA

    Erin Faith

Authors
  1. Prof. Michael J. Holosko
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  2. Erin Faith
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Correspondence to Michael J. Holosko .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

    John S. Wodarski

  2. School of Social Work, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    Michael J. Holosko

  3. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA

    Marvin D. Feit

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

State Registry Screeners

New York State Office of Children and Family Services

http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/youth_portal.asp

Intake, Investigation, and Assessment

Department of Health and Human Services

Child Welfare and Information Gateway

https://www.childwelfare.gov/responding/iia/

Washington State Department of Social and Health Services:

Practices and Procedures Guide

Department of Child Protective Services

http://www.dshs.wa.gov/ca/pubs/mnl_pnpg/chapter  2.asp

University of California at Berkeley, School of Social Welfare

Risk and Safety Assessment in Child Welfare: Instrument Comparison

http://cssr.berkeley.edu/bassc/public/risk_summ.pdf

Intensive Family Services

Institute for Family Development

http://www.institutefamily.org/programs_IFPS.asp

Case Closures

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services

http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/handbooks/cps/files/CPS_pg_1460.asp

Department of Health and Human Services

Child Welfare and Information Gateway

Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers. 2003

https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/usermanuals/cps/cpsk.cfm

Supervision

Direct Service Supervision

https://www.childwelfare.gov/management/administration/

Program Evaluation

Department of Health and Human Services

Child Welfare and Information Gateway

A guide to Program Evaluation

https://www.childwelfare.gov/management/effectiveness/evaluation/index.cfm

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Holosko, M., Faith, E. (2015). Educating BSW and MSW Social Workers to Practice in Child Welfare Services. In: Wodarski, J., Holosko, M., Feit, M. (eds) Evidence-Informed Assessment and Practice in Child Welfare. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12045-4_1

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