Common Language for Child Welfare

1. Common Language for Child Welfare Use of the ABA Child Safety Guide for Judges & Attorneys Tammy Shook, Social Work Program Administrator Buncombe County Health and Human Services

2. http://nrccps.org/special-initiatives/safety-law-guide/

3. Distinction between Safety and Risk • Safety –concerned about imminence and severe consequences due to things being out of control • Risk- vague concept regarding whether something might occur if there is not intervention; risk may be mild or serious

4. Key Elements for Safety Decision Making Threats of Danger Child Vulnerability Child Safety Protective Capacities

5. Child Safety • The critical question remains whether or not the child is safe? “Whether or not a child is safe depends upon a threat of danger, the child's vulnerability, and the family’s protective capacity”.

6. Guide to Safety Safe Child- Vulnerable children are safe when there are no threats of danger within the family or when the parents possess sufficient protective capacity to manage or control any threats. Children are unsafe when: • Threats of danger exists within the family and • Children are vulnerable to such threats, and • parents have insufficient protective capacities to manage or control threats, making outside intervention necessary.

7. BENCHCARDS • “A” Gather Information About the Family • “B” Threats of Danger • “C” Vulnerability • “D” Protective Capacities

8. Information Collection as a Competency • Information Collection is a professional behavior. • It is a competency and, perhaps, the most critical competency of the Child Protective Service job.

9. Five Components of Competency: 1. I know what I must learn about the family. I know what information I must collect on each CPS case I am assigned. 2. I understand the purposes and reasons for needing to know this information. 3. I demonstrate the ability to gather the information.

10. Information Collection as a Competency 4. I demonstrate the awareness that everything I do before and during information collection influences the quantity and quality of the information I will collect. 5. I can discuss and write about the information I collected logically, succinctly, and in a way that justifies my conclusions.

11. Common Errors in Reasoning in Child Protection Work • Insufficient and irrelevant information gathering • Not using Evidence from Past History • Not Using Written Evidence (Files, Reports) as much as verbal Information • Persisting Influence of First Impressions; usually those facts that are most vivid, concrete, emotive, and either the first or most recent • Slow or unwilling to revise judgments or change one’s mind • Basing judgments on too little information about the family • Failing to stand back and place current issues in the long-tern history of the family

12. Common Errors in Reasoning Continued… • Tendency to use the facts that come readily to mind, not necessarily the most relevant • Incident-based judgments; • Insufficient analysis of information; • Inaccurate identification or conceptualization of problems; • Inappropriate intervention choices; • Personal bias/prejudice; • Limited supervisory challenges to worker information and decisions; • Work environments that do not support or value thinking.

13. Workers Ability to Gather Information • Is motivated to have an intentional conversation with family members and uses a conversational style; • Is wanting a complete picture; looks for both positive and negative information; • Is well prepared for meeting with family members and talking with collaterals; • Demonstrates empathy, respect, and an interest to know and understand; • Understands, accepts, and actually expects resistance ( and knows the many forms • resistance takes); • Is just as interested and caring about the adults in the family as the children;

14. Workers Ability Continued… • Recognizes his’her own limitations and asks for help; • Is familiar with ways to gain information: e.g., direct, open, closed questions, and staying quiet; • Is a good listener; • Has very good interpersonal skills; • Is curious; seeks to reconcile gaps and inconsistencies; • Is a critical thinker: considers alternative explanations; and • Is organized in managing the information and in guiding the conversations.

15. Six background questions that should guide safety in each case. The answers will help assess threats of danger, child vulnerability, andprotective capacities. Gather Information About the Family… • 1. What is the nature and extent of maltreatment? • 2. What circumstances accompany the maltreatment? • 3. How does the child function day to day? • 4. How does the parent discipline the child? • 5. What are overall parenting practices? • 6. How does the parent manage his own life?

16. 1. What is the nature and extent of the maltreatment? • The Social Worker should be able to describe the maltreating behavior and the immediate physical effects on a child. • Type of maltreatment • Severity of the maltreatment, results, injuries • Maltreatment history, similar incidents • Describing events, what happened, hitting, pushing • Describing emotional and physical symptoms • Identifying child and maltreating parent

17. 2. What Circumstances Accompany the Maltreatment • The Social Worker should be able to describe what is going on when the maltreatment occurs. • Answering this question includes: • How long has the maltreatment been occurring • Parental intent concerning the maltreatment • Whether parent was impaired by substance use, or was otherwise out- of –control when maltreatment occurred • How parent explains maltreatment and family conditions • Does the parent acknowledge maltreatment, what is parents attitude? • Other problems connected with the maltreatment such as mental health problems

18. 3. How does the child function day-to-day • The Social Worker should know about all the children in the home: their general behavior, emotions, temperament and physical capacity. • Capacity for attachment (close emotional relationships with parents and siblings • General mood and temperament • Intellectual functioning • Communication and social skills • Expressions of emotions/feelings • Behavior • Peer relations • School performance • Independence • Motor Skills • Physical and mental health

19. 4. How does the parent discipline the child? • Have the Social Worker learn how parents approach discipline and child guidance. Discipline is considered in the context of socialization, teaching, and guiding the child. Find out about: • Disciplinary methods • Concept and purpose of discipline • Context in which discipline occurs, is the parent impaired by drugs or alcohol when administering discipline • Cultural practices

20. 5. What are the overall parenting practices? • Beyond discipline, the Social Worker should learn more about parent’s general approach to parenting, and parent-child interaction. • Reasons for being a parent • Satisfaction in being a parent • Knowledge and skill in parenting and child development • Parent expectations and empathy for child • Decision-making in parenting practices • Parenting style • History of parenting behavior • Protectiveness • Cultural context for parenting approach

21. 6. How does the parent manage his own life • The Social Worker should learn how the parents feel, think, and act daily, not limited to times and circumstances surrounding the maltreatment. • Discover: • Communication and social skills • Coping and stress management • Self control • Problem-solving • Judgment and decision-making • Independence • Home and financial management • Employment • Community Involvement • Self-care and self-preservation • Substance use, abuse, addiction • Mental Health • Physical health and capacity • Functioning within cultural norms

22. BENCHCARDS • “A” Gather Information About the Family • “B” Threats of Danger • “C” Vulnerability • “D” Protective Capacities