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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A study of serious case reviews between 2016 and 2018: what are the key barriers for social workers in identifying and responding to child neglect?

Linda Solem, Clive Diaz, Lauren Hill - Journal of Children's Services, 07 Feb 2020

This study examined 20 recent serious case reviews that had taken place in England where neglect was a feature. The purpose of this study is to explore the barriers which exist for social workers in England in identifying and responding to neglect in a timely, appropriate and effective manner.

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Working together to keep children and families safe: Strategies for developing collaborative competence

Rhys Price-Robertson, Deborah Kirkwood, Adam Dean, Teresa Hall, Nicole Paterson and Karen Broadley - Child Family Community Australia | information exchange, 01 Feb 2020

This practice paper focuses on improving cross-sectoral relationships between child protection and child and family welfare practitioners, who are often required to work together to keep children and families safe.

Mid-level CPIE Staff Capacity Gap Analysis in the West and Central Africa Region (including Mauritania)

Serena Zanella & Manuela De Gaspari - Save the Children, 01 Feb 2020

The child protection in emergencies (CPiE) capacity gaps analysis (CGA) in the West and Central Africa (plus Mauritania) region, targeting CPiE practitioners with 3-5 years of professional experience, aimed to collect and provide information on (1) identified key CPiE capacity gaps and (2) existing and available capacity building initiatives.

Improving Child Welfare’s Use of Data for Service Planning: Practitioner Perspectives on a Training Curriculum

Elisa Romano, Lauren Stenason, Kelly Weegar, Connie Cheung - Children and Youth Services Review, 23 Jan 2020

This study examined the outcomes of a training aimed at enhancing child welfare practitioners’ use of data from the the Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project for service planning related to young people’s educational outcomes.

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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.

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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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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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