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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Residential child care workers: Relationship based practice in a culture of fear

Teresa Brown, Karen Winter, Nicola Carr - Child & Family Social Work, 16 Apr 2018

This study explores the views and experiences of 26 workers in the Republic of Ireland regarding relationship‐based practice.

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Residential child care workers: Relationship based practice in a culture of fear

Teresa Brown, Karen Winter, Nicola Carr - Child & Family Social Work, 16 Apr 2018

In a contemporary context dominated by reports of the historical institutional abuse of children and young people in residential children's homes, and where the voice of workers is largely absent, this study explores the views and experiences of 26 workers in the Republic of Ireland regarding relationship‐based practice.

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Serving clients and the community better: A mixed‐methods analysis of benefits experienced when organizations collaborate in child welfare

Marianna L. Colvin & Shari E. Miller - Child & Family Social Work, 16 Apr 2018

Data from extensive qualitative interviews (n = 67) and a survey instrument (n = 80) are used in this study to examine the perceived benefits experienced when organizations interact in community‐wide child welfare practice.

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Webinar 25: Ways in Which the Social Service Workforce Plays a Key Role in Preventing Violence Against Children

Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, 12 Apr 2018

This webinar reviewed the findings from the 2017 State of the Social Service Workforce Report and made recommendations for strengthening the workforce to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Explaining Self-Reported Resilience in Child-Protection Social Work: The Role of Organisational Factors, Demographic Information and Job Characteristics

Paula McFadden, John Mallett, Anne Campbell, Brian Taylor - The British Journal of Social Work, 09 Apr 2018

This paper presents results from a cross-sectional survey and reports findings from a sample of 162 Northern Irish social workers.

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Between Professional Norms and Professionalism Risk Assessment and Decision-Making of Arab Social Workers Regarding Children at Risk

Hani Nouman, Guy Enosh, Amal Jarjoura - Research on Social Work Practice, 01 Apr 2018

This study examined the four factors that might bias child risk assessment and recommendation of treatment for children at high risk among Arab social workers in Israel.

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Barriers to childcare in Children's Homes in Ghana: Caregivers' solutions

Alhassan Abdullah, Ebenezer Cudjoe, Esmeranda Manful - Children and Youth Services Review, 27 Mar 2018

Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 37 caregivers in two Children's Homes in Ghana, this study sought to explore caregivers' suggestions of solutions to barriers in childcare.

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Is kinship failing? Views on informal support by families in contact with social services in Ghana

Esmeranda Manful & Ebenezer Cudjoe - Child & Family Social Work, 25 Mar 2018

This paper asks the question "what contribution are kin and other informal social support networks providing to the care and safety of children of such families?" The paper presents findings from 15 families receiving services from the Department of Social Welfare in Sekondi, Ghana.

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A golden thread? The relationship between supervision, practice, and family engagement in child and family social work

David Wilkins, Amy Lynch, Vivi Antonopoulou - Child & Family Social Work, 25 Mar 2018

In this study, using paired observations of group supervision and family meetings alongside interviews with parents, the authors explored the link between supervision, practice, and engagement.

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Professional dilemmas and occupational constraints in child welfare workers' relationships with children and youth in foster care

Robert Lindahl & Anders Bruhn - Children and Youth Services Review, 21 Mar 2018

The aim of this article is to study child welfare workers' individual and collective experiences of and expectations about their occupational role and responsibilities in their administrative and relational work with children and youth in foster care.

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