Summary This week working at Erie OCY was more hectic than usual. I had a close a case, since it is reached the 60-day period intake can investigate. It was the first time I had to close a case. My supervisor helped me along the process of ending my first case. Vickie Babcock and I had multiple supervisions, with her teaching me how to complete a risk assessment. The risk assessment tool is used most frequently in the agency. This risk assessment is used to determine if the child may be at risk of maltreatment in the future. If the caregiver’s attributes are more on the scale of moderate or high risk, then the agency determines the caregiver as unsafe. When I used this tool on my client based on our interactions, the client’s child was at a high risk of being maltreated by their biological parent. Once I assess my client based of the agency’s standards, I contacted the client to state the agency cannot allow their child to be placed in their care. This was the first time I ended a relationship with a real client. When I spoke to my client on the phone I explained to him the agency’s concerns. In detail I told my client the agency will not at this time seeking reunification with the client and their child. The client understood why the agency made their …show more content…
When the agency is screening incidence in Erie County they determine which caseworkers are best for the job. When OCY has information on a recurring family, the agency in their best effort try to send caseworkers who the client may be more comfortable to engage. The client may be a formerly physically abused partner, who may not want to talk with a caseworker being the same gender as their attacker. OCY makes it a priority to hire caseworkers with some ethnic backgrounds, or who have worked with various people. The agency wants the client to be more cooperative, and open to the agency if they see a caseworker like
The job of a child welfare worker appears to be a demanding profession that promotes the child’s safety, but also strengthens the family organization around them in order to successfully raise the children. This child welfare workers work in the system known as the Child Protective Services whose initiative is to protect the overall welfare of the child. The short novel From the Eye of the Storm: the Experiences of a Child Welfare Worker by Cynthia Crosson-Tower demonstrates the skills necessary to deal with the practice of social work along with both its challenges and its happy moments. The novel consists of some of the cases involving Tower’s actual career in social work. In reading the book, I was able to experience some of the actual cases in which children dealt with physical and mental abuse from their families that caused them to end up within the system. Also, some of these children had issues in adapting to foster and adoptive families based on the issues they faced earlier in life. As we have learned earlier in the course, the violence that a child experiences early in life has an overall affect on the person they become as they grow into adulthood. When children deal with adverse childhood experiences, they are at a higher risk for abusing drugs and/or alcohol, increased likelihood of abusing their own child or spouse, higher rates of violent and nonviolent criminal behavior, along with several other issues throughout their lifespan.
Amina Gautier has been awarded with Best African American Fiction and New Stories from the South; in addition, she has successfully created At Risk. Gautier’s story is based on the African American community and the different types of struggle families can realistically face. However, if a white person would have written this exact story it could have been misinterpreted and considered racist. Stereotypes such as fathers not being present, delinquencies and educational status are presented in the various short stories.
With the increasing number of cases each day, concerns are being raised as to whether the rights of parents are being violated. It is common knowledge that there have been serious accuracy flaws resulting in the wrongful termination of many parents’ rights. However, little is being done to fix these errors and give parents their children back. Child Protective Services is the most needed yet unwanted agency in each state. While a system is necessary to intervene and protect children who are abused, there is speculation on the procedures and policies the state uses.
Shaniya Robinson arrives at the County Human Services Authority for her monthly appointment with her social worker. Ms. Robinson is a 25 year old African American female who is receiving treatment for schizophrenia from the adult behavioral health services program. During a session the client reports that she is under a great deal of stress because she is having difficulty adjusting to being a new mother. Her five month old baby girl Shanice is teething and cries frequently. Ms. Robinson is also struggling financially because she is currently unemployed; her mental illness makes it difficult to sustain employment long term. And she does not receive support from the child’s father on a consistent basis. The combination of these interactional difficulties is weighing heavily on the client who reports an increase in positive and negative symptoms (i.e. auditory hallucinations and social withdrawal). Because the client does not have insurance she disclosed to her social worker that she self-medicates using marijuana in an effort to manage symptoms. More noteworthy, the client explains that she uses the same method to soothe the baby by blowing marijuana smoke in the infant's face. It is certain that Ms. Robinson divulged such information for several reasons, she wants help and she believes that any information she shares within the context of her sessions are confidential.
