Child welfare is a unique field of social work practice that requires the use of special interdisciplinary skills with attorneys, judges, and other member of the legal system. The skillful application of these interdisciplinary skills is extraordinarily difficult.
Fundamental differences between the value base, knowledge, and training of social workers and attorneys assure that the two professions will forever have an uneasy relationship. Nevertheless, the current and future direction of child welfare service delivery demands that this uneasy relationship continue and be improved. Historically, social workers coming into the profession are unprepared for interactions with the Juvenile Court. Graduate level university curriculum is generally silent on how to achieve positive client outcomes while working within the legal system. As a result, most new child welfare workers experience anxiety, fear, and frustration when confronted by the court. Without information on how to achieve positive client outcomes through the court process, social workers generally believe it is impossible to achieve positive outcomes in that setting. Interviews with social workers who have left child welfare to accept other social work positions regularly cite their frustration and discomfort with court-related interactions as a primary catalyst for their decision to leave this area of practice. This curriculum module, designed with that in mind, is intended for use with graduate students interested in child welfare practice and newly employed or inexperienced child welfare caseworkers.
- Subject:
- Social Science
- Social Work
- Material Type:
- Reading
- Author:
- David Foster; Barbara Woods
- Date Added:
- 04/29/2015