Three Interlocking Views

Department of Human Services (DHS) is a human service organization meant to help individuals and families with temporary services in their time of need. The mission statement is: “Improving the quality of life in Michigan by providing services to vulnerable children and adults that will strengthen the community and enable families and individuals to move toward independence.” (Michigan.gov) DHS provides an array of services to individuals and families, these include: food assistance, cash assistance, health care assistance, children services, adult services, and many more.

The organization under investigation is Child Protective Services, also referred to as CPS, which is an agency within the Department of Family and Protective Services. CPS is a governmental organization that has existed for years. The agency is designed to protect children from abuse and neglect. There are numerous cases that are called in on a daily basis in the state of Texas, and it is the duty of state employees to address all allegations in a timely manner. The positions held as a caseworker within the agency are either Investigator, Special Investigator, Family Based Safety Services Specialist, or Conservatorship Specialist. Due to the required work and deadlines involved with being a caseworker at CPS, the job can become very

My practicum site was at the Department of Children and Family Services within the Legally Free Unit with Tommy Williams. He has been a social worker for DCFS for approximately seven years. The purpose of DCFS is to protect abused and neglected children. The program is The program is responsible for the investigation of child abuse and neglect complaints, child protection, family preservation, family reconciliation, foster care, group care, in-home services, independent living and adoption services for children ages 0 to 18 years. I specifically worked in the Legally Free Unit of DCFS which is for children ages approximately 7-17 whose parents have has their parental rights terminated and the children are not able to be adopted for various

The controversial issue of whether or not Child Protective Services are doing their jobs properly, has grabbed nationwide attention. Child Protective Services is the name of a government agency in many states of the United States whose mission is to respond to reports of child abuse and neglect. Some of these cases may include physical abuse, sexual abuse, and mental abuse (Wikipedia). The child welfare system is corrupted. The parents and guardians who are accused of abuse are automatically labeled as guilty and will have to prove their innocence; instead of being innocent until proven guilty.

On September 21, 2015, I met with Ms. Katie, a student in the MSW program at NCSU, to conduct an interview. We met at Starbucks in Cary, in the crossroads shopping center. Ms. Katie’s responses helped me learn and think about social workers in the child welfare social field. As a prospective social worker, my questions were formed based thoughts that I was concerned about my responsibilities in the social work field..

When children come into the custody of DCFS and are placed into Foster Care they are scared, confused, lonely, and usually conditioned not to tell when they are being mistreated. Most of the children that come into “the system” have learned to accept abuse as normal or natural and are unaware that they are even being mistreated. Therefore, when they are placed in homes where this is occurring it is not in their nature to speak up. Once they are removed from their parents, they are solely reliant on the department for their protection and it is the department’s responsibility to provide that protection which has not always been fulfilled by the department or the foster care agencies. The department should be making reasonable efforts to provide proper services

Child welfare systems typically receive and investigate reports of possible child abuse and neglect; provide services to families that need assistance in the protection and care of their children; arrange for children to live with foster families when they are not safe at home; and arrange for reunification, adoption, or other permanent family connections for children leaving foster care.When you look up what the Child welfare system it says,

Randall Thigpen is a case manager professional interviewed for this assignment. The introduction and purpose of the interview was done through the phone, but the questionnaire was sent via email. Randall’s official title is Placement Desk Coordinator. Randall provides services to foster care children in the Arapahoe county DHS in Colorado. Although the Randall does not have a nursing degree, eight years of experience working with foster care children was valuable when providing information about the population of interest. Some of the responsibilities include finding a home for children who are removed from their home and their parents or caretakers are regarded as not fit to take care of their children. Other job responsibilities include the supervision of other case workers and to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the child in foster care through continuous assessment of the current placement and adjustments as necessary. The following questions were developed and sent to the foster care professional.

The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual

As to what I known during my developmental stages was that what is now called Child Protection and Permanency, CP&P was in the past called the Division of Youth and Family Services, DYFS had a bad reputation behind its name. When growing up, it was the acronym, DYFS that was mostly said and used that brought awareness in the African American and/or poor communities that someone’s child(ren) was going to be taken away from the home. It was DYFS that put that fear in families as an indication of the removal of children for reasons indicated, and/or false accusations. Some single parent families would do their hardest to work, take care, and provide for the children from the low income that was earn from working, and stay out of the eye of ever

Children and families are the foundation of our society and our future. I understand family social work as both tertiary intervention and primary prevention. Issues such as unemployment, abuse, neglect, and lack of housing can put undue stress on family systems. By addressing and helping to alleviate these issues as a tertiary intervention a family can have increased stability in its home life. This strengthened environment can be a primary preventative measure for the children in the home. It can lead to lower levels of incarceration, higher education rates, higher employment

As a Social Worker, I have had the opportunity to work with children and families from diverse socioeconomic, ethnic and cultural backgrounds. My experience and training includes extensive work with prenatal, infant and early childhood education and development. Through this course I have been able to

Maurice William’s understands that social workers get tired because of their relentless job responsibilities, therefore, she makes sure they don’t experience burn out since it is her responsibility to keep the families intact (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Since she is not out in the field visiting the homes, she puts her faith in her upper management team to be able to listen and pay attention to any problems or potential future problems (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011). Since she is unable to be out in the field, Williams uses her supervisory skills to train her staff to be able to identify potential problems and also to report back to her what the problems are. If there were problems out in the field (i.e., foster parents, foster children), she shoulders the full responsibility to make sure that the problems are addressed and resolved, or modify changes that are in the best interest of the children.

The theories I have highlighted in this essay show the client-centered aspects of my social work practice. From a person-centered perspective, I seek to remain client-centered, creating a therapeutic alliance where I have unconditional positive regard for my clients while providing a congruent experience through accurate empathic understanding of my client’s concerns. Remaining client-centered is further accentuated through attachment theory where I seek to understand how the client’s interactions with myself and others has been impacted by their relationship with their parental figures. Similarly, using systems theory helps me to understand my client where they are, in their life, by understanding how the systems exist and relate to one

Developmental theories are integral to a social workers approach when working with children, and families as they help to guide and explain situations and behaviours. As social workers have an ethical and professional responsibility to their clients, they need to have an established set of guiding theories which underpin their practice. If they work without these theories, they could place their clients at risk of harm by practising from personal assumptions. They also help the social worker understand and manage these situations and to reach the desired outcomes. As suggested by Teater (2014), “Theory is an essential ingredient in practice that guides the way in which social workers view and approach individuals, groups, communities and society”(Chap 1, p.1). This report will identify and focus on three important developmental theories that assist social workers in their practice. These consist of work by Erikson, Bowlby and Piaget. Erikson’s theory focuses on the model of life stage development; Piaget’s theory focuses on the cognitive processes while Bowlby’s theory focuses on attachment. Despite these theories representing different aspects of social science, they all have the same guiding principle of development. Once the social worker has identified the relevant theory required, they then use a model to implement the theory. This report will examine and discuss the Collaborative Family Work Model. The Collaborative Family Work Model works in a step by step approach