The FAMCare Blog

If you’re like most agencies, the people you serve have come to you through a referral process.  Being able to track where you get your “clients” or “kids” or “students”, etc. (for this article let’s refer to them as clients) is vitally important to your business model.  Clients may be referred to you through the schools, courts, hospitals, jails, DHS, and other organizations that provide complimentary services.

Our senior population continues to grow, with the aging of the baby boomers. And with the glut of older citizens comes a glut of issues that elder care workers must deal with. There are health issues – both physical and mental. Muscles and bones get weaker, senses start to fail – hearing, eyesight, even touch, taste and smell, in some cases. And then there’s the loss of mental facilities. About 10% of people over 65 suffer from some form of dementia and it goes up to 32% for those over 85.

Non-profit and humanitarian organizations frequently address some of the most significant social issues. Whether assisting individuals and families in navigating the effects or addressing issues like homelessness, mental health cases, or drug misuse, their work is crucial to helping people lead healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Additionally, a number of NGOs have had to reevaluate their operating capabilities, goals, and vision due to a significant increase in caseloads over the previous year. In many ways, this trying time gives NGOs a chance to grow and mature, enhancing their ability to offer prompt assistance and care. A fully human perspective could boost nonprofits effectiveness by empowering them to excel at their core missions and providing people with the resources and services they require to succeed.

Here's how NGOs can adopt a wholistic human perspective to promote better results.

Every day, social workers face the difficult task of managing a large number of case files. They must adhere to much stricter restrictions specific to the client relationship, in addition to the document management issues that almost all professionals face.
The situation has created some particularly difficult challenges for social workers. However, many of these issues can be resolved with the right case management tools.
Continue reading to learn about some of the most significant issues with document management.

Being effective in social services necessitates excellent time management abilities. Social workers have witnessed tremendous change over the years, including changes in the frequency of work and the nature of the tasks. The number of social workers and clients has increased in recent years, as has the amount of documentation and client coordination.

One aspect that hasn't changed is the amount of time required to complete a large number of tasks. As a result, time management is essential for any social service worker. Continue reading to learn a few tips on managing your time as a social worker.

In our last post, we talked about how we are constantly in hackathon mode and how listening to and working with social workers in the field helps us find better solutions. In talking to those caseworkers and their supervisors recently, we were able to pull together a list of some of the top things that cause them frustration. Here is what they said and how we can help solve the problems.

The things you do as a caseworker can have a great impact on the lives of those in your care. You are both the lead investigator and client advocate. You recommend what social services would best fit their needs. You give support and referrals, then follow up on each client’s progress. It is a demanding, but rewarding job. You're helping people improve their situations and create a better life in the long run.

Nobody understands your stress and how to deal with it better than those in the trenches with you. In previous blogs we have shared ideas on both physical and mental ways to create some level of case manager stress relief. But for today’s post, we talked to case managers and mental health professionals who deal with the stress of the job every day and asked them to share the best ways they find stress relief.

You have good caseworkers who are committed to their clients. They work long hours and go above and beyond to make sure everyone is getting the help they need. Yet, it’s still too easy for someone to slip through the cracks if you’re using an antiquated or old school record system. Or if the caseworker is overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time to do it. Using the right case management software can alleviate some of these issues and help make sure nobody falls through the cracks.

We are in an unprecedented stretch of strong economic conditions where where there are more jobs then job applicants. Yet, there are still many children and families who are suffering and in need of government agency help. So many, in fact, that human services caseworkers often still feel overwhelmed by heavy caseloads and the accompanying paperwork.