Perspectives in Child Protection St. John’s, NF - May 12, 2000

1. Perspectives in Child ProtectionSt. John’s, NF - May 12, 2000 Learning from the voice and wisdom of families: New partnerships in Child Protection Services

2. Impetus for the study • To pilot learning from clients to improve service effectiveness and efficiency • To obtain meaningful input from clients

3. Elements of the study process • Underlying principle: We need to understand how people experience their own lives • Oriented to articulating family-defined outcomes • Collection, analysis and interpretation of stories of lived experience

4. Elements of the study process • Inclusive and participatory • Opportunities for reflection • Closing the loop through staff-client dialogue

5. Benefits of the study process • Makes visible the strengths of families • Makes visible family-defined outcomes • Makes visible features of practice that help to achieve family-defined outcomes • Makes possible the co-creation of more effective interventions

6. Learning: Strengths of families • Wanting what is best for their children • Knowing what is best for their children • Knowing what is normal • Understanding the impact of negative experiences • Worrying about their children

7. Learning: Strengths of families • Seeking ways to overcome the problems • Struggling with the right way to relate to their children • Seeing today in the context of a life • Creating a different “family” for themselves • Demonstrating commitment to their families

8. Learning: Family defined outcomes • Safety, security, stability and consistency • A sense of control • A sense of optimism about the future • Social support and a sense of belonging • Shared responsibility with the community

10. Reframing policy and practice • Family preservation does not necessarily mean under one roof • Family-defined outcomes as an anchor for child welfare work • Pro-active, early & long term vs crisis-driven • After-hour crisis can be an opportunity for timely intervention

11. Study follow-up with staff Impact of learning on practice, administration and policy

12. Study Process • Respectful of clients and staff • Safe atmosphere for dialogue that served to inform and change practice • Changed staff perspectives on clients • Engaged staff in reflective process • Engaged supervisors and administrators and created change at that level

13. Major Learnings • Clients long to have their entire story heard • Fundamental significance of client dignity • Revised perspective of client • Clients’ perceived in more humane fashion • Clients seen as more articulate in the dialogue • Greater understanding of how clients experience a very powerful CPS system

14. Learnings that lasted • Importance of relationship • Importance of being there for clients • Importance of creative solutions rather than predetermined service offerings • Importance of being available for long term support • Importance of client definition of problem and perspective on solution

15. Learnings that were forgotten • Importance of community for clients, especially those going through major life transitions • Importance of informal support networks • Request for advocacy resources • Public education regarding problems of CW • Client participation in these activities

16. Learnings for BSW graduates • Confirmed what had learned in Social Work • Clients described what they wanted superiors to know • Process helped to inform managerial domain • Increased confidence in creative responses • Recognized limitations of current services

17. Learnings for BSW Graduates (2) • See brokerage model as limiting • Question current array of services • Increased respect for clients • Opportunity to reflect upon practice led to greater integration of theory and practice • Increased sensitivity to client self-determination to extent possible

18. Learnings of non-BSW graduates • Emphasis on protection of child limited responsiveness to parent needs • Heavy caseloads and paperwork make client requests unrealistic • Feel doing as much as “humanly possible” • Sense of futility in changing system constraints • Two-way dialogue needed so worker limitations can be expressed as well

19. Learnings of non-BSW’s (2) • Understand clients need for empathy and understanding • Impressed with importance of developing a “softer’ approach • Concern about being overly “enabling” • Lack of confidence in community to deliver • Doing our best but efforts not appreciated

20. Practice Tensions • Task versus process orientation • Structured versus flexible service responses • Organisational constraints versus family expectations • Social control versus family support • Brokerage function versus “therapeutic” intervention

21. Practice Tensions (2) • Organisational reporting expectations versus client requests for availability • Policies that focus on efficiency may hamper effectiveness of interventions • eg Broker model that keeps worker at a distance from clients who depend on helping relationship to deal with their problems

22. Educational and training implications • Social work principles and values reinforced by clients • Provision of opportunity to reflect upon practice in a safe environment leads to improved practice • Experience led social workers to seek a greater integration of theory and practice

23. Administrative and policy implications • Front line staff limited use of findings to practice improvement at the local level • Staff and clients pleased with administrative response to client perspectives • No efforts made to inform the policy domain with this information in spite of potential for significant influence