A Guide for Caseworkers - childwelfare.gov

1 Child protective services : A Guide for CaseworkersTo view or obtain copies of other manuals in this series, contact the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT USER MANUAL SERIES Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers department of Health and Human services Administration for Children and Fam i lies Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children s Bureau Office on Child Abuse and Neglect Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers Diane DePanfilis Marsha K. Salus 2003 department of Health and Human services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children s Bureau Office on Child Abuse and Neglect i Table of Contents PREFACE .. 1 3 1. PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW.

2 7 2. CHILD protective services THEORY AND 9 Philosophy of Child protective Framework for 11 Caseworker Competence .. 11 3. THE HELPING Core Conditions of the Helping Techniques for Building Rapport .. 19 Use of Authority in Child protective services .. 20 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHILD protective services ..25 Intake .. 25 Initial Assessment or Investigation .. 25 Family 26 Case 26 Service 26 Family Progress .. 27 Case Closure .. 27 5. Intake Process .. 29 Intake Information 34 Response 36 Importance of Community Education in 38 Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers i Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkersiii 6. INITIAL ASSESSMENT OR Effective Initial Assessment or Investigation Initial Assessment or Investigation 40 Initial Assessment or Investigation Process.

3 50 Interviewing Techniques .. 58 Community 63 Special Practice Issues .. 65 7. FAMILY ASSESSMENT ..69 Family Assessment 69 Family Assessment Decisions .. 70 Family Assessment 70 Special Practice Issue Cultural Sensitivity .. 75 8. CASE Developing the Case Plan .. 77 Involving the Targeting 79 Determining Goals .. 81 Determining Tasks .. 82 Developing Concurrent Plans .. 82 9. SERVICE Service Framework Based on Levels of Case 85 Treatment and Intervention .. 86 10. FAMILY Collect and Organize Information on Family Progress .. 95 Analyze and Evaluate Family 96 11. CASE Types of Case Closure .. 99 Process of Case Closure .. 100 Community Collaboration During Case 100 Family Involvement During Case Closure .. 100 12. EFFECTIVE Purposes of Child protective services Record-keeping .. 101 Content of Case 102 Principles of Record-keeping.

4 103 iiii Table of Contents iiTable of Contents 13. SUPERVISION, CONSULTATION, AND Supervisory Involvement in Decision-making .. 105 Supervisory Involvement in Clinical 106 Peer 107 Supervisory Monitoring of Casework Practice .. 108 Caseworker Safety .. 109 Peer Support and Burnout Prevention .. 109 110 APPENDICES: APPENDIX A GLOSSARY OF TERMS ..121 APPENDIX B RESOURCE LISTINGS OF SELECTED NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS CONCERNED WITH CHILD MALTREATMENT ..127 APPENDIX C STATE TOLL-FREE TELEPHONE NUMBERS FOR REPORTING CHILD ABUSE ..133 APPENDIX D NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS CODE OF Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers iii 1 Preface Each day, the safety and well-being of some children across the Nation are threatened by child abuse and neglect. Intervening effectively in the lives of these children and their families is not the sole responsibility of any single agency or professional group, but rather is a shared community concern.

5 Since the late 1970s, the Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual Series has provided guidance on child protection to hundreds of thousands of multidisciplinary professionals and concerned community members. The User Manual Series offers a foundation for understanding child maltreatment and the roles and responsibilities of various practitioners in its prevention, identification, investigation, and treatment. Through the years, the manuals have served as valuable resources for building knowledge, promoting effective practices, and enhancing community collaboration. Since the last update of the User Manual Series in the early 1990s, a number of changes have occurred that dramatically affect each community s response to child maltreatment. The changing landscape reflects increased recognition of the complexity of issues facing children and families, new legislation, practice innovations, and systems reform efforts.

6 Significant advances in research have helped shape new directions for interventions, while ongoing evaluations help us to know what works. The Office on Child Abuse and Neglect (OCAN) within the Children s Bureau of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), department of Health and Human services (DHHS), has developed this third edition of the User Manual Series to reflect our increased knowledge and the evolving state of practice on child protection. The updated and new manuals are comprehensive in scope while also succinct in presentation and easy to follow, and they address trends and concerns relevant to today s professional. This manual, Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers , examines the roles and responsibilities of child protective services (CPS) workers, who are at the forefront of every community s child protection efforts.

7 The manual describes the basic stages of the CPS process and the steps necessary to accomplish each stage: intake, initial assessment or investigation, family assessment, case planning, service provision, evaluation of family progress, and case closure. Best practices and critical issues in casework practice are underscored throughout. The primary audience for this manual includes CPS Caseworkers , supervisors, and administrators. State and local CPS agency trainers may use the manual for preservice or inservice training of CPS Caseworkers , while schools of social work may add it to class reading lists to orient students to the field of child protection. In addition, other professionals and concerned community members may consult Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers 1 Child protective services : A Guide for Caseworkers33 the manual for a greater understanding of the child protection process.

8 This manual builds on the information presented in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. Readers are encouraged to begin with that manual as it addresses important information on which CPS practice is based including definitions of child maltreatment, risk factors, consequences, and the Federal and State basis for intervention. Some manuals in the series also may be of interest in understanding the roles of other professional groups in responding to child abuse and neglect, including: Substance abuse treatment providers Domestic violence victim advocates Educators Law enforcement personnel. Other manuals address special issues, such as building partnerships and working with the courts on CPS cases. User Manual Series This manual along with the entire Child Abuse and Neglect User Manual Series is available from the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information.

9 Contact the Clearinghouse for a full list of available manuals and ordering information: National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information 330 C Street, SW Washington, DC 20447 Phone: (800) FYI-3366 or (703) 385-7565 Fax: (703) 385-3206 E-mail: The manuals also are available online at 2 Preface 2 Preface 3 Acknowledgments AUTHORS Diane DePanfilis, , , is Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where she teaches social work practice and child welfare research courses in the Master s of Social Work program and research seminars in the doctoral program. She is also codirector of the Center for Families, an interdisciplinary partnership between the schools of social work and medicine and the department of pediatrics.

10 Over the past 30 years she has provided child welfare services at the local level as a caseworker, supervisor, and administrator; worked as a consultant at the national level conducting program evaluations and providing training and technical assistance to social workers and other disciplines; and conducted extensive studies related to the delivery of child protective services and the prevention of child maltreatment. She is coeditor of the Handbook on Child Protection Practice and is a former president of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. Marsha K. Salus, , is a social work consultant. She has worked in the child welfare field for 27 years. She began her career as a CPS worker and supervisor. She has developed several national curricula for child welfare workers and supervisors.