The FAMCare Blog

Last week's discussion about the burnout rate of the young, well-intentioned social workers who choose Child Welfare as their area of interest excited feedback from all corners of the non-profit world. Both the CPS workers and the agencies had plenty to say in a follow-up article by Sue Coyle in Social Work Today.

Young social work graduates attracted to child protective services love children and want to do all they can to protect them from harm. These new professionals are usually gentle, kindly, empathetic souls who are either grateful for a wonderful, wholesome upbringing or identify with child abuse from their own negative childhood experience. Either way, they relate to children beyond the norm and are eager to help in any way they can. Many of them begin their careers as case workers in Child Protective Services.

In American child welfare and foster care, the overarching goal is clear: to build stronger families and provide children with safe, nurturing environments where they can thrive.

Achieving this goal requires a multifaceted approach, and case management software is playing a pivotal role in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of these critical services in the United States.

Child and family case management plays a crucial role in ensuring the well-being and safety of vulnerable children and families. With the advancements in technology, leveraging cloud technology in the social sector has become increasingly prevalent in the field.

This article explores how child and family case management can harness the power of the cloud to enhance community service. By utilizing specialized software, such as child and family case management software or child welfare software, organizations can streamline processes, improve data management, enhance collaboration, and ultimately deliver more effective and efficient services to the community.

Educators, who are some of the likeliest professionals to report child abuse, are encountering youth who have faced abuse in isolation throughout the pandemic. During 2020, the proportion of mental health-related emergency department (ED) visits among adolescents aged 12-17 years increased 31% compared to 2019. Suspected suicide attempt ED visits were 50.6% higher among girls aged 12-17 (CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 6/18/21). These stats indicate an increase in child abuse as children were confined to the home during the pandemic.

The history of the social work profession is the remarkable story of caring people responding to the evolving needs of societies marginalized. Since the first social work class was offered in the summer of 1898 at Columbia University, social workers have led the way developing private and charitable organizations to serve people in need.

Victims' of domestic violence are frequently traumatized and perplexed, believing there is no way out of their predicament. However, many survivors have difficulty recognizing the abuse. Understanding and recognizing the various types of domestic violence is essential for leaving an abusive environment.

Foster children face numerous difficulties. The overwhelming thought of removing them from their homes is stressful, but for many young people entering the social security system, this is only the beginning.

As a result of the violence, many children have been forced to flee their homes. Most are forced to adjust to constantly changing settings because they are moved from one home to another.

Staying in a foster care facility is difficult in any situation and can have serious consequences for a child's behavioral and mental health. To promote foster children's safety and mental health, it is critical to understand what they face on a daily basis and the dangers they face.

Every child deserves a happy childhood, but unfortunately, many do not receive one.

A child's childhood can be filled with a variety of 'bad' experiences. While child abuse at the hands of guardians remains one of the major contributors, children can struggle with other adverse experiences as well. Whatever the negative childhood experience was, it can have a long-term negative impact on the child's health as an adult. This is due to the fact that early childhood and adolescence are highly formative years in a person's cognitive and personal development.

Here's how bad childhood experiences can affect your health for the rest of your life.

A recent article in Social Work Today highlights a true triumph of empathy. In Innovations: New Foster Care Initiative Spotlights Parent Advocates, Debra McCall describes the parents’ pain when social workers have to remove children from their families.

“It is never easy. We enter parents’ lives at the worst possible moment—when the children they love have been removed from their homes. At that point, parents are experiencing shame, anger, and confusion. They are frightened and frustrated by the “intrusion” of the child welfare system into their lives. And they fear losing their children permanently, perhaps because that’s what happened to a neighbor or a friend.” (Social Work Today, Vol. 21 No. 1 P.3)