The foster care system, then as now was desperate for qualified homes. Kathy and her husband had become certified foster parents, she was a certified teacher, and they had empty beds in their home. Their phone soon bega...
Department of health (2007) say that there are 3 types of risk assessment:the unstructured clinical approach, the actuarial approach and the structured clinical approach (DOH 2007). Many Mental health Professionals over the past years have used the unstructured clinical approach to risk assess. This is based on your experience and judgement to assess the risk. However this way has been criticized for not being structured and this then leads to inconsistency and to be unreliable (Turner and Tummy 2008). This approach would not be useful for the case with Julie as she is not known to services and every person is different as you may not have seen her symptoms before if you base the risk assessment on experience.
EPCGC stakeholders include anyone who is invested in the welfare and success of EPCGC and its clients who are impacted by mental health by improving awareness and public education, monitoring mental health trends, conducting research and evaluations, providing funding, impacting legislation and combat barriers, and finally by coordinating services within healthcare, justice system, and social service organizations. The Office of Violence Against Women (OVW) and The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Program (OJJDP). State Stakeholders include The Office of the Attorney General and The Statewide Trauma Informed Care Collaborative. Locally, the center collaborates with Paso del Norte Health Foundation and The Office of Senator Rodriguez.
Participating in the Mandated Reporter Training is a helpful tool for understanding the role of a social worker as a professional if and when one learns information concerning abuse of a minor. The goal of a social worker is to improve the quality of life for all individuals and if one learns about any type of abuse-physical, sexual, emotional, and/or neglect- it is their responsibility to bring this information to the proper authorities. The training stated that, “Research has shown that when multidisciplinary protocols are followed arrest and prosecution rates increase and trauma to the child decreases” (Arizona Child Abuse Info Center).
During the court case the judge said that lead social worker Gunn Wahlstrom was “naïve beyond belief”. This report brought over 68 recommendations to make sure cases like this did not happen again. The recommendations included putting the child first and the parent’s second. “Jasmines’ fate illustrates all too clearly the disastrous consequences of the misguides attitude of the social workers having treated Morris Beckford and Beverley Lorrington as the clients first and foremost” (London Borough of Brent, 1985,p295). The social workers in Jasmine’s c...
determination as to whether a child is safe or at risk of future harm and assess the need for services. The child welfare worker assigned to investigate the case failed to ensure the above.
Healthy Child Care America. (2007, April). Health and Safety E-News for Caregivers and Teachers. Retrieved from Healthy Child Care America: http://www.healthychildcare.org/ENewsApr07.html
Social agency and the court authorizing the placement, and caregivers are responsible for the continuing monitoring to ensure that the child in placement receives adequate care and supervision (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009, p.275). Services for children in foster care are a teamwork effort of the different parties involved (Downs, Moore and McFadden, 2009). Unfortunately in Antowne’s situation the agency and the court system failed him because although he was removed from his mother, the abuse and neglect continued. The systems involved did not provide the safety net Antwone needed.
Though confidentiality is a core value for both professionals, the range and degree of confidentiality owed to a client. The privilege of communication includes also advice, opinions, transmitted, developed, and gathered information that cannot be disclosed outside the attorney-client relationship. In case, if the lawyer asked his client to consult a social worker on purpose knowing that the latter may report to respective protection agencies, that lawyer may be charged due to violation of the MRPC and subject to sanctions and disbarment. Thus, neither lawyers often times encourage self-report, nor they report any forms of abuse even if the abuse has to do with children (Jonson-Reid, 2002).
I have learned a lot during my first week experience. Child Protection Services is very broad and can be a lot to handle. By being at CPS, I have learned that many children deal with a wide range of hardships that’s difficult to imagine. I had the opportunity to sit in on two family team meetings this week and I learned a lot. Many people believe that CPS is only meant to take kids away but they don’t understand that CPS ensures safety and the well-being of child. However, I have learned that there are some families with great support systems which is a great
Funding is awarded to support ongoing research programs to identify, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect and to collect and distribute data. Projects that are currently funded are Child Welfare Information Gateway website, the National Resource Center for Child Protective Services, National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response, annual publication of Child Maltreatment and the initiative on Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visitation to Prevent Child Maltreatment.