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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Poster: 7 Best Practices to Support Community Volunteers

The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 31 Jan 2022

A poster for Child Protection teams to emphasize the evidence based practices of engaging volunteers that were documented in the research.

Taking Care of the Caregivers: The moderating role of reflective supervision in the relationship between COVID-19 stress and the mental and professional well-being of the IECMH workforce

Diana Morelen, Julia Najm, Megan Wolff, Kelly Daniel, 2022

his study examined the relationships between COVID-related stress, mental health and professional burnout in the infant and early child mental health (IECMH) workforce and examined reflective supervision and consultation (RSC) as a potential protective factor in the context of COVID-related stress.

Pandemic Ethics: Rethinking rights, responsibilities and roles in social work

Sarah Banks, Nikki Rutter, 31 Dec 2021

This article explores responses of 41 UK social workers to ethical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising UK data from an international qualitative survey and follow-up interviews in 2020. Challenges ranged from weighing individual rights/ needs against public health risks, to deciding whether to follow government/agency rules and guidance.

A Summary Report: The British Association of Social Workers Annual Survey of Social Workers and Social Work (2021)

British Association of Social Workers, 31 Dec 2021

In this summary report, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) presents the findings of its 2021 annual survey providing an insight into the state
of the profession, the views of social workers and student social workers on key topics and the ongoing impact of working during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The survey was launched in December 2021 as a place for social workers to reflect on their profession and their experiences in the preceding twelve months.