Social Service Workforce Strengthening

A strong social service workforce is critical to meeting the needs of children without adequate family care. From government policy-makers, local administrators, researchers and social workers, to educators, community workers and care providers, social service actors play a key role in protecting girls and boys and promoting their care.

The development of a skilled and well-supported social service workforce is particularly important as countries move toward reforming their care systems and work to reduce reliance on residential care, strengthen families, prevent separation and promote family and community-based alternative care options. This is a challenging undertaking that requires social service actors from national to community level who are competent and willing to make changes to the way they deliver care, and are able to establish and manage a new range of preventive and responsive care services to children and families.

Strengthening the social service workforce in any country is complex. It involves creating supportive legislation and policies; developing recruitment, selection, employment, supervision, support and registration procedures; establishing education and training programmes; improving working conditions, ensuring licensing and practice standards; recognizing the status of care professionals; and raising awareness to change mindsets on care.

All of this requires working with a wide range of actors involved in supporting children and families. Substantial allocation (or redirection) of financial resources is also required, to ensure that sufficient numbers of skilled social service workers are available to work directly with children and their families at the community level, as well as at a higher administrative level to oversee care services and regulations.

This section contains documentation of social service workforce development within the context of national care reform and child protection system strengthening, including guidance, lessons learned and training tools.

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The Core Elements: Companion Primer

Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO), 20 Jan 2020

This booklet serves as a companion resource for the Core Elements of Success in OVC Care: Self-Assessment Tool, developed by CAFO.

An exploration of child welfare caseworkers’ experience of secondary trauma and strategies for coping

Shauna L. Rienks - Child Abuse & Neglect, 14 Jan 2020

The goal of this study is to examine child welfare caseworkers’ experience of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and the extent to which coping strategies act as a buffer.

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An exploration of child welfare caseworkers’ experience of secondary trauma and strategies for coping

Shauna L. Rienks - Child Abuse & Neglect, 14 Jan 2020

The goal of this study is to examine child welfare caseworkers’ experience of secondary traumatic stress (STS) and the extent to which coping strategies act as a buffer.

View Article

Factors that predict child welfare caseworker referrals to an evidence-based parenting program

Christina Myers, Antonio Garcia, Rinad Beidas, Zixiaojie Yang - Children and Youth Services Review, 07 Jan 2020

This study examined whether caseworker demographic factors, attitudes towards evidence-based practices (EBPs) and organizational factors predict caseworker referrals. Relying upon tenets of the Theory of Planned Behavior, this study also examined whether intention to refer predicts caseworker referrals to an EBP.

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Positive Parenting: For Parents/Caregivers and Social Service Workers

Miracle Foundation, 2020

This toolkit is designed for parents/caregivers and the social service workforce guiding them. It provides practical tips that can be implemented quickly and mini lessons on topics of importance to anyone raising or supporting a child.

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Re-Imagining Child and Youth Care Practice with African Canadian Youth

Beverly-Jean Daniel and Johanne Jean-Pierre - International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies, 2020

This article explores how we can re-imagine child and youth care practice with African Canadian youth.

Strategies to strengthen the Social Service Workforce for Child Protection

UNICEF, 2020

In 2019, UNICEF issued its first ever global Guidelines to Strengthen the Social Service Workforce for Child Protection. This two-module course is aligned to the Guidelines and aims to equip the learner with key strategies to strengthen social service workforce.

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Supporting Local Civil Society Organizations: Capacity building for child rights defenders in Kosovo

Save the Children, 2020

This document includes a summary of Save the Children's work to strengthen civil society organizations in Kosovo, with a particular focus on banning corporal punishment in all settings.

Psychosocial Support: For the Social Service Workforce

Miracle Foundation, 2020

This toolkit is designed for the social service workforce in need of basic counseling skills. It includes mini lessons that teach fundamental counseling skills and activities and worksheets to provide opportunity to practice the skills.

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Child Protection in Emergencies Professional Development Programme: Middle East and Eastern Europe - 1st Cycle 9-Months Follow-up Report

Save the Children, 2020

This report presents results from a survey administered to graduates of the Child Protection in Emergencies Professional Development Programme (CPiE PDP) in the Middle East and Eastern Europe region to evaluate if and how the CPiE PDP has influenced their professional development and to what extent the graduates have practiced what they have learned.