Child Welfare at a Glance

1. Child Welfare at a Glance Designed for Family Support Workers Developed and Delivered by: Karen Agrait

2. Welcome • "Challenges and Objectives“ • In your small teams identify your challenges as a FSW and create objectives you would like to accomplish in this training. Post your work on flip charts. • Then introduce your team and share your work with the rest of the class.

3. “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” Frederick Douglass

4. Agenda • Child Welfare at a Glance: Statistics and the Process • Confidentiality • Worker Safety/Car Seat Safety • Overview of Maltreatments; & the Dynamics & Warning Signs • Child Development • Supervised Visitation

5. The Alarming Reality • Every 4 minutes, a child is abused or neglected in Florida. • Maltreated youth are 59% more likely to commit delinquent acts than non-maltreated youth • In 2005-2006 Fiscal Year, 204,429 hotline reports were made in Florida (Information extracted from child welfare database Home SafeNet) • Approximately 60 children enter into the system each month, while only 5-7 percent are placed in out of home care each month. • 9 percent of all state abuse and neglect reports come out of Orange and Osceola county. • Building Bridges, CWLA, 2006

6. First things first • 1-800-96-ABUSE • Contact the Abuse Hotline for any suspicion of Abuse and Neglect • Once the call is made, a Protective Investigator commences the case within 24 hours, immediately if exigent circumstances. • Investigation begins with allegations and ends with one of these decisions: It happened, didn’t happen, could have happened! • Keep in mind, It’s best to directly report to the hotline. Remember the telephone communication game!

7. Judicial Actions • The Department has to show “probable cause” that the child is at risk of harm if returned to the environment for which he was removed. (within 24 hours) • At Adjudicatory Hearing the Department must provide more evidence for than against that the abuse, neglect, abandonment occurred than not by “preponderance of the evidence” • To terminate Parental Rights the Department must provide “clear and convincing” evidence that the abuse/neglect occurred. Indicating almost all the answers have been answered in the judge’s mind that termination is to occur.

8. Liability is • an obligation imposed by law • legal responsibility for an act or failure to act • the state of being legally obliged and responsible

9. confidentiality • Never take a file in public-do not give out addresses or phone numbers to clients. • When speaking in public, do not discuss families or use names, you never know who could be listening. • Medical records should be secured, especially if a client has HIV/Aids. This should be noted as Suppressed Immune System deficiency. • Schools need to know where the child is living, but should be kept in a separate file, not their “cumulative files.” • Be aware of School registration, if a person is to have “NO CONTACT” make sure that is relayed.

10. Falsification • Includes misrepresentation, falsification or omission of any fact, whether verbal or written, on such records as, but not limited to: • Case notes • Court documents/reports • Other forms • Time sheets • Mileage reports

11. Your Safety • Never meet with someone currently under the influence of substances. • Be aware of safety hazards such as dogs and weapons in the home. • Keep you back to the door and have clients lead you in the home, making sure you always have a way out. • Park in a manner where you can’t be blocked in (on the side of the street in example). • Keep you cell phone on your person. • Trust your instincts! • Leave before matters escalate to an unmanageable level. • Make sure someone knows where you are and an anticipated return time. • Wear comfortable business casual shoes.

12. Dynamics • What is a dynamic? • List some examples of dynamics that may be present in families who may abuse or neglect their children?

13. Examples of Critical Indicators for Physical Abuse • Injuries and Evidence • Numerous alleged “accidental” injuries • Escalating injuries • Injuries inconsistent with explanation • Frequent change of hospitals or physician • Professional medical opinion contrary to facts

14. Examples • Target Child • No observable signs of bonding with target child • Flat or depressed affect • Lack of peer relationships • Subjected to unusual forms of discipline • Only discipline used is physical • Exhibits behaviors indicative of abuse or neglect • Secretive about injuries

15. Examples of Parent/Caretaker Characteristics • Parent/Caretaker Characteristics • Overly charming, extremely cooperative • Appears to make extreme progress • Tells you what you want to hear • Violent and aggressive behavior • Unrealistic expectations of child • Alienated from family; no family support network • Isolation, lack of social contacts

