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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Moldova Law No. 123 On Social Services

Government of Republic of Moldova, 03 Mar 2011

Republic of Moldova, Parliament, Law No. 123 on Social Services entered into force 3 March 2011.

Overview of current frameworks for systems strengthening: Initial Observations

PTA & TRG, 2011

This presentation provides an overview of approaches and frameworks utilized to strengthen child protection systems in Africa.

Strengthening Families and Communities: 2011 Resource Guide

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011

Resource guide developed to support service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and children to prevent child abuse and neglect

Advocacy Package: IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group, 2011

This Advocacy Package explains what the IASC guidelines are and how they are to be used, highlights the key campaigning activities, key messages for communities, donors, UN Agencies and Non-Governmental organisations, clarifies terminology and provide ideas for country level implementation.

Family engagement: Bulletin for professionals

Child Welfare Information Gateway, 01 Jun 2010

Family engagement is the foundation of good casework practice that promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families in the US child welfare system. This brief offers information to help State child welfare managers improve family engagement across program areas.

The Practical Guide of the Professional Supervision Mechanism in Social Assistance (Moldova)

Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child (Moldova) and OPM/EveryChild Moldova, 01 Dec 2009

The Practical Guide of the Professional Supervision Mechanism in Social Assistance was developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Social Protection, Family and Child (Moldova), with the technical support of the "Support in the Deliver

Children and young people in care: Discover your rights!

Council of Europe, 01 Nov 2009

This booklet is designed for children and young people in care to explain how alternative care works, what their rights are as young people in care and whether these rights are being respected.

The Social Work Curriculum Development Advocacy Paper

UNICEF Afghanistan, 01 Feb 2009

This paper outlines a vision for the network of services, policies, and programmes necessary to protect children at risk and enable them to reach their full potential, free from violence, exploitation, and abuse.

Developmental Social Work Education in Southern and East Africa

Tessa Hochfeld | Lisa Selipsky | Rodreck Mupedziswa | Christopher Chitereka - Centre for Social Development in Africa, 01 Feb 2009

This research project aimed to contribute to knowledge development in understanding how the social development approach is actually being used by individual schools of social work in Southern and East Africa, and how this approach is impacting social work training, through primary empirical research.

Human Capacity within Child Welfare Systems: The Social Work Workforce in Africa

Rebecca Davis for USAID , 2009

This document informs stakeholders about the opportunities for and constraints on building the social work workforce within the child welfare sector in Africa.