Solution-based Casework


Book Description

Solution-based casework is an approach to assessment, case planning, and case management that combines what we know from clinical social work with what we value about sound social work practice. It is grounded in family-centered social work and draws from clinical approaches within social work and mental health. By integrating problem- and solution-focused approaches that form the clinical and social work traditions, treatment partnerships are more easily formed between family, caseworker, and service provider. Solution-Based Casework is a skill-based, practice-oriented text that provides the specific guidance that students and new practitioners need in order to make sense quickly of the complex tasks of assessment and case planning in child welfare. The book flows out of a long practice experience, and was developed in consultation with workers and supervisors who were attempting to remedy problems viewed as contributing to recurrent abuse and neglect. It seeks to end adversarial relationships in casework and advocates case plans based on specific outcome skills rather than on those written with vague outcome goals measuring attendance in counseling. It serves as a common conceptual framework for integrating disparate segments of a response network, thereby allowing all providers in a therapeutic system to work toward common goals. The text is divided into three sections. In Section I the conceptual history and theoretical foundations of solution-based casework are presented so that the reader can place this approach to casework within the ongoing professional conversation about what constitutes sound practice. Section II addresses issues of assessment and case planning. Section III focuses on case management issues and how treatment team members experience a solution-based casework approach.




Solution-based Casework


Book Description

Solution-based casework is an approach to assessment, case planning, and case management that combines what we know from clinical social work with what we value about sound social work practice. It is grounded in family-centered social work and draws from clinical approaches within social work and mental health. By integrating problem- and solution-focused approaches that form the clinical and social work traditions, treatment partnerships are more easily formed between family, caseworker, and service provider. Solution-Based Casework is a skill-based, practice-oriented text that provides the specific guidance that students and new practitioners need in order to make sense quickly of the complex tasks of assessment and case planning in child welfare. The book flows out of a long practice experience, and was developed in consultation with workers and supervisors who were attempting to remedy problems viewed as contributing to recurrent abuse and neglect. It seeks to end adversarial relationships in casework and advocates case plans based on specific outcome skills rather than on those written with vague outcome goals measuring attendance in counseling. It serves as a common conceptual framework for integrating disparate segments of a response network, thereby allowing all providers in a therapeutic system to work toward common goals. The text is divided into three sections. In Section I the conceptual history and theoretical foundations of solution-based casework are presented so that the reader can place this approach to casework within the ongoing professional conversation about what constitutes sound practice; Section II addresses issues of assessment and case planning; Section III focuses on case management issues and how treatment team members experience a solution-based casework approach. Dana N. Christensen is professor and director of the Center for Family Resource Development, Kent School of Social Work, University of Louisville. Jeffrey Todahl is assistant professor, with a specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy, College of Education, University of Oregon. William C. Barrett is in private practice, Family Intervention of Kentucky, Frankfort, Kentucky.




Contemporary Issues in Child Welfare Practice


Book Description

Child welfare is the oldest specialization within social work practice and the only specialty area in which social work is the host profession. This edited volume provides a unique and comprehensive overview of practice issues relevant to contemporary child welfare professionals entering the field as well as those already working in direct service and management positions. This book’s emphasis on systemic, integrated, and evidence-informed practices at the individual, family, and organizational level is in keeping with child welfare’s core mission of child protection, family support, and permanency for youth. This volume also explores the challenges and opportunities present in a contemporary practice environment, which are driven by the attainment of defined outcomes, fiscal limitations, and the need for an informed professionalized child welfare workforce.




From Evidence to Outcomes in Child Welfare


Book Description

This edited work offers a framework that organizes and develops the types of evidence needed at key decision points in child welfare.




Strengths-Based Child Protection


Book Description

Strengths-based, solution-focused practice is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary child protection work. The demand for this protection practice has increased faster than the availability of training resources to help students and practitioners, until now. Strengths-Based Child Protection is the first textbook solely dedicated to furthering strengths-based practices in a child protection setting. Carolyn Oliver provides an original, accessible, and practical research-based model that focuses on the key to success in this field: the worker-client relationship. Oliver’s long and varied front line experience in child welfare and research based on surveys and interviews with 225 child protection workers provides grounding in the realities of child protection work. Strengths-Based Child Protection contains a rich combination of case studies, reflective questions, and exercises that enable students and practitioners to conceptualize and master implementing strengths-based practices with children.




Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative


Book Description

Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative documents practice techniques that were used during a three-year training/demonstration project for child welfare supervisors working in the frontlines of child protection services in the Southeastern United States. This unique book is a guide to combining research methodology with staff training to enhance the quality of evidence-based practice in the field. The book examines techniques that were used in training modules in four states, highlighting practice models and intervention outcomes from an evidence-based perspective. Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative includes details about the project from the federal perspective (The Children’s Bureau) and the operational implications at the Southern Regional Quality Improvement Center (SRQIC) level. The book examines the issues of providing technical research assistance to child welfare agencies and the complexities of cross-site evaluation with different political jurisdictions. Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative examines: The Children’s Bureau discretionary grant program the relationship between child welfare workers’ career plans and their abilities to accomplish core work tasks secondary traumatic stress (STS) in child protective services workers methods for monitoring and evaluating child welfare supervisors clinical decision-making as a tool for building effective supervision skills the use of outcome data for decision-making the development and implementation of the Tennessee project the use of “360-degree” evaluations to improve clinical skill development the Intervention Design and Development model Developing an Empirically Based Practice Initiative is an invaluable aid for social work practitioners, child welfare workers, case managers, and supervisors, and for social work academics and students.




Child Protective Services


Book Description

From the Preface: This manual, Child Protective Services: A Guide for Caseworkers, examines the roles and responsibilities of child protective services (CPS) workers, who are at the forefront of every community's child protection efforts. The manual describes the basic stages of the CPS process and the steps necessary to accomplish each stage: intake, initial assessment or investigation, family assessment, case planning, service provision, evaluation of family progress, and case closure. Best practices and critical issues in casework practice are underscored throughout. The primary audience for this manual includes CPS caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators. State and local CPS agency trainers may use the manual for preservice or inservice training of CPS caseworkers, while schools of social work may add it to class reading lists to orient students to the field of child protection. In addition, other professionals and concerned community members may consult the manual for a greater understanding of the child protection process. This manual builds on the information presented in A Coordinated Response to Child Abuse and Neglect: The Foundation for Practice. Readers are encouraged to begin with that manual as it addresses important information on which CPS practice is based-including definitions of child maltreatment, risk factors, consequences, and the Federal and State basis for intervention. Some manuals in the series also may be of interest in understanding the roles of other professional groups in responding to child abuse and neglect, including: Substance abuse treatment providers; Domestic violence victim advocates; Educators; Law enforcement personnel. Other manuals address special issues, such as building partnerships and working with the courts on CPS cases.




Social Work Case Management


Book Description

Social Work Case Management: Case Studies From the Frontlines by Michael J. Holosko is an innovative book that equips readers with the knowledge and skills they need to be effective case management practitioners in a variety of health and human service organizations. A must-read for students and professionals in social work, this important work introduces a unique Task-Centered Case Management Model built around the unifying principles of the profession—person-in-environment, strengths-based work, and ecological perspective. Over twenty case studies by case managers and professionals offer innovative practice insights, illustrating the practice roles and responsibilities of today's case managers and the realities of conducting case management in today’s growing, exciting, and challenging field.




Strategies for Work with Involuntary Clients


Book Description

Often in their careers, social workers will encounter clients who are either legally required to attend treatment services or are otherwise coerced or pressured into those services. Practitioners in settings from prisons to emergency rooms to nursing homes to child protection agencies will find themselves with involuntary clients. In an update to this classic text, social workers Ronald H. Rooney and Rebecca G. Mirick explore the best ways to work with unwilling clients. While work with involuntary clients is common, it can be challenging, frustrating, and unproductive unless practitioners are well trained for it. This book provides a theoretical framework for understanding the legal, ethical, and practical concerns when working with involuntary clients, offering theory, treatment models, and specific practice strategies influenced by the best available knowledge. Animated by case studies across diverse settings, these resources can be used by practitioners to facilitate collaborative, effective working relationships with involuntary clients.