16. Emotional Indicators • Developmental delay and abnormal developmental patterns • Remote, withdrawn • No expectation they will be comforted • “Frozen watchfulness” • Fear of physical contact • Appear to be autistic • Clinging dependency • Depressed, lack of emotion • Preschool children: easily frightened; eager to please; role reversal • Adolescents: lying; stealing; use of alcohol/drugs; truancy; running away

17. Be aware of Physical Environment • Environment poses safety risks • Unsecured swimming pools/bodies of water • Sleeping area for child is inappropriate • Child is removed from others during common activities • Home is physically isolated

18. Critical Indicators of Physical Abuse • Frequent injuries. • Multiple bruises and injuries. • Bruises and injuries in inaccessible places. • Injuries in different stages of healing. • Injuries inconsistent with adult explanation.

19. Sexual Abuse Statistics • One out of every four women was sexually molested by an adult before she was 18. For men, one out of ten. • Only one out of every ten cases of child sexual abuse is reported to law enforcement. • For victims under age 12, the sexual offender was a family member in 47% of incidents, an acquaintance in 49%, and a stranger in just 4%. • Child molesters are predominantly men.

20. Types of Sexual Abuse Disclosure • Accidental disclosurehappens when the victim reveals by chance rather than deliberately. • Purposeful disclosurehappens when the victim makes a conscious decision to tell an outsider.

21. Emotional Neglect+Psychological Abuse--------------------------------Mental Injury • Mental injury is often accompanied by or embedded in other forms of child abuse and neglect.

22. Types of Emotional Injury • Spurning (hostile rejecting/degrading) • Terrorizing • Exploiting/corrupting • Isolating • Denying emotional responsiveness (ignoring) • Mental health, medical and educational neglect

23. Substance Abuse Statistics • Approximately 18 million persons abuse or are addicted to alcohol. • 11 million persons abuse tranquilizers and other psychotropic drugs. • 5.5 million get high on marijuana more than once a week. • At least 2 million are addicted to cocaine or crack. • Up to 1 million individuals use heroin.

24. Addiction • A disease entity with its own psychopathology characterized by compulsion, loss of control, and continued use in spite of adverse consequences. • Addiction is progressive, potentially fatal if untreated, and incurable but remissible through abstinence and recovery.

25. Characteristics of Disease • Primary — the disease is not a secondary symptom of something else. • Progressive — the disease worsens progressively. The victim becomes physically, spiritually, emotionally, and psychologically ill. • Chronic — there is no cure. Recovery from the disease must be based on abstinence from mood altering chemicals. • Fatal — the disease can only be arrested. If it is not arrested, the person will die from it.

26. Stages of Abuse • Stage 1: Experimentation and social use • Stage 2: Seeking the mood swing • Stage 3: Harmful abuse • Stage 4: Dependency addiction

27. Neglect • What are some examples of neglect? • With an allegation of neglect, what are some concerns for child safety?

28. The Types of NeglectRecognized by the Allegation Matrix • 37N – Bizarre Punishment (Institutions) • 39N – Mental Injury • 41N – Substance Misuse • 50N – Inadequate Supervision • 53N - Abandonment • 55N – Environmental Hazards • 60N – Malnutrition/Dehydration • 61N – Failure to Thrive • 65N – Medical Neglect • 97N – Failure to Protect • 99N – Death due to Neglect

29. Domestic violence is… • “a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks, as well as economic coercion, that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partner.” • (Ganley & Schechter, 1995) • Key Points • Pattern of assault and coercion • Many forms of abuse • Affects people in all types of intimate relationships

30. Early Childhood Development • Video

31. Supervised Visits • What is the purpose? • Reduces negative effects of separation/loss • Enhances the parent/child relationship • Allows the counselor to assess capacity for reunification and progress • Provides an opportunity for intervention • Provides opportunities for documentation of progress on the case plan • Provides an opportunity for sibling visitation

32. Supervised Visits Cont. • How should you prepare? • What have you observed? • What should be documented? • When should you intervene? • When do you relay the information to the Case Manager?

33. The children who wait

34. Stages of Grief • Shock/Denial • Anger • Bargaining • Despair • Acceptance/Understanding

35. Issues children face when removed • Loss of mom and dad • Attachment issues; Lack of Trust • New place to live with new rules • New school; Grades Drop • Possible separation from siblings • Placement disruption • Living with a sense of uncertainty • Constant stream of people in & out of their lives